Originally published for Fungi Magazine Vol 18.4 Fall 2025
By Blake Westman
Standing on a train platform in Lafayette, Indiana I had no idea that what began as a cross-country journey would turn into a life-altering adventure, leading me from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest to study mycology at The Evergreen State College and eventually work for Fungi Perfecti with Paul Stamets. Now, many years later, I see how the journey served as a mystical, like nexus point, leaping into a network of connections to shape the most pivotal experience of my life.
In the summer of 2004, I was 19 years old and full of curiosity. Mushrooms have long fascinated me with their complexity, role in nature, and ethereal qualities. I devoured books, spent hours wandering nearby woods and started my first cultivation projects, somewhat to my parents’ chagrin. When I first heard about the Telluride Mushroom Festival — it called to me. It was a chance to connect with experts in the field and others who shared my passion. I was unbelievably excited and spent the summer picking up construction work and odd jobs to make the leap.
Arriving in Grand Junction, Colorado I still had a long ways to go. Telluride is remote, located hours from the nearest train line, so I hitchhiked. Being from the Midwest, I made a naive decision to get dropped off in Ouray, Colorado thinking: “It’s only 17 miles to Telluride over the pass. I’ll just hike.” What I didn’t account for was the altitude and the beautiful severity of the pass. After spending night sleeping near the crest of Imogene Pass, I arrived standing in the middle of Colorado Ave with the iconic banner of the Telluride Mushroom Festival framing the majestic skyline.
The festival was alive with people bringing freshly collected fungi for identification. Scientists, herbalists, foragers, chefs, artists, and psychonauts came together with a shared reverence for the fungal kingdom. I was swept up with attending lectures, joining forays, and the overall sense of having found my people.
Going on a foray with Larry Evans, watching Gary Lincoff crowning the mushroom parade, and hearing Art Goodtimes wax poetic about the English language was to witness some of the memories that remain crystalline. I learned how to use a taxonomic key for the first time, saw String Cheese Incident perform in Town Park, and most notably watched Paul Stamets speak in person for the first time.
I had been a fan of Paul for years, stemming from the time I was 12 years old and received a Fungi Perfecti catalog (and again to my parents’ chagrin) I started ordering cultivation equipment. So, I was surprised to see Paul standing next to me in line at the Baked in Telluride shop. I was painfully shy, with long hair typically in braids and a propensity to keep my eyes to the ground when in groups of people. My heart was in my throat when I introduced myself. Paul, with a kind twinkle in his kind eye, listened as I fumbled through my appreciation of his work. He smiled warmly and asked thoughtful questions about my interests. I shared my journey from Indiana and my dream of learning more about fungi. Though I do not remember his exact words, the spirit sticks with me. “Wow, that’s quite a journey to get here,” he said. “Keep up the good work.” My order came up on the counter, and I ran to the nearest payphone to inform my best friend that I had just met Paul Stamets!
I left the Telluride Mushroom Festival inspired, and a fire stoked in my heart for fungi. What was intended to be a two-week visit ended up extending my stay much longer due to it being a phenomenal mushroom year. I hitchhiked my way to Olympia, Washington to stay with a high school friend where I foraged mushrooms and enrolled at The Evergreen State College, throwing myself into the study of mycology, fungal ecology, cultivation techniques, and taxonomy in the Fungal Kingdom program.
I studied under brilliant professors who nurtured my curiosity and shared classroom time with Michael Beug, who mentored Paul, and Richard Gaines, who worked with Gastón Guzmán while describing Psilocybe macrocystidia.
My fungal path was taking shape, my curiosity finding structure, and my passion discovering direction. Eventually, that path led me to Fungi Perfecti, where I worked with Stamets and his team of about 20 wonderful and eccentric employees, all devoted to innovation, education, and finding ways to work with fungi to make the world a better place.
The Telluride Mushroom Festival was a nexus point that fostered my curiosity and built a network that not only allows me today to work closely with Stamets as his Director of Product Development, but to also count him as a friend. Working at Fungi Perfecti is more than a career. It’s a daily affirmation of that first instinct to follow the fungi. Every day I watch how these organisms improve life, connect, regenerate, and share their magic with others. I didn’t know it at the time, but when I stood on the platform at the train station in Lafayette, Indiana with the Wabash River gently flowing behind me and a squeal of train tracks marking the adventure of a lifetime in front of me; that I was on my way to the most pivotal experience of my life: the Telluride Mushroom Festival.
