Finding mushrooms

Two weeks ago, when I was out riding my bicycle, I followed a new trail. I rode slowly as the gravel beneath me was still a little bit moist from last night's rain and, although riding on gravel is relatively safe as it isn't slippery, I didn't knew the trail that well. 

So riding on a slower pace gave me the opportunity to observe the surroundings and to take in all of the small details. 

The fresh smell of the pine trees, the soft sound produced by my wheels on the gravel and the different shades of green every plant had.

I kept pedaling and pedaling, and with every stroke of the pedal, I absorbed more and more of the near environment as I was passing by. 

One thing though that it really catch my eye was a particular spot that had lots of rocks and the whole space between each rock was covered by some really small, but very bright, green colored plants. 

The upper leaves of these little plants had the shape of a star. I tried to capture them with my camera phone, but sadly it doesn't show that well. 

They seemed so fragile, however they didn't broke under my weight as I was walking all over them. 

A couple of meters to the left was another plant, with a cooler undertone in its green leaves, and as I was approaching to it, to take a better look, I spotted a mushroom hidden under it! 

And to my surprise it wasn't the only one there! I looked further up, behind the plant and it had a whole area filled with these. They were so beautiful and in total contrast with the environment and the star-shaped plants.

As you can see in the picture, the mushrooms are light brown, flat shaped and medium sized. I didn't touch them as I do not know anything about mushroom hunting. But as an avid mushroom eater, I just can't help myself and until now I wonder if they were edible.

Before leaving that space I just stood there and admired the contrasting colors one more time. Who knew that gray paired so well with green! It is not a combination of colors that we tend to see a lot, at least not for decorating places. 

Have you ever found any mushrooms while you're out with your bicycle?

Do you know how to pick them?