“Walk and Talk Mushrooms” brings mycology to Camp Creek State Park at the peak of the bloom

CAMP CREEK, W. Va. (WVVA) – The annual Peak of the Bloom celebration, which began earlier this month, has completed its final day of events for the year. One of the final day’s events was Walk and Talk Mushrooms, a relatively new addition to Peak of the Bloom.

The three guides at this event say that the turnout this year has been great. One estimates that the number of visitors has doubled compared to last year. We asked the owners of EB Fungi, the local mushroom shop that organized the walk, why these mushrooms are suddenly so popular.

“When I first became interested in mushrooms, mushrooms were not very popular. Over the years, I’ve noticed that people are hiking a lot more. People have been going into the woods and spending more time outside, so they’re finding more mushrooms…” explains Joe Foye, one of the owners of EB Fungi.

“And I also think there’s a kind of collective idea that we want to be self-sufficient. We want to find healthy food in the forests, grow our own food, and know where our food comes from. And having the opportunity to go into the forest and come back with a small, nice meal is a really great feeling,” says Brenda Outsen, another owner of EB Fungi.

The guides took their students on a walk around Camp Creek to show them the wide variety of mushrooms found in the area and to collect samples to help with identification. They used the new popularity of mushrooms to debunk mushroom myths that have persisted for generations and dispel irrational fears that may have previously kept people away.

“…In America, this is a fairly new thing. We have a kind of mycophobia in us,” says William “Billy” Blevins, a mushroom expert and one of the guides. “…It’s kind of ingrained in you to be afraid of these mushrooms because they can kill you, but, you know, it’s like anything else: once you get informed, you know what’s dangerous and what’s not. It’s just a matter of education.”

An interest in mushrooms can be not only a fun hobby but also a useful one. Every guide has a different story about what first attracted them to these strange organisms, from wanting to photograph their beautiful and odd-looking aesthetic to discovering a new delicious food to using hedgehog mushrooms to help alleviate memory loss after a brain injury.

“Mushrooms have really taken over both of our lives. That’s how we met and it’s something that we deal with mushrooms in one form or another every day, whether it’s in our business, whether it’s with our friends, whether it’s with people who know about us and send us messages and have questions, and it’s really all about mushrooms all the time,” says Outsen.

Foye hopes that what students learn will be useful outside of the state park and that they can continue to identify mushrooms growing in their own backyard.

The guides we spoke with hope to offer mushroom walks at future Peak of the Bloom celebrations as well, but they say you may not have to wait until next year to start your mushroom journey. They recommend using guidebooks to identify mushrooms in your area and joining Facebook groups for mushroom enthusiasts for up-to-date information.

You can also follow EB Fungi on Facebook to find out when the next hikes will take place.

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