Hiking & Foraging

[poshchic]

Hello everyone! Has anyone here foraged while hiking? Not that you would forage as your main source of food but just interested to know if anyone forages as a hobby. If not, would you consider foraging while hiking or backpacking?

[Starlord]

Yes, I forage quite often while hiking. Sometimes it's wild rasberries and mulberries . Other times it might be honeysuckles or sassafras leaves. It's great to be able to grab a quick snack while hiking through the woods. I would highly recommend taking a wild foraging class and bring field guides with you to reference while you're learning. Good luck!!

[ppine]

Sure. 

A couple of years ago I met two brothers that were through hiking the PCT and foraging for their food.  They were focused on fish, mushrooms and greens to live on.  They were both small scrawny looking guys and talked about food all the time.  The best foragers and hungry foragers. 

[switchbackkid]

Dandelions are good to eat and you can make hot tea with the roots. lots of medicinal benefits as well. there are about 200 varieties of Dandelion i believe and only a couple are toxic. they are pretty easy to tell apart when you identify the leaf pattern on line. I would never forage anything that is hard to distinguish between safe and poisonous. Like mentioned above by starlord I would recommend taking a foraging class or doing some extensive research on specific plants in your area since you can get extremely sick or die from eating the wrong things. Wild lettuce is another good one to look up and can be found fairly easy. 

[balzaccom]

While the above replies offer good information, please note that you need to forage at least 2000 calories a day to maintain stable body weight etc.  A few berries and leaves won't do it.  In fact, one of the classic survival situation questions is whether you should stay for a day in a camp where you can catch 10=inch trout and build up your strength, or just hike out.

Turns out trout don't have many calories.  You are better off hiking hungry than staying in camp and eating the fish...

[switchbackkid]

4 hours ago, balzaccom said:

While the above replies offer good information, please note that you need to forage at least 2000 calories a day to maintain stable body weight etc.  A few berries and leaves won't do it.  In fact, one of the classic survival situation questions is whether you should stay for a day in a camp where you can catch 10=inch trout and build up your strength, or just hike out.

Turns out trout don't have many calories.  You are better off hiking hungry than staying in camp and eating the fish...

That is interesting, I never would have guessed that! I'll have to do some nutritional research on fish now. I would have for sure thought you could just chill and live of fish by a stream haha