Plant-based trail meals you can forage in the Western U.S.
There’s something primal and steadying about stepping off the trail to gather food with your own hands. You get to slow down and listen as the land becomes less of a view and more of a rich, wise, bountiful collaborator.
In these moments, we remember we were never separate from the land to begin with, and we can always return to our roots.
My online business affords me the time, location, and financial freedom to travel often, and I’ve witnessed the way Colorado’s alpine meadows, California’s coastal hills and the Pacific Northwest’s damp forests in particular provide wild, edible opportunities.
I’m pulling those experiences together to give you this guide of foraging tips and recipes from these areas and beyond.
Foraging with a Western twist
The Western U.S. is uniquely abundant. In California, you’ll find coastal fennel growing wild along bluffs and miner’s lettuce thriving in shaded canyons. In the Pacific Northwest, chanterelles unfurl under mossy cedar, wild sorrel carpets the forest floor, and berries are sweet and abundant. Colorado offers stinging nettles near creeks, yarrow across sunny hills, and wild raspberries tucked beside alpine trails.
Before you start gathering: learn what’s safe. Never eat anything you’re unsure of. Use field guides, attend local plant walks, or consult with experienced foragers. And always follow these golden rules:
Forage away from roads, polluted water, or chemically treated areas.
Take only what you’ll use.
Leave plenty for wildlife and regeneration.
Know what’s endangered or protected.
Plants worth knowing
Here are beginner-friendly, widely found edible plants you can learn to identify across California, Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest:
California:
Miner’s lettuce: Tender, mild, heart-shaped leaves. Found in shady, moist spots.
Fennel: Licorice-scented stalks and fronds. Avoid wild hemlock, which looks similar.
Wild mustard: It’s often confused with wild radish. Look for peppery greens and yellow flowers. Great sautéed or raw.
Colorado:
Stinging nettle: High in iron and magnesium. Use gloves to harvest. These are best when cooked.
Wild raspberries: Found near streams in higher elevations. Sweet and tart.
Yarrow: A bitter herb often used in tea. The signature features are white clusters of flowers and feathery leaves.
Pacific Northwest:
Wood Sorrel: Tart, lemony leaves. They’re not related to clover, but they look similar.
Chanterelle mushrooms: Golden, vase-shaped. They smell like apricots. Important: Only harvest mushrooms if you’re highly confident in your identification or guided by an expert. Many edible varieties have dangerous lookalikes!
Berries: Found along forest edges, clearings, streambanks, and subalpine slopes, especially in moist, shaded areas from spring through early fall.
Each of these delicious, natural foods offers minerals, antioxidants and a sense of place in your meal. And you don’t need a full camp kitchen. Just a few tools will go a long way:
A small, sharp knife or foraging scissors
Lightweight muslin or mesh bags for gathering
A collapsible bowl or enamel mug
Tiny tins of olive oil, salt, chili flakes, and dried herbs
A portable stove or jetboil (optional, for warm meals or tea)
These items weigh next to nothing, but they turn a handful of wild greens into something satisfying.
Regionally inspired trailside recipes
Here are some meal ideas that can spark inspiration for how to make the most of your bounty.
California canyon wraps with fennel and miner’s lettuce
Pack at home:
Whole-grain tortillas
Cooked white beans or chickpeas
A small jar of lemon-tahini sauce
Foraged on trail:
A handful of fresh miner’s lettuce
A few soft fennel fronds
Wild mustard flowers, if available
Layer beans and greens into your wrap. Add tahini, fennel fronds, and mustard flowers. It’s creamy, herbaceous, and perfect to eat while gazing out at the ocean.
Colorado creekside nettle soup
Pack at home:
Dehydrated veggie broth powder
A small packet of dried potato flakes or instant rice
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
Foraged on trail:
Young nettle leaves (gloves recommended)
Wild yarrow (just a small sprig. Super strong flavor!)
Boil water on your stove. Add nettle leaves and a pinch of yarrow, then stir in broth and potatoes. Simmer for 5–10 minutes until soft. The nettles mellow into a spinach-like earthiness, and the yarrow adds a subtle floral note. It’s simple, grounding, and great post-hike.
PNW forest bowl with sorrel and chanterelles
Pack at home:
Cooked farro or quinoa in a sealed bag
A small jar of olive oil + tamari
Toasted seeds (sunflower or sesame)
Foraged on trail:
A few tender wood sorrel leaves
(Optional for skilled foragers only) Fresh chanterelles
Warm farro over your stove, sauté chanterelles (if foraged safely) in a bit of oil, then fold in sorrel and seeds. Finish with tamari. The tang of sorrel cuts through the umami of the mushrooms for a balanced, earthy bowl.
Edible and empowering
Foraging changes the way you relate to food. You stop rushing and instead, you meet what’s available. You begin to trust that you can make something nourishing and delicious from whatever you’re offered. Perfection doesn’t exist, only persistence and participation.
That participation is where something else grows. A kind of gratitude that doesn’t feel performative, and a respect that isn’t romanticized. It distills down to you and the land and the spirit of giving and receiving with care and intention.
That brings me to the ethics of foraging. Know that you’re not the first person to notice these plants. Indigenous peoples across the West have long lived in a deep relationship with these ecosystems. Foraging, when done mindfully, can be a way to reconnect to that relational way of life. But it has to be rooted in humility. Take what you need. Learn the history of the land you’re walking, and don’t treat the forest like a commodity.
There’s a freedom in knowing you could feed yourself, even just a little, from the landscape around you. So, I encourage you: go into the woods, the mountains, the coastal trails. Take your time and touch the leaves. Sip pine tea under the trees and let the land feed your stomach and soul.
FURTHER READING
These books center Indigenous or ancestral perspectives on foraging, land stewardship, and plant knowledge:
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources by M. Kat Anderson
Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask by Mary Siisip Geniusz