My good friend Lily is into mushroom hunting, and she’s invited me along a few times. I’m solely a spectator in this sport. I have no idea how to find or identify edible mushrooms, but I just went along for some company.

The first walk I went on with her, maybe a month ago, it was raining and cold practically the entire time. I got a little lost on the way there, and she’d been hunting mushrooms for a couple of hours already by the time I had arrived. I don’t know how she tolerated the cold rain for so long, but I suppose mushroom hunters are just built different than the rest of us. 

The second walk was longer, because it actually wasn’t raining this time. I thought we’d go on more of a walk, but it turned out to be not quite how I pictured. Lily would mostly wander off the path, into the woods, while searching for a ways. In the meantime, I hung out just off the trail, alternating between talking her ear off about random topics and spacing out.

The most enjoyable part was whenever I heard people approaching on the trail, I’d say loudly, “people coming!” After that, we would both duck down and hide in the bushes. As Lily explained to me, mushroom hunting is a competitive sport; you hide to protect your good mushroom spots from the other hunters.

At one point, my friend encouraged me to follow her off into the woods saying there were some cool mushrooms I should see. I was getting bored by then, so I thought, "why not?"

That was a decision I largely regretted, almost instantly. 

I nearly slipped and fell so many times. On several occasions, as I was forced to maneuver around the thick undergrowth, my glasses case fell out of my shallow pockets and I had to retrieve it. When I finally made it back to the trail, I was relieved until I realized a couple minutes later that I didn’t have my phone.

Fortunately, after tracing my steps, I was able to find it after a minute of rooting through the undergrowth. My main takeaway from these two experiences is that mushroom hunting really seems fun.

It seems fun, provided you actually know what you’re doing.