Join us in the beautiful Sierra Foothills: a wild plant and mushroom guided walk near Nevada City!  Hang out by the stunning Yuba River, visit friends, and make it a weekend adventure, or if you're local, deepen your relationship with your spring flora and funga. All details you need including packing list, meet up location and more will be sent once your booking in confirmed.  Spring is a great time for an adventure! 

What You'll Learn

This program emphasizes spring plants and also covers any mushrooms we encounter in the Sierra foothills region. With the elevation, the ecology changes from California's winter coastal sea-level flora and funga. We will cover tree, plant, and mushroom identification, symbiotic forest partnerships, poisonous and edible trees, plants, and mushrooms, as well as forest safety.  

It's possible we can find elfin saddles, miner's lettuce, chickweed, cleavers, maple blossoms, pine and fir tips, and more!  We'll also cover wild berries, although they won't have fruit on them just yet. But you'll still learn how to know their leaves for later in the season!  You will leave with foundational skills to be able to go out foraging on your own in the foothills region. This time of year, we will be focused more on plants, and less on mushrooms, but we may still encounter them!  The program also includes community building and a tasting at the end. This is an experiential, hands-on half-day program that starts at 1pm.  A portion of your program fee goes to Native American Rights Fund. 

Where

Nevada City/Grass Valley area. Exact location provided with registration. 

Instructor

Thea Chesney (she/her) is an expert naturalist and a lifelong Sierra Nevada foothill resident. Her childhood interest in local mushrooms, wildlife, and flora has developed into an unending devotion to studying and understanding the natural world. She earned her BS in forestry from UC Berkeley while pursuing her passion for fungal taxonomy in the Berkeley mycology labs, and since then has spent her time exploring the California mountains and the organisms that call them home. She has worked as a botanist, a forester, and field mycologist. Her fieldwork and her own studies are centered in the mountains of California.

"What a thoroughly enjoyable and educational experience! Our guides were delightfully grounded, with big hearts and sharp foraging minds. With their skillful support, our little group had a great time learning about fungi and voraciously foraging in the forest. Everyone found something edible to bring home."

-happy participant from this season

Ticket Options

• $100 pay it forward adult ticket 

• $85 adult standard adult ticket

• $70 adult community-supported adult ticket

• $70 per teen (age 13-17, must be accompanied by an adult)

• $50 per child (age 12 and under)

This trip goes rain or shine! 

• All participants should be prepared to walk slowly covering about 3-5 miles on uneven terrain.  

• We prefer to teach in small groups, so our groups are capped at 20 participants.

• Fees cover program costs only and do not cover transportation or lodging. 

• You will be required to sign a waiver to participate. 

• While we usually do, finding edibles is not a guarantee.

More Important Details

These programs are very popular and often fill up very quickly. We encourage you to register right away if you'd like to attend!

You will receive a registration confirmation once we've received this form + your payment + your signed liability waiver. We cannot hold your spot until we've received all 3. If you submit your registration in the evening or on a weekend it may take us 12-24 hours to send the confirmation.