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1,200–3,500 ft · KY🚗 Directions
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and the southeastern Cumberland Plateau — sandstone gorges, rhododendron-laurel slicks, and mixed mesophytic coves where the Appalachians narrow into Tennessee and Virginia. Pine Mountain, Black Mountain, and the Pine Mountain SF corridor. Tulip poplar, white oak, hemlock (declining), basswood, and yellow buckeye in coves. Spring morels in disturbed flats and dying-ash drainages; ramps in upper coves; chanterelles, black trumpets, and hen-of-the-woods through summer/fall.
Updated May 29, 4:23 AM MT
# Cumberland Gap / SE KY — S Tier (2026-05-29) This region is S-tier clean: soil is locked at 71°F with seven consecutive days above threshold, and you've got sustained moisture at 0.32 VWC average over two weeks with zero drought stress. That's the floor condition for the widest possible fruiting window. No limiting factors means you're looking at genuinely abundant production across wood-decay and ground-fruiting species alike—the whole ecosystem is primed. The breadth of viability here is your real signal. Wine Caps, Dryad's Saddles, and Turkey Tail are firing, but don't sleep on the gelatinous crowd (Witch's Butter, Wood Ear, Jelly Ear) or the inkcaps—May at 70°F soil is *exactly* when those species explode. The polypores (Artist's, Birch, Red-Belted, Tinder Fungus) are into their peak fruiting window too. There's nothing holding any of these back. Watch the next 48–72 hours for saturation. With 4" in two weeks, if you get another pulse of rain you'll see explosive pinsets across all species simultaneously—that's when selective harvesting matters most. Right now you're in the accumulation phase; the next weather event flips it to the window-closure phase. **Hot tip:** Hit the aspens and mixed hardwood understory hard—Aspen Oyster and the inkcap complex fruit fastest and window closes soonest; the polypores will be there for weeks.
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.
Precip 7d
Log your find on iNaturalist to help the community and get expert ID assistance. Photos, location, and habitat notes all help with identification.
3.96"
PRISM 4km · thru 05-27
Precip 14d
Observed precipitation from PRISM 4km gridded analysis, sampled at the region centroid through 2026-05-27. Used when no SNOTEL/SCAN station is mapped to this region.3.96"
PRISM 4km · thru 05-27
Soil Temp
71°F
SWE
Snow Water Equivalent — how much water is in the snowpack vs. normal. Declining SWE means snowmelt is adding moisture to the soil.0%
Drought
None
Snowmelt
complete
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 71°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.29 VWC, 7d avg 0.32 — 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.