Day 121: It was a cold and frosty morning when I hiked out to Big Bridge, and I was not expecting to find fungi in the heart of winter, but within a few yards of the trailhead, I noticed a grouping of small greyish-brown 'shrooms with white dots on their caps. I may not be an expert mycologist, but their size and shape immediately ruled out the possibility that they were Amanitas (the genus known for its white-spotted caps), so I bent over to take a closer look. The spots were ice: fine, hair-like tendrils of ice, sometimes clustered together, sometimes fanning apart so that individual threads could be seen (note the grouping on the left shoulder of the mushroom on the right). There is a phenomenon known as "hair-ice" which is caused by a fungus, but it occurs on wood, not on mushrooms. I was puzzled by the ice on these 'shrooms and spent much of my hike wondering why it had taken this form. I came up with a theory: that it occurred when guttation droplets froze. Some researchers believe that guttation occurs in fungi as a means to rid themselves of excess moisure. It was a stretch, but perhaps it is possible that a drop in temperature coincided with a guttation event. Unfortunately, I have no way to prove or disprove the hypothesis. I guess I'll just have to enjoy them for what they are: frozen fungus-pops (consumption not advised).
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