Created: 2008-02-02 10:17:51

By: Tom Volk (TomVolk)

Summary: Wildcat Mountain— cool spot

Comment: Wildcat Mountain, east of La Crosse where I live, is also in the “driftless” area of Wisconsin. Unlike most of Wisconsin and Minnesota, the glaciers went around the driftles area 10,000 years ago. All the ridges and valleys (we call them coulees) were formed from glacial melt, eventually all leading into the Mississippi River. The best place to collect in Wildcat mountain is a northern relict,which was never logged and contains trees and fungi native to northern Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota— old growth white pine, eastern hemlock, and yellow birch. We have a lot of unusual distributions of fungi here and in the rest of the driftless area. You’re welcome to come visit!