Local mycologist Charlotte Caplan will lead a mushroom hike on the Foothills Equestrian Nature Center property at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 14.

This guided hike will meet at the main FENCE building. It is free and open to the public. The educational hike is aimed at both expert mushroom hunters and those just wanting to know more about the mushroom world.

If people want to collect specimens to look at more closely, they should bring a basket and a folding pocket knife.

Charlotte Caplan is an amateur mycologist, with 40 years of experience studying mushrooms in Europe and the U.S. 

A past president of the Asheville Mushroom Club, she leads frequent field trips with the club and other groups. She teaches classes on mushroom identification for children and adults at the North Carolina Arboretum and elsewhere.  She is unashamedly passionate about mushrooms for their beauty, variety, mystery and unique roles in forest ecology, and loves to introduce others to the field.

Funding from the Kirby Endowment at the Polk County Community Foundation has made the event possible.

FENCE is located at 3381 Hunting Country Road, Tryon. For more information about this or upcoming events, people may call FENCE at 828-859-9021 or email info@fence.org.  

– Submitted by Amy Schmitte