"Mushroom Ninja" Explores the Beautiful World of Exotic Fungi on His Hikes

The world is full of natural treasures, which Ryan Grastorf found out firsthand only about a year and a half ago. “As an effort to reduce stress in life, I just started hiking more,” he told Instagram Blog. “I found a mushroom, a very cool looking mushroom, and the rest is kind of history.”

Now, the Baltimore-based full-time student, whose Instagram followers know him as the Mushroom Ninja, spends his free time capturing images of the wonderful world of fungi. From the cartoonish toadstool to alien-like forms of fungi, Grastorf has amassed an amazing portfolio of multi-colored, -shaped, and -sized mushrooms–some of which look nothing like what you’d imagine a fungal growth to look like. He estimates he’s encountered and photographed roughly 150 different kinds of mushrooms; and with a growing base of over 22,000 followers, Grastorf has been able to rely on his Instagram community to help him identify most of them.

Check out a small, diverse sampling of Grastorf’s growing collection of fungi photos below, but be sure to follow him on Instagram for even more mushroom madness.