30 & 31: Swamp Day
Cranesville Swamp, Terra Alta, WV T E R R A A L T A, W V Thirty years ago I graduated from Frostburg State College – a small liberal arts and former state normal school in the mountains of western Maryland. It was a place where my love of the outdoors was fostered by time away from class spent camping, rafting, hiking, and just generally roaming around in a beautiful area. The school’s location in the Appalachian Mountains was a tremendous draw to a flat-lander having grown up in the suburbs of Washington D.C. Little did I know then just how unique those mountains are. As the prevailing winds cross the high mountains of Maryland they shed their moisture in a process known as orographic lifting, making it one of the wettest areas in the region. And it’s one of the coldest too due to its elevation. In this intersection of height and cold, along the state’s western border with West Virginia sits a low depression in the mountains shaped ...