April 2001 Newsletter

Morel Mushroom Hunting Club

""1st Annual Knoxville Foray"", by : Chris Matherly

Many, many photos on this page, so be patient while they download!

Hosts:

Chris Matherly- left, Eddie McMillan- right

Assistants: Mike McMillan-left, David Warner- right

     Well, I started on the way to Knoxville. I had planned to stop off and check out a location far south of most people's idea of Morel country. It paid off!  I made a pit-stop just north of Macon, Georgia at High Falls State Park. It took me about 45 minutes, and I found my first morel there. Now I have documented proof that they do infact grow that far south. I found a total of 2 morels there. It appeared to be the end of the season. This is only about 2 hours north of the Florida state line!-  

Above photo taken in Macon, GA. Left to right: Devils ern, older Morchella esculenta, fresh M. esculenta, and pig ears.

     I arrived in Knoxville, and met up with Eddie McMillan and his brother. We went on a scout trip to see if they were up yet. I think he was trying to put me to the test to see if I was in shape or not, as we climbed up a mountain (to me) straight up about 1000 ft elevation. I literally nearly had a heart attack. I just wasn't prepared for this! But when we got to the top, boy did we find them! This solved the problem of using everyone's mushrooms for the dinned coming up on Sunday, as now we had plenty for that. Having these in the cooler for Friday night "meet the members" really got everyone pumped up! We found 250 in 3 hours.

     We met at the hotel, and then off for some breakfast Saturday morning. Everyone quite eager to head to the woods.

                             Angie Hopkins-Tenn.                    Joel McCarty -Tenn.                  Bill Carnes-Florida

                                           Mr. & Mrs. Allman- Maryland                                      Donna Brune- IND.

                Hank & Jan Duitsman- Minn.                 Ivan Roy- Canada                       Jan Williams- IND.

                 John & Chris Plaisted- FL.                         Lance- FL.                      Syrus & Colleen Crandell- IND.

                   Tom and Barbara Engh- ILL.           Tom & Kate Stacy- OH.           Linda & Charlie Irons- Tenn.

Wendy & Shawn Schofield- MO.

We were greeted by a group of cows that thought we were there to feed them!

The first location, we picked around 162 mushrooms. We decided to grab a burger, and hit another spot.

We had some unbelievable mushroom picking.

At this point, we had a total of 1,455 morels! Everyone was exhausted.

Back to hotel to get cleaned up, and then a slide presentation, questions and answers, and view some photos.

     Sunday Morning we were off to a third location. Less than one minute into the woods, and we had our first Morel! We managed to find a few hundred more at this spot, making our grand total for the weekend of 1,797 Morels! Everyone was able to take morels home! It was an unforgettable experience. My wife viewed the video, and smiled as she claims that I was finally able to find other people from my planet!--->Planet Morelshroom! LOL.

Dinner at a Western Sizzler on Sunday includes fried Morels with ranch dressing, and Prime Rib!

Julie & Eddie McMillan

The nicest people you would ever want to know!

The weather was perfect, and things went so smooth. How can this ever be topped?

-Chris M.

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