Alan R.

Alan Rockefeller specializes in mushroom taxonomy. He has been collecting mushrooms for ten years, and has traveled to Mexico to collect mushrooms for the past 6 summers. Alan is a network security expert, a moderator at the Shroomery Mushroom Hunting and Identification Forum, and posts all of his mushroom photographs on mushroomobserver.org. When he is not hunting mushrooms Alan spends his time looking at mushrooms under the microscope, soldering electronics, hacking unix and sequencing mushroom DNA.

Languages: English, Spanish

All experiences are pre-screened through the Vayable team by guide interviews, identity verification and references.

Featured Experiences

Reviews for Alan R.

James N. for Forage for Urban Mushrooms

Alan is encyclopediacally knowledgeable about mushrooms making a great guide you will learn a lot from

Nick N. for Forage for Urban Mushrooms

Mushroom hunting – its weird, intriguing, and definitely awesome. Alan is the Mushroom King/Expert! He was extremely knowledgeable about every strange shroom that we came across. Whether they were edible, poisonous, or magic, Alan would immediately identify the specimen and fill us in its strange properties. When we first went out foraging, I was astounded that Alan would simply lift us an unsuspecting pile of brush only to uncover little mushroom towns! After a while I started finding mushrooms all over – everything from giant, red, Super-Mario-type mushrooms, to rust colored, spongy shrooms, to dark purple, poisonous ones. It was a one of a kind experience I would recommend to anyone curious about the amazing world around them. Not only will you walk away with some really interesting knowledge, but also a few delicious edible mushrooms that you can cook up at home – and maybe even some strange, magic ones…

Nancy Y. for Forage for Urban Mushrooms

Going mushroom foraging with Alan was a fun and educational experience. You can really tell he knows what he's talking about, and his enthusiasm was infectious. Definitely a good wintertime activity in the Bay Area, since it's the peak season for mushrooms. I recommend this tour to anyone who's interested in mushrooms, because Alan is a great teacher!

June L. for Forage for Urban Mushrooms

This tour is amazing! I went on it with tons of other mushroom enthusiasts, but it's a great experience best shared with small groups. It started off with a brief talk where he showed about 20 different types of mushrooms and taught us everything from how to read a spore print to what the laws are around picking and consumption of wild mushrooms. From gelatinous brain-like mushrooms to ones that looked like starfish to ones that have hallucinogenic properties, there are so many different types of mushrooms thriving in this cool, damp, and foggy fungal paradise that is Golden Gate Park. Every time we found a different kind of mushroom, we took it to Alan to identify. He looked at them and could tell immediately what type of mushroom it was, or with the help of some scratching (to inspect the layers) and tasting (much to our dismay). Whether you’re looking for something that has mind expanding powers or just some delicious wild mushrooms for your upcoming dinner party, Alan knows the best ways to prepare them and, more importantly, which ones not to consume. Eating the wrong type of mushroom can be deadly, so it’s best to go with an expert who knows what he’s talking about!