 |
| The Cranberry Wilderness |
Dear daughter is starting college in two weeks. She is my younger child, so I've been feeling the impending emptiness of the nest. I had thought to take her on another camping trip this past weekend, one last hurrah before she launches into her own life, but there's been so much rain and flooding that I really didn't want to tempt fate. Instead of camping, we gathered her two friends (also college girls) and headed south into the Monongahela National Forest to explore the Cranberry Glades and take in a snake show at the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center.The center, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has some amazing exhibits, including live snakes and this graphic demonstrating the size difference between bears. Here in West Virginia, we have black bears. Compared to the 9-foot tall monsters in the back ground, he looks downright friendly!
The snake show was very interesting. Nearly every Sunday at 1 pm they put this on in the summer. The ranger doing the presentation brought out different snakes you might encounter in West Virginia and let the audience hold and touch the nonvenomous types. We saw black snakes, rat snakes, garter snakes and the greatest drama snake of them all, the Eastern Hognose Snake.
Now the Hognose snake is an interesting critter. When it feels threatened, it will rear up and flatten its head and neck like a cobra, then hiss for all it's worth. But if the threat won't go away, the snake shows it acting ability. It rolls over and plays dead. If you pick it up, it will drool and its tongue will loll out of its mouth for all it's worth. Even if you hold him so his head is pointed UP - he does his best to roll over on his back and make like road kill. I wonder if he learned this from the possums.
 |
| Drama Snake is Dramatic |
 |
| I'm playin' dead! |
 |
| He drools and poops and plays dead! Kind of like a politician. |
We found out that the black rat snake is a very friendly guy, and if you catch a little one and tame them down, they like to cuddle.
West Virginia is home to 20 varieties of snakes. We need these animals to keep the rodent and insect populations in check. Many people are afraid of these creatures, but they are so necessary to a healthy ecosystem!
 |
| A curious garter snake |
 |
| A very large rattlesnake and a copperhead share this tank |
 |
| Tiger Lillies are native! |
After the snake show and some browsing in the gift shop, we ambled along the interactive nature trail, reading about various flowers and inspecting the different plants and trees that can be found in the forest.
Butterflies loved these bushes. There were so many it looked like they were sprouting from the foliage! We didn't get pictures of them, but there were humming birds hovering around the center's bird feeders - little finger length, feathered blurs of energy.
 |
| Having a great time at Cranberry Mountain Nature Center! |
The Cranberry Glades Botanical Area was our next stop.
Once we were done at the nature center, we headed to the Cranberry Glades to amble along the board walk and explore. There are actually five glades, but one of them has been set up to accommodate the thousands of visitors the area receives every year. A boardwalk leads explorers around the area, ensuring that human impact is minimized. It also keeps your feet dry. The bogs are a very wet place, as you would expect.
For your reading pleasure and edification, I've excerpted some of the Wikipedia entry on the Glades and interspersed it with photos the girls took.
 |
| All you never knew about how peat bogs operate. |
Cranberry Glades — also known simply as The Glades — are a cluster of five small, boreal-type bogs in southwestern Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. This area, high in the Allegheny Mountains at about 3,400 feet (1,000 m), is protected as the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area, part of the Monongahela National Forest. This site is the headwaters of the Cranberry River, a popular trout stream, and is adjacent to the nearly 50,000-acre (200 km2) Cranberry Wilderness.
The Glades are a 750-acre (3.0 km2)[1] grouping of peat bogs resembling some Canadianbogs. The gladed land is highly acidic and supports plants commonly found at higher latitudes, including cranberries, sphagnum moss, skunk cabbage, and two carnivorous plants(purple pitcher plant, sundew). The Glades serve as the southernmost home of many of the plant species found there.
 |
| Cranberries |
 |
| Rhododendrons Abound! |
The Glades have been the subject of much scientific study, especially during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Professor Maurice Brooks conducted studies in 1930, 1934, and 1945. The work of Strausbaugh (1934), Darlington (1943), and Core (1955) followed.In 1974, the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area was designated a National Natural Landmark.
There was so much to see, so many amazing plants and insects. We didn't see any bears or other animals, but there were lots of birds. The weather was perfect for our excursion, a balmy 74 degrees.
Lots of educational plaques along the path
 |
| You can't see them, but there were tiny fish here |
I hope to go back in the late fall and see this amazing place when the foliage is brilliant crimson! The girls will all be back in school and busy with their lives, but perhaps we can carve out a weekend to retrace our steps and perhaps spend more time at Fall of Hills Creek. There's a cascade of 3 waterfalls that are very pretty not far from the Nature Center.
When we were done touring the Glades, we set off to complete the West Virginia Highlands Scenic Highway. I've been on a lot of pretty drives in my life, but this one was one of the better ones in my memory. Maybe that's because of the excellent company. We had some interesting conversations along the way, talking about the coming school year, anticipating classes and new experiences. I envy these three young women. They are at the start of the best years of their lives.
Listening to them talk about their hopes and dreams made me nostalgic for my own youth. My alma mater is The University of Wyoming and the scenery along this road trip made me think of those halcyon days before life got in the way of living it.
We really couldn't have picked a prettier day for our trip. The blue skies set off by puffs of white clouds casting shadows on the mountains captured the essence of the West Virginia Highlands to perfection.
The day was full of fun and laughter, fun, talking and learning. I hope the girls will take memories with them and someday they'll look back and reminisce about our Cranberry Wilderness day trip. I know I will!
