Alice in Wonderland has nothing on the Fall Creek Trail when it comes to mushrooms. No I am not tripping man, I am talking dinner plate size mushrooms of all colors and variety. I know a little about mushrooms as I hunt morels in season, but I have NEVER seen this mushroom magnitude and beauty in one place…and I am a Fun Guy…get it? Fungi!! See what I did there? Geez, tough audience. Okay, perhaps you would appreciate a limerick then:
There once was a Colorado wilderness trail
That produced magnificent mushrooms without fail
You can see if it’s true
Just go there and you view
And tell me if it’s a crazy old man’s tale
Most people frequent this area to climb or view the Mount of the Holy Cross fourteener. Formed by two deep ninety degree intersecting ravines on the side of the mountain that fill with snow and remain so for most of the year, this natural cross became a pilgrimage site once photographed and popularized in the 1800’s and the mountain itself later became one of the 50+ fourteeners climbed by throngs of hikers over the years as the sport of climbing them became a popular pastime. We know, as we have both climbed Holy Cross previously, but that is not our objective on this hike.
Starting at the trail-head parking lot for the route to Holy Cross is another trail, Fall Creek, which leads to Constantine Lake, our goal for today. Almost immediately as we start on the trail we discover an unexpected surprise, mushrooms! I am not talking little brown toadstools, no, these are bright red Fly Agaric (aka Amanita Muscaria). Very poisonous but beautiful to look at, these speckled red mushrooms look like ‘shrooms illustrated in your favorite fairy tale books from your childhood.
As we proceeded down the trail we run into delicate yellow coral mushrooms (aka Ramaria Largentii). These are otherworldly bright yellow fungi that look like a chunk of coral displaced in the woods. Some people say these are edible, others get sick on them. Hmm, it doesn’t look like neither the Fly Agaric nor the Yellow Coral are being chomped on today by the local fauna, they know better!
Further down the trail are Hawks Wings (aka Sarcodon Imbricatus). These mushrooms look like they have feathers painted on them and sometimes form two lobes, thereby looking like a hawks’ wing. Frankly to me they resemble more a tortoise shell. Unique in their look from other mushrooms make these easy to hunt since they are edible. So why didn’t we come home with a whole backpack full of them to cook up? Because we are within the Holy Cross Wilderness, so no harvesting of products from the forest, alas…take nothing but pictures, leave no trace.
But the most delectable and enticing of them all are the King Boletes (aka Boletus Rubriceps). These are massive mushrooms with two to three inch stalks and caps the size of hub caps! Sometimes looking like beautifully cooked large pancakes laying on the forest floor, these fungi were everywhere in large clumps. My mouth watered as we walked by each group, these are good eating and hard to pass up. And the deer and critters in the forest knew that as one will frequently find chunks of the caps nibbled off. Yum!
We finally arrive at Constantine Lake where we stop for a bite to eat. Being aware that massive waterfalls lay just beyond the lake and further up the mountain, we trudge on up the “trail” which turns into more of a precarious climb up snaking switchbacks full of lose rocks and over some short rock climbs that we navigate. It was worth the trip as multiple waterfalls come into view, the largest at the top rivaled falls we have seen in Iceland. Water came pouring down the angled flat rock face and then off a steep cliff. We edge our way up the trail to get a few prized shots and then decide to turn around as the trail petered off into a cornice of snow that we felt wasn’t worth the risk to cross.
So, if you are a mushroom fan as we are, check out this hike near Minturn, Co. The four wheel drive road to the trail-head is pretty well maintained and there is plenty of parking space at the top, but beware on the weekends as the lots will fill early for those climbing Holy Cross.
We hope you enjoyed this tour of “mushroom alley”. Just a reminder, don’t harvest and eat mushroom from the woods unless you are a trained hunter. You can get very sick and even die from your ignorance without the proper training first.
UPDATE 9/3/2019
We liked this hike so much that we decided to come in from the other direction of Fall Creek Pass on the same Fall Creek Trail, but from the Hunky Dory trail head to Seven Sisters Lakes. Yes you heard me right, Hunky Dory was the name of one of the many gold mines in the area. Nearby was Holy Cross City, a ghost town now, once a city of 400 miners and “service professionals” (that’s another trip sometime!). This trail was less striking from a mycological perspective, although we did see a few King Boletes (this time outside of the wilderness area, ahem, burp).
The trail starts a good mile and a half up a very difficult 4WD jeep road. We were amused by the signage warning the drivers not to drive beyond their means, and yet there was a plethora of “less skilled” drivers making there way up as we came down. One cocky driver said, “Anywhere you can walk, I can drive!” Well take a look at the photo below as I hiked down the trail. A brand new orange Toyota truck was stuck on a rock, about 50 degrees from horizontal. Uh, I walked this part, cocky driver.
Once off the jeep road and on the actual trail, Hunky Dory Lake is only a short ways up the trail. Old mine equipment and I am told some cabin foundations are nearby as well as an idyllic waterfall just above the lake.
The hike to the first of Seven Sisters Lakes is quite a ways further up the trail, wildflowers and waterfalls along the way. We chose to turn around here and not go all the way to the other lakes and the pass.
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