Summer coralroot. I didn't think this one was an orchid until I looked closely at it. This species is super special because it completely lacks chlorophyll. It's a mycoheterotroph that associates with Russula fungi to steal nutrients from their mycorrhizal relationship with trees.
Highly highly recommended. It's a 10mi trek into Rocky Mountain National Park. 3 miles in there is a series of campsites that have trails so overgrown that you'd have total privacy and the main trail is very gentle. It's absolutely full of wild raspberries, strawberries, and huckleberries. The conditions are perfect for fungi so I'm betting big on chanterelles and porcinis soon. Also lots of wild asparagus right now. I had no idea it existed last week and now it's going to be my main foraging site outside of Nederland or Pingree Park.
edit: It should also be a dark sky area since it's deep in Big T canyon. I'm going to be camping there regularly come July-September.
Wow that's perfect. Nederland is great but never been foraging much. Ought to do that
Nederland has an amazing spot off the Moffat Tunnel East Portal trailhead in the James Peak Wilderness. If you hike up to Rogers Lake in July-August, also a great spot to camp, about halfway up there will start to be a river on your right. That whole area until the end of the treeline is full of culinary mushrooms. When you get to the lake proper, all of the red berries on the ground are huckleberries. I go up there to take psilocybin and gorge myself on berries, then collect as many chanterelles and porcinis as possible on the way down. In the first pasture of the trail, maybe 3 miles in with the ruins of a homestead to your left, that whole stretch is full of wild raspberries.
Now this is the pro beta I want honestly. Great. I was hiking around there from the Hessie trailhead recently. The area is magic.
Nederland is so pretty. Rogers Lake especially is a highlight of the year for me. It's right under the Continental Divide so you can keep following the trail and end up walking the length of that ridge in a couple more miles.