I was so thrilled to see this species of fungus (Hydnellum caeruleum) again, when friend Sandy and I went along the Icefields Parkway to Peyto Lake (and a little further, to Mistaya Canyon), on 29 August 2013. I had seen it maybe three or so times before, but it is such a treat to see. So unusual and beautiful. There were several of these all together along the trail to the lake lookout, mixed in with Hydnellum peckii, which I posted the other day. Love the blueish-white droplets that it is oozing. While we were looking at them and I was taking photos, a young guy stopped to see what we were looking at. He, too, took photos. A short while later, we bumped into him at the Peyto Lake lookout and he showed us his hands and fingers that had turned orange. I wondered if he had actually touched the fungus. On our walk back through the forest to the parking lot, I stopped to take a few more photos of them, resting my hands on the ground. Sure enough, I ended up with orange hands, too. Would this be from spores? This specimen may have been something like an inch or less in length, and has "teeth", not gills underneath, which you can see in my photo.
botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/aug2003.html
www.mushroomexpert.com/hydnellum_caeruleum.html 