by Lisa Snider

Created on: April 23, 2008   Last Updated: April 24, 2008

On the Chanterelle Trail
For those in the know, the backcountry holds a cachet of gastronomic delights.

Out in the backcountry of California's Los Padres National Forest, a hunter stalks his prey with a quiet determination and a fierce resolve. Armed only with a pocket knife and a canvas bag to stow his harvest, the hunter is careful to hide all traces of his exploits. As soon as he is home with his prize, he cleans it meticulously and tosses the flesh into a hot pan then devours every morsel.

"It's so good with just butter and salt on toast," says hunter Tim Lindemann. "A hint of white wine is good, too," adds fellow hunter Will Silver.

Lindemann and Silver are among a handful of avid huntersmushroom hunterswho forage the oaks of the Los Padres for the ultimate prize: the coveted chanterelle mushroom. Cultivated varieties aren't nearly as good as the untamed fungi that are hunted down in the wild. Some are stolen from the Los Padres, and some are taken with permission by permitted commercial collectors then sold to local restaurants. But many are harvested by hobbyists like Lindemann and Silver, who make friends and family swoon when they come home with scrumptious chanterelles.

The chanterelle is a trumpet-shaped, firm, fleshy, symbiotic root fungus that grows on the roots of oak trees. Their season runs from fall to spring, usually following a decent rainstorm. According to Dr. Steve Norris, a natural history authority and lecturer for California State University Channel Islands, the best place to find mushrooms is in the backcountry. "You've got to get in the forest where there is moisture in the soil," says Norris.

Lindemann, a 34-year-old Santa Barbara native, picked his first mushroom when he was 10. An avid outdoorsman, he knows every nook and cranny of the coastal mountain backcountry of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. As a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz, with a bachelor's degree in biology, he spent a fair amount of time learning mycology, the study of fungi.

Despite his years of study, he is also keenly aware of the dangers that come with picking mushrooms. "There is always some risk to wild mushroom collecting," says Lindemann. Recoun-ting the stories of the genus Amanita, also known as the "death cap," he explains this is a variety that has killed mushroom experts the most often. This is why he sticks with the chanterellebecause of all the wild mushrooms available in the area, it is the easiest to recognize. "It has very identifiable

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