COURSE DESCRIPTION

1 Day Class – You will stay at our camp location and learn about and harvest the mushrooms at that location. At the end of the day you can cook up your mushrooms with us if you like or return home to enjoy them in your own kitchen.

NOTE:

While every effort is made to forecast the optimal mushroom harvesting season at the camp’s elevation based on past growth patterns, we are unable to ensure a guaranteed abundance of mushrooms. Our endeavors are confined to the resources nature presents, and this understanding shall preclude any entitlement to a refund. By enrolling in the class, students acknowledge and agree that no refunds will be given unless this class is cancelled by TSU staff or instructors.

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Mushroom Hunting 101

Come ready to learn, this is an information intensive day! We’ll cover mushroom anatomy and identification techniques, habitats, plant and tree associations, collection ethics, and photographic documentation techniques. You will learn poisonous, medicinal and some safe delicious edible mushrooms along the way. Walk away from this workshop with a confidence and ability to identify numerous mushroom species in our glorious state.

LENGTH

1 Day / 0 Overnights

ACCOMMODATIONS

If students do not wish to camp with us, the town of Cripple Creek is a short 15 minute drive from our location and Woodland Park is 30 minutes away. Students will be responsible for making their own reservations with nearby hotels. We do have a central community campfire location with a few designated campsites but mostly offer dispersed camping. Students will be able to drive their car within 100 feet of the main camp and will not have to hike gear in for long distances.

• Shelter Lodging: Students can stay in one of our 20 person GP Medium tents when not running field exercises or may stay in their own tents, campers, vehicles or a primitive shelter. Our tents are complete with wood burning stoves for cold weather conditions. This is a shared tent for all students that wish to use it.
• Sanitation/Hygiene: A portable restroom and potable water will be provided at main camp.

FOOD AND WATER REQUIRED

Water will be provided but students will need to bring their own food. We recommend quick field expedient meals such as freeze dried hiking meals or MRE’s. They can quickly be made at our primitive camps and won’t slow down the learning process. However, students may bring any food that they wish to cook over the campfire or on their own personal camp stove.
Food can be purchased locally at nearby facilities. Walmart and several local eateries are within a reasonable driving distance.

SUGGESTED GEAR LIST

We do not provide students with gear unless they have purchased it from us ahead of time. Not much gear is needed for our courses, though good equipment does speed the learning process up greatly! Gear does not have to be purchased from our store to attend the course, but we recommend survival gear of equivalent quality.

• Foraging bag or basket
• Fixed blade knife (Preferably a full tang bushcraft style knife WITHOUT a serrated edge)
• Poncho or Rain Gear
• Outdoor Clothing and appropriate footwear
• Overnight Camping Gear: Tent, sleeping bag, ground pad, etc
• Headlamp and extra batteries
• Water Bottle
• Cooking pot and eating utensils
• Notepad and pencil
• Sunscreen and sunglasses
• Small Backpack

CLOTHING REQUIRED

Warm outdoor clothing, warm gloves and hat, outdoor boots and wool socks. Cotton clothing is highly discouraged in the mountains! Wool will keep you warm even when wet and synthetics will dry faster. Layers are important in Colorado. You will want a water wicking base layer, an insulating mid layer, and a waterproof breathable outer shell. Check out our Clothes Layering Basics if you are unsure of what to wear.

Check Recommended Items List for more details!

If it is still not clear what gear is needed for our survival courses, then we have assembled a complete kit that is still high quality but for a budget friendly price. All the items in this kit were hand selected by our instructors to be the best bushcraft tools on a budget. This survival kit is a useful starter kit that can be used in all of our courses. These are all must have tools at a good price. It’s a great survival kit, bug out kit, go bag, or use it as a solid foundation to build a kit that perfectly fits your needs. With this kit and our training anybody can survive like a king in almost any environment!

NOTE

Due to the different levels of prior experience and knowledge among students in each class, individual outcomes may vary. Weather conditions can also be a factor in changing class content slightly. Nonetheless, our instructors will always endeavor to be as accommodating and consistent as circumstances will allow to ensure students get the best training experience and value for money.