Cranberry Wilderness, West Virginia, Is One of the Most Peaceful Places in the U.S.

I crawled out of my tent and pulled my hat down over my ears before checking the car’s thermometer, which read 38 degrees Fahrenheit. It was May 25, and while much of the state had already heated up, West Virginia’s Cranberry Wilderness was still chilly—perfect for the trout that glide through the area’s rivers. It owes its cool weather to its high elevation; the area ranges from 2,400 to over 4,600 feet above sea level.

Each spring, my father and I follow the winding roads through rural West Virginia to the Cranberry Wilderness. Encompassing 47,815 acres, it is one of the largest pieces of wilderness devoid of roads east of the Mississippi, and locals know it for its specialty spring cuisine: trout, ramps, and morels. We spend a few days up there each spring, camped along the area’s major trout streams, the Cranberry and Williams rivers, casting lines and visiting nearby hiking trails while keeping an eye trained to the ground for wild mushrooms.

Scenic view of the Cranberry River.

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While I love our spring trips, the Cranberry Wilderness is beautiful at other times of the year, too. Summer is the perfect time to take advantage of the Cranberry’s crisp weather and 135 miles of moss-lined hiking and biking trails. The trails take travelers over rugged mountains and along cool streams, rivers, waterfalls, and swimming holes. This massive wilderness offers a spot of true solitude.

Along the Cranberry River, explorers can also follow a gated gravel road that’s closed to vehicle traffic. This route is ideal for biking trips and features Appalachian Trail-style lean-to camping shelters available on a first-come, first-served basis. The adjacent Tea Creek Wildlife Management Area offers an additional 45 miles of hiking trails with Appalachian Trail-style shelters that are great for backpacking trips.

The trails take travelers over rugged mountains and along cool streams, rivers, waterfalls, and swimming holes. This massive wilderness offers a spot of true solitude.

Jordan Charbonneau/Travel + Leisure

Many areas, like the stunning Big Beechy Falls, are tough to access, requiring several miles of hiking and a bit of tricky navigation. The Cranberry Wilderness is notorious for its wild, rugged landscape. In fact, using the North Fork, Big Beechy, and District Line trails, you can visit the crash site of Flight N28901. This Cessna 414, piloted by 31-year-old Colin Campbell, sadly crashed in the wilderness in 1995 and wasn’t located until 2001.

For the less adventurous, there are a few great shorter treks. The Falls of Hills Creek Trail passes three cascading waterfalls along a short, roughly 1.5-mile hike. An ADA-accessible boardwalk at the beginning of this trail also provides views of the first falls.

On our last trip, we spent an afternoon on the Black Mountain Trail. This 4.7-mile loop offers views at the Williams River Valley and Big Spruce overlooks, a nice way to take in the area’s stunning foliage this fall.

A little farther down the road, we loved stopping at the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area. It’s a high-elevation bog that features a half-mile boardwalk where you can spot unique plants like cranberries, oblong-fruited serviceberries, rose pogonias, skunk cabbages, and even carnivorous pitcher plants and sundews, which consume flies, gnats, and other small organisms. It’s an especially stunning scene when the cranberry bushes turn fiery red come fall against the backdrop of spruce-covered mountains.

Trout fishing in the Cranberry River.

Jordan Charbonneau/Travel + Leisure

Whatever we fill our days with, we always spend prime fishing hours in the mornings and evenings on the river. On the last morning of our trip, my dad stood on a large rock ledge casting downstream into a cold, deep pool. He let the current gently unspool extra line, pulling the lure deeper into the pool before closing the bail. From a higher ledge, I saw a quick flash in the water, then the line went taut, bending the pole’s tip.

He gave the rod a quick tug, setting the hook, and then carefully reeled in his catch before reaching down with the net to scoop up a colorful rainbow trout. Chilly though the morning may be, the Cranberry Wilderness never disappoints.