Mount Takao
Mount Takao is located within metropolitan Tokyo, offering beautiful scenery and hiking opportunities. If you live in urban Tokyo, it is the most accessible natural recreation — only 30 minutes or so from the eye of Tokyo, Shinjyuku. Although picking of wildlife is widely prohibited, hikers can enjoy wildlife by simply observing them and preserving them through photography. They offer several hiking trials, from numbers 1 to 6. In today’s particular trip, I took trial number 6 on the way to the top, and trial number 1 on the way down. It was roughly a 2 hour hike for each way. It was a day after intensive rain, and a little early for mushroom season, so I was only able to encounter a limited number of species, but it was definitely worth the early wake. In today’s blog, I selected a few species I found interesting:
Mycoleptodonoides aitchisonii: An usual form of mushroom, slightly dusty and powdery to the touch. Usually relatively small and possess a rough surface, found these on the bottom of a dead tree.
Hygrophorus russula: This was seen twice, both growing independently. Though this picture makes the russula look waxy, it is usually only arguably shiny. Usually grows from oaks and other oak woods, and the key feature is streaks of reddish purple on both its cap and gill.
Marasmius siccus:This was seen multiple times throughout the hike. It usually grows from hardwood leaves and sticks, growing gregariously. The wiry stem and the orange pleated caps, as well as the distant gills make this Marasmius distinctive.
and others:
Hiking + hunting for mushrooms = very difficult to multitask, especially if you are not used to hiking. My next post will introduce you the basics of hiking/mushroom hunting.
