Blueberries, Raspberries and Twisted Stalk . . . YUMMY!

While in Alaska, it is possible to forage for plants and berries to eat.  Many people enjoy eating off the public lands, especially when berries are in season.  It should be cautioned up front, that nobody should be eating stuff they find, without being 100% certain that what looks delightful is edible.  All one has to do is read about the death of Christopher McCandless in the book "Into the Wild" (a true story by the way) to understand the risk of death if you eat the wrong plant or berry.

During our three visits to Denali's Wonder Lake, we were able to pick about a cup of blueberries each time.  While much smaller than those found in the grocery stores; their small size sure packs a flavor punch!  I'm not a big fan of blueberry pancakes, but that seemed to be a great way to eat them . . . so we had a few breakfasts with blueberries.

I must admit, I really did enjoy them even if there seemed to be too many berries in the pancake batter!  They were so sweet and moist, that I ate my pancakes without syrup!

After our time in Denali, we camped off the Parks Highway on the Petersville Road just north of Talkeetna.  While walking around our "boondock" location, we saw one plant with some little oblong red berries.  Fortunately I travel with my "Alaska Wild Plants" pocket guide of what you can and cannot eat.

What we found in the woods was Twisted Stalk, which produces berries that reportedly taste like watermelon and is safe for human consumption.  The only caution is that they are also known as "scoot berries" because of their medicinal use as a laxative if you eat too many.  I'm not sure how many is too many, however, so we were appropriately cautious.

There weren't many berries on the one plant we found, and there weren't any others that we could find.  We did enjoy sampling them and yes, they did taste like watermelon!

The other berry adventure that we had while camping in Alaska was at the Matanuska Glacier State Park on the Glenn Highway, west of Palmer.  Having been there before, we enjoyed the views and desolation of this location that is conveniently located on our route towards Valdez.

When we camped there in 2014 we were surprised to find wild raspberries along the walking trails around the parking lot and glacier overlook.  We looked forward to this night in hopes of the raspberries being ripe and ready to pick.

We got a small sandwich size Ziplock baggie full of the juicy berries.  They were as delicious as we remembered them from two years ago.  They made delightful additions to vanilla ice cream, which we bought earlier that morning in anticipation of finding them again.

There are many other edible delights found throughout Alaska.  If you're planning a trip to Alaska do some research and see what might be available around the areas you plan to explore.  There are some decent resources available online with photos and recommended areas open to the public for personal consumption.

P.S.  The name of the little pocket guide book we have is "Alaska's Wild Plants - a guide to Alaska's edible harvest" by Janice J. Schofield.  It is available from Amazon.