Art Grows on the Trail

JORDAN TOWNSHIP, FILLMORE COUNTY – The Lost Creek Fungi Hunt debuted this summer! Beginning at the Jordan Town Hall west of Chatfield, it featured an artist reception and a group hike led by Lydia Hansen, sponsored by the Bluff Country Hiking Club.

Hansen, a fiber artist from Rochester, introduced her first public art installation, sold some of her creations and led participants to a portion of Lost Creek Hiking Trail (Bailey’s Loop) to find a few of her fungi.

Fifteen crocheted mushrooms representing those that can be found in southeastern Minnesota are strategically placed along the Lost Creek Hiking Trail. The trail spans approximately 6.5 miles and is a beautiful hike through a diverse countryside of babbling streams with bridge crossings, farmland, fields of prairie grasses and forest. Most of the trail runs through privately owned lands.

Lydia Hansen shares details about her art installation during a presentation at Jordan Town Hall. (Photo by Laurie Byrne)

Learning through public art

Hansen enjoys using public art to inform, inspire and share space with a community. Drawn to working and supporting other artists, she has participated in events such as painting murals in communities where she lived.

In 2023, Hansen created a fiber sculpture garden and part of this creating process “took her to the streets” where she works on her pieces, inviting others to participate.

One such group experience recently took place at Dream Acres Farm where participants were taught how to make yarn pom-poms (this reporter included). The artist then took these pom-poms to attach to and create her sculptures. Her Sensory Sculpture Garden, which she encouraged viewers to “look AND touch” was displayed at Threshold Arts last fall.

Artist Conk is a shelf fungus that’s found on hardwood stumps all over the world. (Photo by Laurie Byrne)

More public, more permanent, more fungi

As Hansen brainstormed her next project, she thought of ways to create an art installation that would be displayed for a length of time in a public place. She examined the items that she was already making – fiber “paintings” of plants, flowers and mushrooms. She was looking for something that would have a “Wow factor”.  She was already making smaller scale mushrooms and attaching them to wood so why not make bigger mushrooms and attach them to wood in the wild?

Chicken of Woods is a bracket fungus that is typically found at the base of oak trees. Hansen placed hers higher on the trunk for easier viewing. (Photo by Laurie Byrne)

Growing up in rural Racine and being an avid hiker, Hansen was familiar with Lost Creek Hiking Trail. The trail was a perfect fit with its abundance of dead trees and stumps as realistic hosts for her crochet mushrooms.

The length of the trail aided in the ability to spread her art out and the Bluff Country Hiking Club, who developed and maintains the trail, gave her an enthusiastic “YES!” when she approached them with her idea.

A true cycle of life through yarn

In March, Hansen went to work creating her mushrooms, researching local fungi, collecting material and crocheting. Hansen wanted to use material that would be symbolic to the life cycle of mushrooms.

In nature mushrooms release spores, decompose, form mycelium and eventually are reborn into new mushrooms; “…the end of one life cycle, the breaking down of matter is the beginning of another life cycle.”

Thus, Hansen intentionally found ways to repurpose and give new life to the materials that she used. Recycled Styrofoam was used for mushrooms that needed a little more structure. Leftover and discarded yarns from past projects were used, donated or purchased from either her own stash or from fellow fiber artists.

The lifecycle of Hansen’s crocheted mushrooms is one thing she’s interested in witnessing. The art installation will be up for a full year from June 2024 to June 2025. Yes, that means outside in the elements so the art can be viewed in all of the beautiful, changing Minnesota seasons. And like mushrooms found in nature, they may likely experience some decomposition.

All the fiber art mushrooms are accompanied with identification signs and are viewable from the trail. Hansen created wood-burned identification signs and enlisted the help of a few of her siblings to install all the components of her fungi exhibit.

A crocheted installation of Honey Mushrooms which normally live on trees and woody shrubs. (Photo by Laurie Byrne)

Keeping the experience growing and changing

Hansen is hoping to collaborate with others to host events; her wish list includes several currently in development:

• September – an Art in Nature Hike with Lydia Hansen and a local naturalist
• October – a foraging activity/discussion with Kalvin Stern, mushroom farmer and owner of Fiddlehead Knob
• Winter event with Bill Bailey discussing forestry and timber management
• Spring 2025 – Spring flower nature hike with a DNR naturalist

Hansen’s upcoming markets and events can be found on the Events Page of her website or through her social media; please use #lostcreekfungihunt if you are sharing the Hansen-made mushrooms you find on the trail (the link includes a short video of the project).

The crochet fungi art installation will come down in June 2025 but that won’t be the last of it! Hansen is planning an exhibit in the 1916 Gallery at the Chatfield Center for the Arts which will include photography she plans to take of the mushrooms over the next year as well as replicas displayed on wood.

Lost Creek Hiking Trail Map. (Graphic provided by Bluff Country Hiking Club)

Tips for visiting the lost creek hiking trail

The Lost Creek Hiking Trail is located just west of Chatfield. The trail runs in one direction, with parking located at Groen Park (on Hwy 2, just west of the stoplights in Chatfield) or at Ninebark Road Trailhead (follow Highway 2 further west and turn south on Ninebark Road; you can see the trailhead from the road). 

Conditions of the trail can be affected by flooding and some restrictions are in place for safety during hunting season. For more information, check the Bluff Country Hiking Club website before heading out.

Lost Creek Fungi Hunt sign at the Ninebark Trailhead. (Photo by Laurie Byrne)

To protect the woods, please view the mushrooms from the trail. Also watch for real mushrooms — but since the trail runs on private property, do not harvest mushrooms. Please respect the landowners so that this trail can continue to exist.

Art that makes you really look

Oftentimes when hiking I catch myself focusing more on speed or on my feet as I try to avoid stumbling on rocks and roots. I noticed when hiking the trail for this story that I couldn’t go fast, watched my feet, and was on the lookout for fungi all at the same time! This caused me to intentionally slow down and be aware of my surroundings.

Along the way, I found mushrooms – Lydia-made and nature-made – saw a cardinal, heard birds singing and enjoyed the lush green of the woods. I encourage you to do the same!