Those were probably blackberries, very tasty and perfectly safe as long as the thorns don't draw blood. If she got thirsty enough she'd have drunk from a stream.

Exactly, I'd have drank the water. But then I have a steel cup I carry for making hot chocolate on a butane backpacking stove or campfire.

Like I said in my previous post, my Camelback Rim Runner has an MSR mini-works and nalgene bottle for treating and storing water, but I also have an MSR Pocket Rocket and fuel cannister in an MSR Ti kettle. Lots of MSR, but they work well together.

Down here in SOCAL the 100 oz bladder would be filled at any source of water. In the Diablo area there's so much water available I'd just refill the Nalgene bottle as required and leave the bladder empty, no point carrying the extra weight. I'd still have run out of food, but then I'd've also had a map, compass and GPS so I wouldn't have been wandering in the first place.

Blackberries are ripe all over western WA this time of year, so that's probably what she was eating.

From what I understand, all aggregate berries (tight clustered fruits, like blackberries, raspberries, etc) are edible.

The single fruits, like blueberries and black nightshade are much more iffy.

And don't judge toxicity by seeing birds eating certain berries. Deadly nightshade (Atropa belladona) is one of the most toxic plants of the western hemisphere, but birds can eat them with no harm.

Sue