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1,000–8,000 ft · WA🚗 Directions
Gifford Pinchot NF around Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams. Famous for morel flushes in disturbed areas. Mixed conifer and old-growth. Productive chanterelle and matsutake grounds.
Updated Jul 13, 4:04 AM MT
**Gifford Pinchot Tier A – The Dry-Spell Paradox** You're rated A because the ecological setup *should* be prime—snowmelt complete, elevation zone locked in, no active drought designation—but persistent desiccation is throttling fruiting across the board. Soil sits at 52.7°F with zero rain in 7 days and only 0.36" in 14; the moisture deficit (0.10 VWC sustained) is the binding constraint, not temperature. Reishi, Chaga, Indigo Milk Cap, and the bolete complex (Birch, Red-Capped Scaber, Bitter, Chicken-Fat) are your moderate-tier plays—they *can* fruit here, but each is fighting marginal moisture conditions. Everything below moderate tier gets knocked out by cold soil below its threshold; everything moderate-tier is moisture-starved. The limiting factor is simple: lack of sustained soil water. You're in the window where you should be finding fruit, but the ground is too dry to trigger flushes. Watch the next 48–72 hours closely. Even 0.3–0.5" of rain at this elevation will recharge the upper soil profile enough to push Reishi and Chaga into play; a proper storm (1"+) resets the board entirely for boletes and milk caps. **Hot tip:** Scout north-facing slopes and seepage zones now—soil there will hold moisture 5–10% higher than south-facing ridges, and that's where your first Reishi or Chaga caps will push through the moment humidity spikes.
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
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Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
60 sites
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
⚠ 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.
0.00"
PRISM 4km · thru 07-11
Precip 14d
Observed precipitation from PRISM 4km gridded analysis, sampled at the region centroid through 2026-07-11. Used when no SNOTEL/SCAN station is mapped to this region.0.36"
PRISM 4km · thru 07-11
Soil Temp
53°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
soil too cold (53°F, 0/7 days above 58°F), insufficient moisture (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil temp marginal (53°F vs 55°F min, 0/7 days above), moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil temp marginal (53°F vs 55°F min, 0/7 days above), moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil temp marginal (53°F vs 55°F min, 0/7 days above), moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil too cold (53°F, 0/7 days above 58°F), insufficient moisture (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil too cold (53°F, 0/7 days above 58°F), insufficient moisture (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil too cold (53°F, 0/7 days above 58°F), insufficient moisture (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil temp marginal (53°F vs 55°F min, 0/7 days above), moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil temp marginal (53°F vs 55°F min, 0/7 days above), moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil too cold (53°F, 0/7 days above 58°F), insufficient moisture (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil too cold (53°F, 0/7 days above 58°F), insufficient moisture (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil too cold (53°F, 0/7 days above 58°F), insufficient moisture (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil too cold (53°F, 0/7 days above 58°F), insufficient moisture (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil too cold (53°F, 0/7 days above 58°F), insufficient moisture (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil temp marginal (53°F vs 55°F min, 0/7 days above), moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil temp marginal (53°F vs 55°F min, 0/7 days above), moisture marginal (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
soil too cold (53°F, 0/7 days above 60°F), insufficient moisture (today 0.10 VWC, 7d avg 0.10 — sustained dry)
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.