Little Cranberry Lake is located within Anacortes Community Forest Lands

Anacortes Community Forest Lands

Anacortes Community Forest Lands consists of mostly forested lands surrounding and adjoining Little Cranberry, Heart, and Whistle Lakes on Fidalgo Island, west and south of Anacortes, Washington. Its highest point is Mount Erie, the highest point on the island at . Sugarloaf, 1,044 feet and 0.6...

 on Fidalgo Island

Fidalgo Island

Fidalgo Island is an island in Skagit County, Washington, located about north of Seattle. To the east, it is separated from the mainland by the Swinomish Channel, and from Whidbey Island to the south by Deception Pass...

 in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Washington. The lake is deepened by a dam on the northern end which was constructed in the 1930s. The previous dam had broken in 1921 releasing a large amount of water which crashed down the hills to the beach.

The lake basin is part of a 10-mile long, north-south wilderness corridor that roughly follows an ancient moraine

Moraine

A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...

, which snakes its way down the middle of the island. This moraine is a major source of gravel for the region which adjoins Anacortes, Washington

Anacortes, Washington

Anacortes is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The name "Anacortes" is a consolidation of the name Anna Curtis, who was the wife of early Fidalgo Island settler Amos Bowman. Anacortes' population was 15,778 at the time of the 2010 census...

. The trails in this corridor are maintained but are of variable quality. Almost all are ideal for mountain biking, in particular.

Little Cranberry Lake is a popular swimming location, especially for visitors to the annual summer music celebration, What the Heck Fest

What the Heck Fest

What the Heck Fest is an annual festival in Anacortes, Washington, coinciding with a citywide rummage sale called Shipwreck Day. It began in 2001. The festival takes place at various locations all over town in a week in the middle of July. Performers present music, movies, literature, and art...

.

Flora and fauna

Wildlife is plentiful and diverse. Coyote

Coyote

The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...

s, deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

, beaver

Beaver

The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...

, grouse

Grouse

Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are sometimes considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...

, pelican

Pelican

A pelican, derived from the Greek word πελεκυς pelekys is a large water bird with a large throat pouch, belonging to the bird family Pelecanidae....

s, hawk

Hawk

The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...

s, bald eagle

Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...

s, Canada geese

Canada Goose

The Canada Goose is a wild goose belonging to the genus Branta, which is native to arctic and temperate regions of North America, having a black head and neck, white patches on the face, and a brownish-gray body....

, mallard

Mallard

The Mallard , or Wild Duck , is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand and Australia....

s, and many different varieties of reptiles and insects are plentiful in the Little Cranberry basin. Hunting is not allowed. To the south of the lake are swamplands whose size and depth has been increasing since approximately 1985, when the beavers moved in.

Rare species

Several varieties of orchidia exist in this area that could be unique. The area around the lake was clearcut between 1890 and 1920 but some of the basin's less accessible trees, such as those on the southern end of the lake, are old growth. Until the 1950s locals say, morel mushrooms were extremely plentiful. As of 2005, morels are practically impossible to find.