While a hot meal to start and end the day is a precious pick-me-up, my favorite backpacking foods are the simplest: fruits, nuts, and preserved meats and dairy.

Even better are those simple treats you don't have to pack in. In the Catskills in summer, this means plenty of wild blueberries and raspberries, which spring up in every sunny glade.

Smaller and more tart than their cultivated cousins, nothing is more refreshing than a handful of these little sun-warmed berries. Each one pops open on the tongue with a slightly different character, some small, young and bright, others sweet and mild.