Knowing a few edible wild plants may build your next backpacking trip, or any trip into the wilderness, a lot more enjoyable.

You may pack lighter if you eat wild berries every morning for breakfast, for example, and leave your oatmeal behind. So push the bears out of the way and gorge yourself on blueberries. Less weight on your back always feels better.

You will also enjoy your backpacking more when you understand that you will not be completely helpless the moment you lose your pack, or a raccoon empties it for you. You do not have to be a survivalist to see the value of knowing which of the wild plants around you might be eaten.

I eat dandelions, wild courants, pine nuts and other edible wild plants regularly. I ate hundreds of calories in wild rasberries during a break, while hiking in the Colorado Rockies. During a kayak trip on Lake Superior, a friend and I spent half a day stopping at every litle island, to fill our stomachs with wild blueberries. We were almost out of food, so our foraging helped us get through the rest of the trip.
Edible Berries

Here are just some of the wild berries my wife and I ate while hiking to Grinnel Glacier in Glacier National Park: Blueberries, Service Berries, Rose Hips, Blackberries, High Bush Cranberries, Strawberries, Rasberries, Thimbleberries, and Currants. Berries are the most convenient, calorie rich and nutritious of the edible wild plants out there. They are also the easiest to learn to identify


Edible Wild Plants And Survival

If you travel in isolated wilderness areas, learning to identify a few edible wild plants can keep you safe also. Someday you might be lost or injured, or a bear will push you out of the way to gorge himself your freeze-dried meals. In a survival situation, food isnt usually a priority (warmth and water are), but a pile of roasted cattail hearts sure will cheer you up and warm you up, and they even taste grand.

Stay away from protected plants, of course, unless you are in a true life-or-death situation. Also, do not eat all the beautiful flowers, or kill off the lilies by eating all the bulbs. Use common sense. If you arent sure if youre doing harm, stick to eating wild berries.

Check out a few books on harvesting wild food. You do not absolutely need to become a wilderness survival fanatic. You really only absolutely need to learn to recognise a dozen high-calorie, abundant wild edible plants to be a lot safer in the wilderness, and to enjoy it more.