Lost Mushroom Foragers Survived Like Tree Elves
When I first heard about the lost mushroom foragers, I kind of assumed they'd eaten the wrong kind of mushrooms — or the right kind, depending on your intention. I'll admit this theory was inspired by the completely unsubtle field of poppies scene in The Wizard of Oz. But sometimes a mushroom expedition is just a mushroom expedition, and this family of three simply got lost. The story of how they survived, however, is delightful, as reported by the AP.
Three mushroom pickers took refuge in a hollowed out tree after getting lost in an Oregon forest, fighting wintry chills for six days and drinking water from streams until a helicopter pilot spotted them.
Back up. They were living in a hollowed out tree like Keebler elves. The only thing more exciting to me would be if they'd somehow managed to construct mushroom houses in the style of the Smurfs. (For this to work, I believe you have to be exactly three apples tall.) The whole story just has a magical feel, down to the mystical mushrooms they were seeking.
The ordeal began last Sunday when the three went out looking for hedgehog mushrooms, an orange-topped fungus prized by mushroom hunters for its sweet and nutty flavor.
Yeah, I know none of this is actually magic. Hollowed out trees are valid shelter. Orange-topped hedgehog mushrooms are delicious and real. Even the fact that the family survived and endured minimal injuries is likely more good luck than "a miracle," as Curry County Sheriff John Bishop put it.
But listen — you have your Super Bowl, I have my delusions of a lost family making grasshopper cookies in a hollow tree. What's important is that everyone involved survived, whether by good fortune or intervention from the fae world.
