Twenty years of trial, error, and mud — distilled to the gear that earns its place in the truck.
Guests always ask where to get the kit after a foray. This is it — the exact knives, baskets and boots I use and lend. Nothing here is sponsored placement; it's simply what survives this coast. Buying through these links supports the forays at no extra cost to you.
— The Knife —
Curved blade · boar-bristle brush · beechwood
The French classic, and not just because I'm biased. The curved blade cuts clean at the base, the brush sweeps the duff off before it hits your basket, and it folds safely into a pocket. The same knife guests use on every foray — and the one in your take-home Forager's Kit if you upgrade.
The gift version
Same blade, same brush, dressed-up oak handle. The one to buy when the foray was a gift and the thank-you should be too.
— The Basket —
Elephant-grass weave · leather-wrapped handle · breathes beautifully
Hand-woven in Ghana from tough elephant grass, with a leather-wrapped handle built to be hauled. It breathes even better than wicker — mushrooms stay firm and dry, and the open weave sifts spores back onto the forest floor as you walk, seeding next season. Dye-free and made entirely by hand, so no two are quite alike. Light, tough, and handsome enough to carry straight from the woods to the farmers' market.
The backpacker's option
When the hike is long and the basket stays home: a coarse mesh bag does the same spore-spreading work and stuffs into a daypack. Second-best, but the best second.
Keep species separate · breathable · pocketable
The pocket trick I use all day: a few waxed paper bags let you keep each species — or each questionable find — apart, so a maybe-edible never touches tonight's dinner, and delicate black trumpets or morels don't get crushed at the bottom of the basket. They breathe far better than plastic and tuck flat into a jacket. There's a handful in every guest's kit.
— The Boots —
The tidepool workhorse
What Alaskan deckhands wear, and what survives our tidepools: real grip on wet rock and kelp, slips on in two seconds, rinses clean. If you join a coastal foray, these are the single best thing you can bring.
For clamming & deep mud
When the gaper clams are two feet down and the tide flat wants your ankles, you want the full 15 inches of legend. Overkill for mushroom forays; exactly right for the big diggers.
— The Rain Kit · When It Rains, It Spores —
Fishing-grade PVC or rubberized shell — not a hiking windbreaker
The best mushroom days are the wet ones — rain wakes the mycelium and fills the baskets. A breathable hiking shell soaks through in an hour of pushing past dripping huckleberry. What works is what fishermen wear: Helly Hansen or Grundéns-style rubberized shells that simply do not let water in.
For kneeling at the find
Every good chanterelle demands you kneel in wet duff to cut it clean. Bibs mean you do it gladly, all day, and ride home dry. Pair with the XTRATUFs below the knee and December can do its worst.
— The Tide Kit · Clamming & Urchin —
CDFW requires a measuring device on you
Not optional: California requires every clammer to carry a measuring device, and the warden will ask. A stainless gauge or caliper lives in your pocket, settles every "is it legal?" in two seconds, and saves the small ones for next year.
Narrow blade · long reach for gapers
Horsenecks live two feet down and laugh at garden trowels. A proper narrow-bladed clam shovel moves sand fast without shattering shells — remember, every clam you dig counts toward your limit, broken or not.
Spine-proof · warm in cold water
Purple urchins are spines, not venom — but bare hands learn that lesson exactly once. These insulated rubber gloves handle urchins, mussel rock, and December tidepools without complaint. The ones in our loaner bin.
When the gapers are past where boots end
The 15" boots handle most tides — but the best horseneck beds sit where a rogue swell or a deep hole will top them. Bootfoot chest waders (boots built in, nothing to rig) let you work the low flat with full attention on the dig instead of the waterline. Cleated soles, not felt.
3 ft length · 12–15" diameter · stops the hole collapsing
Horsenecks can sit up to four feet down, and loose tide-flat sand refills a hole as fast as you dig it. The old-timers' fix: a 3-foot section of 12–15" pipe, worked down into the sand as you go, holding the walls open while you chase the siphon. The honest truth: pipe this size lives at plumbing & irrigation supply houses (ask for 12" SDR-35 sewer pipe — one 14-foot stick cuts into four tubes), not on hardware-store shelves. Easier finds: 12" corrugated culvert pipe, or simply a heavy plastic drum with the bottom cut off. On our clamming forays, tubes are provided.
Scissor-action cutter · clean circle, no crushed roe
The tool the uni bars use: a scissor-action opener that punches into the test and cuts a clean round lid, leaving the five golden lobes untouched below. Paderno and Jetter make solid stainless versions; the Japanese "Uni-Kun" is the connoisseur's pick. Once you've opened ten urchins with one, shears feel like vandalism.
The no-special-tools option
No opener? Heavy kitchen shears crack an urchin like an egg, and a slim spoon lifts the lobes whole. Less elegant, fully effective — add a squeeze of lemon and you've out-cooked the sushi bar from a tidepool.
— Drying & Preserving —
9 trays · even horizontal airflow
The one I use and trust. Excalibur's horizontal airflow dries every tray evenly — no rotating, no hot spots — and the adjustable thermostat holds the low, slow heat that keeps mushrooms flavorful. Built to run season after season; if you're serious, buy it once.
Where to start · great value
The smart way in without overspending. The Nesco 1000 series dries a full haul of chanterelles or morels reliably, expands with extra trays, and costs a fraction of the Excalibur. When you outgrow it, you'll know exactly why the Excalibur is worth it.
Air-dry anywhere · folds flat
A stack of mesh tiers that hangs from a branch or a car hook. On multi-day trips with no dehydrator, this is how you keep the morning's haul from turning to mush by nightfall — sun to dry, shade to hold fresh.
Rinse, flip, dry
A perforated tray that rinses grit and pine duff off the haul, then flips over to become a drying rack. A small thing that saves a gritty dinner.
Airtight, stackable, see-what-you-have
Wide-mouth glass jars are where the dried haul lives. Sealed up, they keep chanterelles and porcini crisp and bug-free for a year, and you can see exactly what's left. Quart and pint sizes cover everything from a winter of morels to a gift jar of black trumpets.
Pull the air, double the shelf life
A vacuum sealer with a jar-lid attachment pulls the air straight out of a mason jar — no oxygen, no slow staling. Dried mushrooms sealed this way hold their aroma far longer than a screw-top alone. A FoodSaver-style unit with the wide- and regular-mouth jar attachments is all you need.
Humidity and oxygen, gone
Two small insurance policies for the jar: silica-gel desiccant packs pull any lingering moisture that would soften your dried mushrooms, and food-grade oxygen absorbers stop the slow staling that dulls their flavor. One of each in a sealed jar and the haul keeps a year or more.
— On Your Back —
Carries the basket, the layers, the lunch
Any comfortable 20–30 L daypack with a hip belt does the job — room for your basket, rain shell, water and lunch, and a spot to clip a mesh bag on the hike out. What you already hike with is probably perfect.
Water without stopping
A 2–3 L bladder that slots into your pack means you drink as you walk instead of digging for a bottle. Off-trail days are longer than they look — bring more water than you think.
The Forager's Kit · $39 — Opinel No.08, linen gear bag, and the mushroom pocket field guide, waiting in your basket at the end of the foray.
The Tidepooler's Kit · $49 — clam gauge, Atlas tide gloves, sea urchin opener, and the tidepool pocket guide, packed in the same linen bag for coastal experiences.
Add to your booking— The Forager's Library —
The field guides and cookbooks now have their own page. Browse the Forager's Library →