Well … sure. Missoulian reporter Rob Chaney goes on the hunt for wild mushrooms in the Mission Mountains, where recent rain has brought out fungi aplenty.

It’s open house season for the fairies and wood elves of Montana’s mountainsides.

Those toadstool dwellers may be imaginary, but their domiciles of record are in profusion this time of year. More than 3 inches of rain landed in Missoula in the past month, making it one of the wettest Augusts on record. That did amazing things for the mushroom community.

On a recent trip in the Mission Mountains, nearly all the wildflowers were faded and gone. But a closer look revealed bright yellows, reds, pinks and greens of mushroom growth.

Granted, fungi don’t carpet whole hillsides like the beargrass did this year. You find them on the carpet, or even underneath it – around ankle-height in the brush and under logs.

Don’t despair. Just look differently, within foliage instead of above it, in dim places instead of sunny spots.

Read the rest of the story here.

Justin Grigg