The Cranberry Glades In West Virginia Look Like A Dream World

The Cranberry Glades are a group of bogs in Pocahontas County, high in the Allegheny Mountains. The elevation creates a cool environment that’s perfect for some unusual plants and animals.

When you wander through the Cranberry Glades, you’ll want to pinch yourself to make sure what you’re seeing is real.

A boardwalk will take you over the bog.

WikiMedia Commons/http://www.ForestWander.com You can see the cranberry plants that give the bog its name.

You can also venture through the forest.

WikiMedia Commons/http://www.ForestWander.com

You’ll see ponds and streams along the way.

Flickr/Todd Neal

Flickr/JustTooLazy

The glades are filled with creatures that would be right at home in a storybook.

Flickr/JustTooLazy

Flickr/JustTooLazy

Flickr/Kerry Wixted

WikiMedia Commons/Cephas The Purple Finch here is more typically seen in Canada.

Many of the plants look just plain weird.

Flickr/JustTooLazy

Flickr/Charlie Cowins

Flickr/Kerry Wixted

WikiMedia Commons/Geoff Gallice Since the soil in the bog is unfriendly to many plant roots, a number of the plants that grow in the bog are carnivorous, like this pitcher plant.

WikiMedia Commons/Petr Dlouhý The sundew is also common here.

WikiMedia Commons/Sue Sweeney The stinky and strange-looking skunk cabbage is also abundant. Skunk cabbage is a popular meal for black bears as they come out of hibernation. It’s thought that they use the plant to relieve their constipation from the long winter.

The Cranberry Glades are home to dozens of other rare and unusual plants. They really must be seen to be believed. You can take the 6 mile long Cowpasture Trail all around the Glades area to check it out for yourself.

WikiMedia Commons/http://www.ForestWander.com

You can see the cranberry plants that give the bog its name.

Flickr/Todd Neal

Flickr/JustTooLazy

Flickr/Kerry Wixted

WikiMedia Commons/Cephas

The Purple Finch here is more typically seen in Canada.

Flickr/Charlie Cowins

WikiMedia Commons/Geoff Gallice

Since the soil in the bog is unfriendly to many plant roots, a number of the plants that grow in the bog are carnivorous, like this pitcher plant.

WikiMedia Commons/Petr Dlouhý

The sundew is also common here.

WikiMedia Commons/Sue Sweeney

The stinky and strange-looking skunk cabbage is also abundant. Skunk cabbage is a popular meal for black bears as they come out of hibernation. It’s thought that they use the plant to relieve their constipation from the long winter.

For more surreal beauty in West Virginia, take a look at 10 places that you thought existed only in your imagination.

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