Vancouver Island Nature Tours

Thanks to a very strong web presence and new marketing strategies, Rainbird Excursions’ Magical Mushroom tour went off without a hitch this weekend. In fact I had to turn down some people. Next year promises to be bigger and better than ever. I plan on having more expertise on site and accommodating more people.

Picking Chanterelles near Port Alberni Vancouver Island

Planning an experience like this can be a little nerve-racking. There is a good spot about half an hour out of town that is exceptional for the numbers of Chanterelles. Few people know about this spot. However, one old fellow and his young associate does! And that’s when the nerves start racking!

I like to go into the area about a week ahead of the tour to make sure there are enough mushrooms and to confirm that access is still OK. I went in and found a tree down across the road and thought, “Good, no-one has been there yet.” I came back three days before the tour and found that the tree had been bucked and removed and a seriously beat-up old school bus was parked in the place I park in. Harumph!

I walked in and found that a good part of the area had been picked already. fortunately they had missed several good patches, and didn’t pick all the Chanterelles where they had picked. On the way out I noticed that the road was getting very grown-over with young alder, and that many of them were still bent over from a heavy snow-load from the previous winter. So the day before the tour I went in again to check on the remaining patches, and to clear an easy path through the alder.

Well, the school bus was there again! And this time I ran into the pair of them walking down the road. The old guy said there wasn’t much left, and that he had gone way in there. “Why I’ve been coming here for 35 years,” he said “I know this area backwards and forwards” Disheartening to say the least! But i went on and found the patches intact. I Also went further up the road to another excellent couple of spots and found them intact. Thinking about it now, I think the guy was an old bullshitter. For one thing, 35 years ago, this second-growth Douglas fir forest wouldn’t have been able to produce Chanterelles.

So I was able to get enough mushrooms for the chef at Batstar Café and Picnic to produce the meal and have some left over. Everyone had a great time. No one got lost. Everyone was able to bring home some mushrooms to try some recipes with.

Here are a few links to Chanterelle Recipes

http://home.budget.net/~woofer/chanterelle_recipe.html

http://www.gigaflop.demon.co.uk/mushcook/chant.htm

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/240/CreamofChanterelleMushroom62326.shtml