NEW BRUNSWICK: MALISEET TRAIL, HAYS FALLS, AND MUSHROOM ADVENTURES

After we spent the night in Moncton at the farthest end of the Bay of Fundy, it was time to head back to the United States, send our son back to NYC, and join my siblings and their spouses for Part II of the trip.

We had one final afternoon left in New Brunswick, and our son saw that as one more opportunity to forage for mushrooms. He used his phone to do some research and directed us to the Maliseet Trail, and beautiful walk that led to Hays Falls and a pot of gold(en mushrooms).

At first we thought pictures of bear prints tacked to the trees indicated bears in the vicinity, but we later figured out that they serve as trail markers:

As usual, we seemed to be the only ones on the trail, although a couple of people were leaving the Falls about the time we got there.

There was lots of interesting flora (but no fauna):

It didn't take long until our son started spotting one patch after another of delicate chanterelle mushrooms; their golden trumpets were hard to miss:

Look hard. Can you see the mushroom in the photo below? If you can, would you guess that it is edible? Me neither, but it is. It is a black trumpet mushroom.

The boys with their haul:

Our son labeled the stash:

. . . and created a keepsake:

Luckily, he not only knows what makes good eating, but also what can kill you:

We enjoyed the cool air around Hays Falls for a while. (I stole these labeled pictures from my son's social media posts):

There is some fascinating stuff out there if you know where to look:

. . . or if you are with someone who knows where to look!

The REAL fun, however, came later that evening when we stopped at a Walmart to make an impulse purchase:

We just couldn't walk away from the day's incredible haul without eating some of it. We were determined to have a Fungus Feast. The cooking supplies (which we left behind for some lucky homeless person, or maybe for the trash) cost us about $35, but we didn't have to pay anything for the food we cooked on it. There was a picnic table on a large gravel pad at the far side of the hotel parking lot.  Perfect. There was even a fire truck nearby just in case, you know, we burned the place down.

We waited until sundown. Using the mask of darkness and our sophisticated culinary wares, we proceeded to create a Feast of Feasts--all the exotic wild mushrooms we could eat.

Truly divine.


We did NOT burn the place down, nor did we die from consuming poisonous mushrooms. Oh, and we didn't get arrested for starting a fire in a public parking lot. That was a relief.

Next up: Taking a break from Canada and blogging about Sri Lanka