Early Hike

Yesterday, my son & I decided to see if any local morel mushrooms had started to pop up. We have had  unseasonably warm weather 70F/21C with some rain this week and wondered if nature's schedule would be altered for the local mushroom crop. Since my roses, and lilacs are budding about three weeks ahead of schedule and our daffodils are in full bloom, we logically wondered if fungi had started an early bloom as well.

We hiked a woodland riverfront trail where morels have been spotted before, but we didn't see any. We did see a lovely oyster mushroom blooming (photo op only) and got to experience a pretty sunset. This warm weather is disorienting for us people too; we finished our hike almost in the dark because the sun is still setting early, 5:46pm (1746) and astronomical twilight is a half hour earlier. Luckily, we had a flashlight in our pack and got to the car without mishap.

Climate change is impacting both plants and animals, including us... it is truly disorienting, accelerating our perceptions and causing us to underestimate our place in the seasonal environment.