Cranberry

The put-in for the Upper Cranberry is in the sureal landscape of the Cranberry Glades, an alpine marsh dotted with spruce. It's always a lot colder up here than you think it will be.
This is the put-in on the South Fork of the Cranberry. It's about a half mile walk on a gravel road to the river once you've parked in the lot at the locked gate on FS 102. The top two or so miles is moving flatwater through alpine marshland. Then it opens up a bit and picks up speed.
There is current through the entire beginning of the run, but it picks up speed after leaving the marsh. There are mountain views and lush alpine vegetation around every corner. It was the first of May when Jason an I paddled this section, but it was still winter up in the Glades. It reminded me of mid March in Fayetteville.
This is the biggest rapid in the section. It's a solid Class III.
At the end of section A and beginning of section B. It flattens up a bit as you can see there are more leaves on the trees here than at the put in on the same day. The climate definitely changed through the course of the sixteen mile trip. One final note. This section did not exceed class three throughout the trip, but with enough water to make this seciton runnable the next section (section B) will be pushing class V. It's a big step up from where you just came, but if you're ready for the action it's a great way to end out the day.