White Buffalo Trail

 "Feels like 23" degrees is a chilly way to start a hike. 

But Lone Elk Park keeps popping up on my radar for good winter hikes, so we gave it a go. Cool icy streams and open, sunny prairies are allegedly the qualities that land you on such a list. We didn't really find either on this trail, which we have hiked before. Major points in its favor, however, is the ease of fitting this trail into a busy day. At only 30 minutes from St. Louis City and a 3-mile hike, we were there and back in the span of 3 hours. Much less a risk or investment compared to our usual drive-2-hours-hike-6-miles routine. It's a pretty constant up & down and can get sloppy after a good rain. But I find it hard to deny myself a weekend hike when it's that convenient. 

We were pleased to encounter few people on the trail. Maybe 10? That's the below-freezing trade-off.  

We saw WAY more piles of elk poop than people.

And saw quite a few elk themselves on this visit! Including one hanging out in a parking lot, grazing on asphalt garbage, as well as a whole extended family lounging roadside on our way out. 

At one point, the lot was full with gawkers, and plenty of cars were cruising the elk drive. The lack of vegetation compared to our previous springtime visit means the cars are more apparent, with no greenery to block view of the road around the park. So you've got fewer people on the trail but more cars with more visibility of the road. Again, it's a trade-off.

We didn't see too many fungi species, but the ones we did see were neat. I had recently learned the difference between the Wood Ear (Auricularia americana) and the Amber Jelly Roll (Exidia recisa), so it was cool to see them growing in such close proximity and making their contrasts so apparent. 

For so long, I thought the Amber Jelly Roll was just a late-stage Wood Ear, but - nope! Wood Ears have a distinct, velvety exterior that almost looks dusted with powder. And they only grow on conifers.

Amber Jelly Roll, on the other hand, is more slick-looking, translucent, and wrinkly. It grows on fallen hardwood, especially oak, rather than conifers. It's often found colonizing little sticks laying on the ground.

Jellies are fairly safe to eat. There are a few that are toxic, but they are rare, thankfully. They don't have much flavor, but they add great texture to dishes like miso soup. However, it's not often I come across enough in a single hike to make it worth the time to stop and gather. If I come across a big enough pile in the first place, or two good sized piles one right after another, I go for it and commence collecting. More often, though, I don't grab the first pile, then see them sprinkled throughout the hike, and say to myself each time, "Dang, I should've started grabbing these from the start!" Such was the case on this day. :(

Our other cool find was this weirdly colonized tree trunk that looked to be covered in compound, multistoried turkey-tail-ish fungi growing on fungi. 

According to the good folks at the Missouri Mycological Society, this is violet-toothed polypore, Trichaptum biforme, growing on a log that has rolled over. In effect, what was the sunny side turned to the underside, and the fungus continued growing on the newly sunny side! The violet teeth adjusted to their new position by growing their own teeth. So weird. So neat!

Of course, we warmed up shortly into our hike with a quick incline and didn't really notice the cold at all, except for all the times I stood still to snap pics. Of course, as usual, it was totally worth it, and I was thankful we worked up the motivation to get out and hike.

More pics of these finds in super close up can be found here!