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Big South Fork / NE TN Foraging Conditions — ForageIQ

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Big South Fork / NE TN

800–1,900 ft · TN🚗 Directions

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Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area straddling the TN-KY line on the northern Cumberland Plateau. Sandstone gorges, natural arches, and mixed mesophytic forest in the deep coves. Tulip poplar, sugar maple, white oak, beech, and basswood with hemlock declining in the cool ravines. Spring morels in cove forests and old farm flats; chanterelles, black trumpets, and chicken in summer; hen-of-the-woods and lion's mane on big oaks and beeches in fall.

Trees:Tulip Poplar Sugar Maple American Beech

Updated May 29, 4:23 AM MT

AI Conditions Report

AI-generated · verify in field

Big South Fork is firing on all cylinders right now—S-tier conditions with zero limiting factors. Soil temp at 72°F combined with sustained moisture (3.7" in both the 7- and 14-day windows) has triggered a broad fruiting window across both wood-decayers and ground-fruiting species. Wine Caps, Dryad's Saddle, and all your jelly fungi (Witch's Butter, Jelly Ear, Wood Ear) are actively fruiting; the polypores and conks are pushing hard too. There's literally no weather headwind here—this is peak spring-into-early-summer conditions. Watch the next 5–7 days for drying; this tier will hold as long as the moisture stays above that 0.27 VWC threshold, which means any rain event resets the clock favorably. The morels might be fading fast at this elevation and date, but everything woody-substrate is still prime. **Hot tip:** Hit the half-free morels in shaded ravine mouths *today*—you're probably on the tail end of that window at 72°F soil.

Generated by Claude (Anthropic) from the structured weather, soil, and phenology data on this page. The LLM can misread edge cases — treat this as a starting hypothesis, not a guarantee. Always verify conditions on the ground before committing to a long drive.

Foraging Potential95/100

✅Moisture

✅Soil Temp

✅No Freeze

✅No Drought

Precip 7d

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Nearby Camping

Within(0)

No campgrounds within 10 mi. Try widening the radius.

⚠ Road Access Notice

Always verify road access is public before following GPS directions to mountain areas. Many forest roads are seasonal, gated, or require 4WD. Dispersed camping follows USFS/BLM rules (typically 14-day limit). Check ranger district offices for current road and campground conditions.

Viable Species

Confidence × Primordia state

HIGHPrimed

Wine Cap

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Turkey Tail

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Dryad's Saddle

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Witch's Butter

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Jelly Ear

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Dead Man's Fingers

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fairy Ring Champignon

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Artist's Conk

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Birch Polypore

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Tinder Fungus

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Devil's Urn

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Mica Cap

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fool's Mushroom

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fairy Inkcap

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Red-Belted Conk

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Thin-Walled Maze Polypore

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Mossy Maze Polypore

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

False Turkey Tail

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Half-Free Morel

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Snow Fungus

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Wood Ear

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Black Cup

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Green Elfcup

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Aspen Oyster

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Wolf's Milk Slime

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

King Alfred's Cakes

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Oak Mazegill

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Banded Mottlegill

All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

Primordia readiness: Cold = mycelium dormant. Activating = soil warming, primordia building. Primed = 5+ sustained warm days at species threshold; fruiting imminent if moisture cooperates. Based on Schmidt 1983 / Mihail 2007.