You're offline — showing cached data

Loading conditions…

Vail / Eagle County Foraging Conditions — ForageIQ

🚗 Get Directions

Vail / Eagle County

8,000–11,000 ft · CO🚗 Directions

S

Central mountain zone between Front Range and Western Slope. Spruce-fir and aspen. Excellent king bolete habitat. Vail and Minturn as base towns.

Trees:Engelmann Spruce Subalpine Fir Aspen

Permit Info →

Updated Aug 27, 4:04 AM MT

AI Conditions Report

AI-generated · verify in field

**Vail / Eagle County – S Tier Flash Window** You're sitting in a prime alpine window: 34 high-viability species across boletes, milk caps, corals, and amanitas are live right now. Sustained soil moisture (0.21–0.22 VWC over 7 days) combined with consistent 50°F+ temps has triggered the full slate. The bolete run is especially strong—Bay, Painted, Chicken-Fat, and Bitter are all firing. Lobsters and hedgehogs round out the trophy tier. Watch desiccation risk moderate; afternoon winds and sun exposure will accelerate dry-down, so hit north-facing slopes and understory before noon. The margin is razor-thin: another 0.3–0.5 inches of rain in the next 3 days locks this in; no rain and you drop to A tier by labor day. Soil temp is *just* above threshold; any cooling kills the marginal callers (Cauliflower, Reishi, Stinkhorns). Hot tip: Prioritize Painted and Chicken-Fat boletes on duff under conifers—they flush hard in this 48–54°F sweet spot and vanish fast once temps climb.

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

Found something?

Log your find on iNaturalist to help the community and get expert ID assistance. Photos, location, and habitat notes all help with identification.

Log on iNaturalist View recent finds nearby →

Nearby Camping

Within(6)

Vail Area

developed

USFS~1 mi from center

Gore Creek Campground

developed

USFS~5.2 mi from center

White River National Forest

Halfmoon Campground

developed

USFS~9.5 mi from center

White River National Forest

Half Moon Campground

developed

USFS (White River NF)~9.5 mi from center

Hornsilver Campsite

developed

~9.7 mi from center

Hornsilver Campground

developed

USFS~9.7 mi from center

White River 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.

Viable Species

Confidence × Primordia state

MODERATECold

Cauliflower MushroomSparassis crispa

soil temp marginal (51°F vs 58°F min, 0/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained

HIGHPrimed

Hedgehog MushroomHydnum repandum

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

MODERATEActivating

ReishiGanoderma tsugae

soil temp marginal (51°F vs 55°F min, 0/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained

HIGHPrimed

Pink-Tipped CoralRamaria botrytis

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Indigo Milk CapLactarius indigo

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Saffron Milk CapLactarius deliciosus

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Panther CapAmanita pantherina

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Pig's EarsGomphus clavatus

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Bleeding ToothHydnellum peckii

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Gypsy MushroomCortinarius caperatus

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

The PrinceAgaricus augustus

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Bay BoleteImleria badia

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Bitter BoleteTylopilus felleus

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Painted BoleteSuillus spraguei

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Chicken-Fat BoleteSuillus americanus

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Shrimp RussulaRussula xerampelina

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

The SickenerRussula emetica

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Short-Stemmed RussulaRussula brevipes

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Coker's AmanitaAmanita cokeri

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Deadly WebcapCortinarius rubellus

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Bloody WebcapCortinarius sanguineus

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Bleeding AgaricusAgaricus haemorrhoidarius

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Red-Belted ConkFomitopsis pinicola

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Sweet ToothHydnum umbilicatum

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Jelly AntlerCalocera viscosa

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Red CoralRamaria araiospora

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Angel WingsPleurocybella porrigens

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Yellow Fly AgaricAmanita muscaria var. guessowii

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Scaly Wood MushroomAgaricus silvaticus

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Lobster MushroomHypomyces lactifluorum

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Slippery JackSuillus luteus

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Hawks Wing

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Amanita Muscaria

All conditions met (soil 51°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained)

MODERATEActivating

Common StinkhornPhallus impudicus

soil temp marginal (51°F vs 55°F min, 0/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — moisture sustained

MODERATECold

Dune StinkhornPhallus hadriani

soil temp marginal (51°F vs 60°F min, 0/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.21 — 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.