This first mushroom appeared around the end of spring and the start of summer. As you can see from the picture, the ground it was growing from was fairly rocky, with more dry ground. It grew under and old dried out tree that was probably a white birch of some sort. They were almost wet or cool to the touch (unlike the rest of the ground) and felt smooth. It was hard to see under them because of how clustered together they were but they had no frill or blub and had wide set gills. The full cluster contained about 14 mushrooms (some off screen) all of varying sizes. The largest was about 2 inches in height and an inch across in diameter. As show in the picture the larger ones go from a deep ochre color on top to a more muted and dull brown/yellow color near the edges of the cap. The gills bared a similar color to the cap edge. Additionally, the cap was slightly jagged in correlation with the like that ran down the side of the mushroom cap. The cluster lasted for less than a week, turning a darker brown as the spored and decayed. They followed a similar pattern of spore and decay as most mushrooms, and nothing extraordinary happened to their appearance other than the apparent color shift. I sadly don't have a spore print for theses, and have no idea what the color of their spores were since this was my first mushroom I decided to take a picture of, and I wasn't aware of that being an important thing to note.

MUSHROOM GUESS
Coprinellus micaceus
Mica Cap

MUSHROOM RATING
❤️❤️❤️❤️

Overall I think that this was a wonderful start of my hobby and I hope to see these again next year so I can take a closer look to them. My favourite thing about them has got to be their color and texture. They're simple, sure, but that's not always a bad thing. It's just everything a mushroom should be, even if that means being a little bland.

Okay, this one was easy, quick, and simple to identify as soon as I was able to have access to the internet again (I was on a hike). Based on its distinct appearance and smell, along with where it was found, it's evident that it is a dryad saddle bunch. It smelled exactly like watermelon rind (but also don't smell it before you know what it is, that's a horrible idea) and it was white all on the inside. Upon cutting it open, the pores were easy to see, and could be scraped off or peeled with a knife. The cap is also a very big give away on what it is, since more mushrooms don't have a scale pattern like that. The scales himself felt like they could be peeled off and had an almost hair like texture near the ends. The bunch ranged in saturation from a nice wheat color to a more deep, almost brown yellow. They grew on old tree stumps, usually close to the ground with only one exception which instead was coming out of the middle of the fallen tree. The terrain was bog like, with a very wet ground and lots of water all around. From the picture you can see how dark and rich the ground is. This was the first mushroom I chose to look at with a hand on approach. This will be detailed in further pictures found to the side of the box. These were about 5 inches long at a minimum around all sides. It also had a wet like texture, and almost felt like it could be wringed out like a wet cloth. I, of course, didn't try that since why would I, but maybe next time.

MUSHROOM GUESS
Cerioporus squamosus
Dryad's saddle and/or pheasant back

MUSHROOM RATING
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I cannot begin to describe who excited I was in the moment for this mushroom. It was a wonderful and interesting find and is quite a cool looking mushroom! Overall, It's a great, interesting mushroom, and while not the most interesting it is still wonderful in it's own right.

This was a small pair I found on a walk one day that instant drew my attention to it due to it's brilliant color. It was early fall, but no leaves had fallen yet so it still stood out amongst leaves from last year and the green that still coated the ground. They were within a section of the forest floor that was mainly coated with dead leaves and were just barely poking up past them. The top of the cap is a brilliant blood orange color that fades to a golden yellow to the bottom of the cap. The stalk is a similar gold color but doesn't have a fade. The gills on the underside were a soft yellow, almost cream white color. It felt glossy, almost like it had been lightly coated with candle wax as well. Similar to a mica cap it had lines that went down the side that were only slightly visible and started about 3/4th of the way up. The slightly bigger of the two had its cap split in a few places, likely due to it getting ready/already sporing out. They were both not that big however and only were about an inch wide and 2 inches tall. The most remarkable thing about them is most certainly their texture and color combo.

MUSHROOM GUESS
Hygrocybe laetissima
Cherry Red Waxy Cap

MUSHROOM RATING
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

This was one of the first very visually stunning mushrooms I saw this year (2019) and it was truly a great start of fall. I think it's an incredibly gorgeous color and such a neat texture for most fungi I've found in the past. I hope to see a few next year, since I was never able to find them again after I tried to look for them again. Also this was my best guess because there are apparently a lot of waxy caps that look very similar.

Gonna be honest, I had no idea what this was when I first saw it. There are obviously caps, and it has a few mushrooms attached to it but the shape of the cluster and how low to the ground they were made it look odd at a distance. They were growing in the dirt that had a few pieces of wood chips here and there. It was just before fall had started, but the color was a good hallmark of the season to come. They are a bright pumpkin orange color with a sort of rumpled looking cap. The middle of the cap was flat and smooth however. The edges of the cap were irregular in shape, and had an almost bumpy like feeling when touched. I was unable to see the caps, and I couldn't find it again to take another picture after this. It is very likely that these are just freshly hatched so to say. You can sort of see the stem of a smaller member of the cluster, which appears to be even more textured than the sides of the cap. It looks very veiny and to be a paler orange than the main surface of the bundle.

MUSHROOM GUESS
?????
????

MUSHROOM RATING
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I think if I could have found out on a later date if this was just a young group of mushrooms or not I might have liked these even more. I also likely would have had an easier time figuring out what they are. I tried to look for something that looked simillar to it and was around the same size but I couldn't find anything. It looks like some sort of Chanterelles color wise and apperance wise but they are WAY to small. Either way, I think the colors nice, and I'm always a fan of orange mushrooms hence the semi high rating.

This one is clearly a very large Puffball. As you can see from the picture it was bigger than my hand and my arm even. It has that distinct cratered look of a Puffball as well. It's an offwhite color and an oblong almost egg like shape. Near the left side of the mushroom there are multiple spots that look like craters. Said craters don’t go to deep into the mushroom though, and are obviously from how it was growing rather than an animal. The Puffball is textured almost like a rock, with raised bumpy sections while also still being smooth due to how small these rough patches are. This was found in my neighbors backyard late summer just chilling within the grass by itself. There were no other Puffballs by it that I could find.

MUSHROOM GUESS
Calvatia Gigantea
Giant Puffball

MUSHROOM RATING
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️️❤️️

This is without a doubt the largest mushroom I have ever seen. It was quite literally giant and lives up to that name. I, unfortunately, didn’t get to do anything more with it since it was the neighbors, and they just allowed me to take pictures of it. Still, I feel very lucky that I got to do that since the chances of one coming up in my yard are slim to none. In my opinion with is quite a nice mushroom, and while not striking in color it is certainly striking in size.

From within an old, decomposing tree this mushroom grew. The tree was split down the middle and as a result left the perfect place for a mushroom to grow. The nearby overhang allowed the area to stay damp and shaded too. From the center of the cap to the edges it fades from a deep chocolate brown to a soft off white to match the rest of the mushroom. The stem below it is the same white as the cap. This sole fungi started growing late summer when the temperature started to drop more at night. It wasn’t wet to the touchy, or slimy. It has cold however and felt like rubber. The gills underneath were a similar white to the stem and cap. The mushroom itself as a whole was about 3 inches tall, and 4 inches across for the cap. There's a split in the cap near the right size towards the back, though the reason for said split is unknown.

MUSHROOM GUESS
Pluteus Cervinus
Deer/Fawn Mushroom

MUSHROOM RATING
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️️

I'm not overly confident in my guess, since to be quite frank, it doesn’t look exactly like the other pictures for Deer mushrooms you can find online. Some it does, some it doesn’t, which leaves me wondering if it is one and is just a little thick in the stem. Regardless, this was the only mushroom I could find that grew in the same area as the one pictured, had the same sort of color, and had the same spot on the top. As for the rating it gets a 5 because it’s basic but nice. I thought it was quite cool/interesting to find it in a little dead tree cove.