We had a good crowd show up for today's walk, which was ably led by Al Turri. As you can see from the photos (click on each for a larger view), we had a pretty good haul of Morchella elata, the Black Morel. Incidentally, this morel species is preferred by many people, notably westerners, over the delicious Morchella esculenta, the Yellow Morel. Typically, the Yellow Morel appears a week or so after the Black Morel, and this indeed is undoubtedly the case for us. The Yellow morels we did find were diminutive! My guess is that we may find Morchella esculenta over the next couple of weeks - if we can just see where they are! The cool spring, no doubt, has delayed their appearance.

Dianna