Trail Snapshot
Trail(s): Cranberry Backcountry has 9 trails of approximately 60 miles total, many of which follow old railroad grades, logging roads, or Forest Service roads. These trails also connect to trails in the Cranberry Wilderness, however biking is prohibitied in the Wilderness area.
Difficulty: Because of the variety of terrain, the difficulty fluctuates from easy (forest roads) to advanced (very rocky with lots of roots). Overall it’s fairly rough going, requiring some above average skill.
Outdoor Travels Rating: 3.5 out of 5 bikes
Trails Reviewed
Thumbs Up
-Spectacular vistas
-Long rides
-Varied terrain
Thumbs Down
-Several loops require returning on forest roads.
Nuts & Bolts
Directions: Two state highways that combine to form the Highland Scenic Parkway provide the major vehicle access to the area. WV-150 runs N-S along the eastern edge of the Cranberry Wilderness and WV-39/55 runs E-W along the area's southern boundary. The Cranberry Visitors Center is located at the junction of WV-55/39 and WV-150. From the Washington area, take I-66 west to I-81 south to I-64 west. At Lewisburg, West Virginia take WV Route 219 north. Around Seebert, West Virginia, take 39/55 west to the Cranberry Visitor Center.
Activities: Hiking, Mountain Biking, Horseback Riding, Cross-Country Skiing, Fishing
Contact: Gauley Ranger District, HC 80, Box 117, Richwood, WV 26261
Maps & Stuff
Area Videos
Trail Photos
Lots of great photos to give you a good idea of what riding here is like!
Cowpasture Trail
Kennison Mountain Trail
Mountain Biking
Cranberry Backcountry
Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia
Highland pastures, protected wetlands and mountain forests offer something for everyone.
by Christopher Burk, Outdoor Travels
The Cranberry Wilderness is a 35,864-acre USFS Wilderness located within the Monongahela Nation Forest, West Virginia. The wilderness is bounded on the west by the Cranberry Backcountry and on the east by the Highlands Scenic Highway. The Cranberry is the largest USFS Wilderness east of the Mississippi. It includes the entire drainage area of the Middle Fork of the Williams River and the North Fork of the Cranberry River. Human impact has limited to hiking, cross-country skiing and fishing. Motorized vehicles and bikes are not permitted in the Wilderness Area.
The terrain is typical of the Allegheny Plateau. The mountains are dissected by deep, narrow valleys and elevations range form 2,400 to 4,600 feet. The primary forest cover is mixed Appalachian hardwoods. Pure red spruce stands are common at the highest elevations. Wildlife include black bear, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, grouse, snowshoe hare, cottontail rabbit, mink, bobcat, fox and a wide variety of birds, snakes and amphibians. The naturally acidic water conditions limit fish variety but native brook trout are the most common and the streams are not stocked.
There are nine hiking trails in the Wilderness and some of them extend or connect with other trails outside the area. The USFS has listed the following trails: County Line Trail, Big Beechy Trail, Tumbling Rock Trail, Forks of the Cranberry Trail, District Line Trail, Laurelly Branch Trail, Middle Fork Trail, North Fork Trail and the North-South Trail. Because the bears chew painted or treated signs, the USFS is replacing signs with routed natural material.
Unlike the Wilderness, the Cranberry Backcountry is a 26,000-acre area designated for low-impact outdoor recreation including mountain biking, horseback riding and cross-country skiing. But one of the most unusual features of the region is the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area. It is a 750-acre bog left over from the Ice Age. Located at the southern tip of the Wilderness, the botanical area consists largely of decaying plant material known as peat and features several unusual plants including carnivorous or insect-eating plants. These plants were pushed south when glaciers covered the northern hemisphere. When the glaciers retreated, the bog became an island ecosystem. A half-mile boardwalk trail leads you into this unique area, and guided tours are also available from the Cranberry visitor Center located at the junction of Rt. 39/55 and the Highland Scenic Highway.
History
"A wilderness of great extent, presenting the virgin faces of nature, unchanged by human cultivation or art, is certainly one of the most sublime terrestrial objects which the Creator ever presented to the view of man"
Joseph Dodridge
West Virginia, 1824
Before 1750, over 10,000,000 acres of virgin forest existed in the State of West Virginia. George Washington wrote in his journal while traveling along the Kanawa River, "Just as we came to the hills, we met with a Sycamoreof a most extraordinary size, it measuring three feet from the ground, forty-five feet round, lacking two inches; and not fifty yards away from it was another, thirty-one feet round."
Along with massive trees, extensive undergrowth existed as documented by an account written in 1857 by David Strother:
"The hunters had been dodging the laurel-brakes all day. They had stories of men who had spent days in them, wandering in circles, and who had finally perished from starvation. Some of these brakes extend for many miles, and are so dense that even the deer cannot pass except by finding the thinnest places. Ascending the stump of a riven hemlock, a striking picture presented itself. The laurel waved up and down as far as the eye could reach, like a green lake, with either shore walled by the massive forest, and out of its bed rose singly or in groups of three or four, the tallest and most imposing of the fir species."
Man was quick to recognize the economic potential of the extensive woodlands in this "new" territory. With the inventions of the Band Saw and the Shay locomotive, the logging industry took off. In 1909 there were 83 band mills and 1,441 other lumber establishments operating in the state. Nearly one and a half billion board-feet of lumber were produced during that year. Over 30 billion board-feet of lumber was cut in West Virginia between 1870 and 1920. More than enough lumber to build a 13 foot wide and 2 inch thick boardwalk from the Earth to the Moon. Out of the original 10,000,000 acres of virgin forest that existed before 1750, only 263 acres remain.
But logging alone didn't destroy the virgin forest. In 1863 fire escaped from the campfire of Confederate scouts. For many years following, fires swept through the region. The slash from the milled trees (branches, and tree crowns with wood too small to be marketable) created tinder box conditions. These conditions created fire after fire until the remaining green timber and undergrowth were destroyed. Even the deep humus in the spruce areas was burned to the bed rock. The devastation was so bad that even today the Summit of Cabin Mountain is still devoid of trees and soil.
However, there are two areas where the original forest still stands tall and proud. The first is the Monongahela Nation Forest Gaurdineer Knob Scenic Area located roughly four miles north of Durbin, West Virginia. The second area can be found at Cathedral State Park situated in Preston County on U.S Route 50, just west of the Maryland state line. Because of heavy logging and destruction of the forests, several areas have been created in an effort to allow the forest to return to its natural state. The Cranberry Wilderness is just one of these areas. But regardless of these efforts and no matter how far you travel into the wilderness, the railroad grades are still there, ties may still be on the ground and one might even run across an occasional rusted washtub, spike or rail.
