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| Freeland Run in Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge |
My friend had read about another high-altitude bog in West Virginia--Big Run Bog, and we wanted to explore it, so one morning back in late September (my birthday), we set out to find it. Google was of little help: they showed no location for it, but there was a Big Run Falls shown on their maps. We figured the bog had to be somewhere nearby.
The leaves were starting to turn in the WV highlands, making for a colorful drive along the way, although the day was cloudy and the colors subdued. Mist and fog wafted up from the valleys and mountains, looking like smoke. We reached the town of Davis, WV, not sure in which direction to proceed. My friend's husband had obtained some GPS information, and directed us to a location south of the town, past Blackwater Falls State Park, and there seemed to be a boardwalk there. We parked and started walking down the Freeland Boardwalk Trailhead.
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| Bracken Ferns along the boardwalk |
The fall colors along the boardwalk were lovely, with several varieties of Goldenrod--there are so many species of Solidago that I couldn't venture to say how many or which, but Narrowleaf (Euthamia graminifolia), Zigzag (Solidago flexicaulis) and Canadian Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) were three I could identify. Spent flowers of Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), Bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) turning russet, and wild asters (Symphiotrichum racemosum) made for some beautiful arrays. Meadowsweet, elderberries and other shrubs were abundant.
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| Wild asters, Narrowleaf and Canadian Goldenrod |
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| CanadaGoldenrod |
Walking along the boardwalk I looked for cranberries, a classic bog plant, but saw none, nor any cotton grass. I guessed that this was actually a wetland, not a bog, and therefore, not the Big Run Bog we were looking for. Still, it was a lovely place full of interesting plants. A spring-fed stream, Freeland Run, was visible in places from the boardwalk, and an old beaver dam had left a pond of sorts.
Around a bend, we spied small spikes of white flowers that turned out to be Nodding Ladies Tresses orchids (Spiranthes cernua) in the distance. A wonderful, unexpected find!
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| Nodding Ladies Tresses orchid |
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Nodding Ladies Tresses orchids
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Signs said that the Canaan fir, native of this area, was in danger due to the Wooly Aldegid insect, and some of the trees looked to be affected, but they were attempting to restore the habitat by planting more fir saplings, protected from deer with wire cages.
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| Canaan fir (Abies balsamea var. phanerolepsis) |
Lichens covered the dead branches of the Canaan firs and other stands of bare trees and shrubs.
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| Lichens on dead branches of Canaan fir |
Here and there we saw the seedpods of Clematis vines, likely Clematis virginiana. And also, several strange-looking caterpillars with long hairs, which turned out to be Tussock Moth (Lymantriidae sp.) caterpillars. Those long hairs usually have stingers, so we didn't touch them.
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| Virgin's Bower seed pods (Clematis virginiana) |
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| Tussock Moth caterpillar |
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| Boneset, goldenrod and asters |
I really enjoyed the rich wetland from the comfort of the well-kept boardwalk, and have so many ideas for paintings from these photos, it may take me years to do some of them. But, this definitely wasn't the Big Run Bog we'd set out to find. We took off again in search of it, heading north on Rte 32 towards Thomas.
To be continued in Part 2.
