Did you know that you can pick wild berries in Washington? With just a little know-how, it's possible to supplement your diet with a variety of native berries from across the state. The first to ripen this year is the salmonberry, which should be ready to eat by early May. One of my favorite places to find this delicious fruit is Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, a popular outdoor area near Seattle and Bellevue.

If salmonberries aren't as popular as our other native berry species, that's probably because they tend to be less sweet than blackberries and raspberries, which they're related to. Mild in flavor and varying in tartness, they taste similar to rhubarb, making them a great fruit for baking.

With over thirty-five miles of trail, Cougar Mountain is an excellent destination for finding salmonberries in the wild.

Part of what makes the park an ideal salmonberry habitat is its many creeks and ponds. These create pockets of moisture, providing the humidity that salmonberries need to thrive.

If you're one of the first berry-pickers of the season, focus your efforts on sunnier areas. Here, the berries will ripen fastest, meaning your haul will be sweeter. I also recommend bringing a wide-based container to collect your finds. Salmonberries are delicate and can easily become crushed.

A bush like this is similar to what you'll encounter at Cougar Mountain. Notice how much variability exists between the berries? You'll want to take the ones that separate easily from the plant, indicating ripeness. And remember to leave some behind for other berry-pickers and the local birds that rely on them!

It's also good to know how to spot salmonberry foliage. Once you know what to look for, their leaves are easily recognizable. They have serrated edges and are trifoliate, meaning that they grow in connected groups of three.

Just keep in mind that other plants also have bright green, serrated leaves! Stinging nettle foliage can look similar, and while you can harvest its leaves for tea, they're more likely to give you a nasty rash.

If you're interested in foraging, picking wild berries in Washington is a great place to start. Though salmonberries are the first to ripen, they're hardly our state's only edible berry species.

If you're new, I recommend tagging along with someone more experienced. There's always the chance of misidentification when picking wild fruits, leading to pneumonics like "white and yellow will kill a fellow. Eating red could be good, could be dead. Purple and blue are good for you." Still, armed with the right information and the right outdoor gear, foraging is a fun way to spend time outside, and there's nowhere better to do it than Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park.