Sweet Northern Flavours: A Guide to the Yukon’s Wild Berries

Why pick your own

One of the great pleasures of a Yukon summer is discovering a hillside covered in ripe wild berries. Drive the Dempster Highway in late summer, hike an alpine trail, or wander a quiet forest path, and you'll soon understand why berry picking is a favourite local pastime.

The reward is immediate. Once you learn what to look for, berries are surprisingly abundant across much of the territory, turning an ordinary hike or road trip into something you can literally taste.

Wild berries you'll find in the Yukon

Low-bush blueberries are the berry most visitors will encounter. They're plentiful on open hillsides, alpine tundra, and old burn areas, and they're perfect for eating fresh or taking home for pancakes, pies, and jam.

Low-bush cranberries, better known as lingonberries, grow close to the ground and become noticeably sweeter after the first frost.

Cloudberries are the prize. These soft, amber-coloured berries grow in boggy tundra and are much harder to find, making them a favourite among experienced foragers.

You'll also come across highbush cranberries, crowberries, rose hips, and soapberries. Soapberries are perfectly edible but have an intensely tart, slightly bitter flavour that most visitors find surprising. They're something of an acquired taste. Traditionally, many Yukon First Nations whip them into a frothy dessert often known as "Indian ice cream."

And if you're lucky, you may stumble across tiny wild strawberries. They're far less common than blueberries or lingonberries, but many Yukoners will tell you they're the best berry of all. Their fruit may be small, but the flavour is remarkably concentrated compared with cultivated strawberries.

Always identify wild berries confidently before eating them. If you're unsure, leave them alone.

Where to find them

You don't need a secret map, just a sense of the habitat.

Alpine tundra, open sunny hillsides, and older burn areas are consistently productive. The alpine sections of the Dempster Highway, the Top of the World Highway, and areas above the treeline near Log Cabin and along the Sam McGee (Mountain Hero) Trail are all well known for blueberries during late summer.

Highbush cranberries prefer wetter, shrubbier terrain and can often be found along trails such as the Nares Trail.

You don't even need to leave Whitehorse to find a good patch. Bert Law Island, reachable by footbridge near Robert Service Campground on the Millennium Trail, is loaded with berries in late summer. See our [24 Hours in Whitehorse](https://www.goyukonic.net/blog/24-hours-in-whitehorse/) itinerary for more on that stretch of trail.

Wherever you're picking, avoid harvesting berries immediately beside busy roads. Most local pickers simply walk a little farther from the roadside to avoid dust and road runoff.

Bear sense, not just bear spray

If the berries look good to you, they're probably appealing to bears too.

Carry bear spray, know how to use it, make noise while travelling, and keep children close.

Here's a local tip: pay attention to the forest around you, not just the berries at your feet. A squirrel chirping loudly and repeatedly is often reacting to something moving through the forest. While it's no substitute for staying alert, it can provide an early clue that something larger may be nearby.

Never become so focused on picking that you stop paying attention to your surroundings.

Learn before you eat

If you're new to foraging, don't rely on a single photograph or an app for identification.

The Yukon Conservation Society offers free interpretive nature walks around Whitehorse during the summer where knowledgeable guides help visitors identify edible plants and distinguish them from species that shouldn't be eaten.

For those wanting to learn more about northern plants, Aroma Borealis on Main Street in Whitehorse is operated by local herbalist Beverley Gray, author of The Boreal Herbal. It's an excellent place to deepen your understanding of Yukon plants beyond berries alone.

When in doubt, don't eat it.

In the kitchen

Wild berries appear in jams, pies, pancakes, sauces, syrups, wines, and preserves throughout the Yukon.

The Village Bakery in Haines Junction is well known for berry-filled pies and pastries, especially during their popular Friday evening salmon bakes.

Aurora Mountain Farm produces small-batch preserves made from wild mountain blueberries gathered along the Chilkoot Trail and lingonberries harvested from local forests. Their products, along with other Yukon-made preserves and syrups, can often be found at the Yukon Made Store in Whitehorse's Shipyards Park.

If you'd like the experience of harvesting cultivated berries, Circle D Ranch offers seasonal U-pick haskaps. Yukon Berry Farms also produces small-batch wines made from haskaps, saskatoons, and raspberries grown in the North.

**Yukonic Tip:** If you're hiking anywhere in the Yukon during August or early September, toss a small container into your backpack. Once your eyes learn to spot ripe berries, you'll be amazed how many productive patches you notice. Many people walk right past them simply because they aren't looking.

Pick with respect

Yukon First Nations have harvested berries for thousands of years, and the principles remain simple: take only what you need, use what you harvest, and leave the land able to provide for wildlife and future generations.

Pick lightly, avoid damaging fragile tundra, and be mindful if you encounter areas being used for traditional harvesting.

Leave plenty behind. Bears, birds, and other wildlife rely on the same berries that make such a memorable treat for visitors.