Yachats Is Hiding Handmade Mushrooms Around Town. First, You Have to Find the Tiny Clay Disc.

The town of Yachats has looked at the Pacific Northwest winter and decided we need a reason to leave the house that isn't another trip to buy paper towels. So now people are hunting for mushrooms. Not the kind you put in pasta. Tiny handmade mushrooms, created by local artists, that may be waiting somewhere along the little Oregon coast town's paths and public spaces.

There is something beautifully unreasonable about this. We have a perfectly good ocean. We have gorgeous forests. We have weather that can go from romantic mist to horizontal personal insult within the time it takes to find your keys. And somebody in Yachats said, yes, but what if there were also a treasure hunt? I'm listening.

The Mushroom Treasure Hunt returned for the 2026 winter season after the town's October festival. It began as a whimsical local experiment in 2023 and has grown into a tradition that gets people outside during months when staying under a blanket feels like an entirely respectable career choice.

This year's twist is important, especially if you're making a special drive. In reporting published October 26, organizers explained that hunters now look for a small clay disc rather than necessarily finding a delicate handmade mushroom sitting out in the wild. Bring the disc to the Yachats Visitors Center to redeem it for an artist-made prize. In other words, you don't need to decide whether a glass mushroom can survive a wet pocket and a windy beach walk. Somebody has thought this through.

Clues are released by 10 a.m. on Saturdays through @visit.yachats, pointing you toward a general area rather than handing you GPS coordinates and a tiny ceremonial shovel. You still have to look. That is the fun. It is also a useful reminder that getting outside doesn't have to involve a fifteen-mile hike, a new jacket or a spreadsheet of elevation gains.

And the rewards aren't factory trinkets. Yachats organizers have spotlighted glasswork, clay, soap and crocheted mushroom creations from regional makers across the hunt's recent seasons. Handmade things carry a little evidence of the person who made them: somebody deciding on a shape, working through a color, putting care into an object that might spend its first morning in somebody else's delighted hands.

The makers are the story as much as the clues. Imagine going through the work of making a beautiful little object and sending it out into town without knowing who will eventually find it. A parent and child might get to keep it. Two friends might turn an ordinary walk into a ridiculous competition. A visitor might take it home and remember Yachats for years. Tiny sculpture, surprisingly large emotional range.

If you don't find one, the day still has plenty to offer. Yachats sits beside the Pacific and close to forest trails, with a compact village that rewards wandering slowly rather than rushing between attractions. Pause for coffee, walk where access is permitted, look at the moss and listen to the surf. The treasure hunt gives you a mission, but Yachats does most of the heavy lifting.

There are some good-houseguest rules here, and they matter. Stay on designated trails. Don't tear apart moss, dig into habitat, climb fences or wander onto private property. Previous organizer guidance says treasures are placed within arm's reach of established routes. If you spot a real mushroom, admire it, don't eat it because it looks cute, and definitely don't confuse natural fungi with the thing you're meant to redeem.

The reporting on this season says the hunt continues into February 2027, while other festival information mentions a possible March continuation. These are evolving volunteer-run details, not a promise that something will be hidden every hour of every weekend. Before driving, check the current Saturday clue, eligibility and redemption hours through @visit.yachats or the local visitor information team. If someone else found the disc first, that is not a personal attack by the mushroom community.

I love that this project treats a rainy winter walk as something worth making special. An artist puts something into the world; volunteers create a little mystery; people go searching; and a town gets to introduce itself in a way no hotel brochure ever could. A pocket-sized treasure that makes you look up from your phone? Yachats, I see what you're doing.

Sources: Oregon Coast Beach Connection, October 26, 2026, https://www.beachconnection.net/news/yachats-mushroom-treasure-hunt-back-winter.php ; Yachats Mushroom Festival 2026, https://www.yachatsmushroomfestival.org/about/ ; Visit Yachats, https://www.visityachats.org/events/mushroom-treasure-hunt (the visible event listing still displays 2025–26 dates, so check current clues instead). PNW Passport has requested direct organizer comment; none was available at publication.

Cover photograph: Wild mushrooms, MarkBuckawicki / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Forest_Mushroom.JPG . Illustrative nature photograph, not a Yachats prize or clue.

Sources and photography credits are detailed above and within the reporting.