The Cranberry Glades

The most anticipated part of our trip, for me, was the Cranberry Glades. Maurice Brooks really talks them up in The Appalachians and he was right--it is a beautiful place, a little bowl of tundra in the Middle Appalachians.  You can see that it still looks quite wintry in the surrounding hills. 

You explore the area by way of wooden boardwalk.  It's so wet, that it's really not in your best interest to step off the path, anyway.  If you look closely, you can see the wee cranberry plants that grow throughout the bog.  The other visible leaves belong to the dewberry, which produces berries quite similar to a blackberry.  Dewberries grow up at Laurel Bed Lake, and we have eaten them many times.  I always thought they were simply stunted blackberries!

Yew Creek flows through the area, so there were ample bridges to cross on the half-mile trail.  They encouraged visitors to lay down on them and look into the water to see the fish.  We did!


We also saw two snakes while we were there.  One was hiding just under the edge of the boardwalk and this one was sunning itself on a hummock in the skunk cabbage.
 

Everything was dripping with life.  The violets were much taller than our own, which stayed close to the ground.  Canada Mayflower is shown here in the moss.  Close examination revealed all kinds of unassuming surprises.

We found cranberries!  I was so pleased to find the remnants of last year's crop tucked into the moss.  They weren't fit for eating, but they were sure neat to see.  They are the berries up top, while the other two are teaberries.  I have never seen such fat teaberries! 

There were many purple pitcher plants growing in the bog.  We were able to get up close to some growing along the boardwalk and see insects inside, waiting to meet their end.

We found several lovely painted trilliums, as well, always a treat to see.

Here's the Appalachian Jacob's Ladder.  It does look like something a little fairy could climb.  This plant, according to the signage, is so rare in the Glades scientists are not sure of its population.  We were early for flowers, of course.  June and July bring a proliferation of orchids and the blooms on the cranberries.  I think I'd like to come back every month of the year.  To see the place in the chill and snow of Winter!

I'll admit that I was so in love and so at peace in this place that I had to walk part of the trail twice.  I wanted to walk the whole thing.  When I reflect on it, I love bowl-shaped land formations--Burke's Garden, Laurel Bed Lake, the Cranberry Glades.  Being in a place like that is a comfort to me, I'll admit.  We've tentatively planted a quick overnight in October to see the place in Autumn.