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  1. #1
    Senior Member WV's Avatar
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    Cranberry Wilderness 6/8-10/2012

    Just perfect weather and great trails made this trip with Bear Chaser truly fine. Friday we left one vehicle on the Highland Scenic Highway at the Big Beechy trailhead and drove around to the Fisherman's Trail near Summit Lake Campground in the Cranberry Backcountry. The descent to the Cranberry River was easy - trail not too muddy. Contrary to expectations, we saw no one on the river, so we camped there at the foot of the Big Rough Run Trail. There are enough good trees there to support quite a few hangers. Saturday morning I practiced casting while Bear Chaser fished.
    He caught a nice brown trout. In fact he liked it so much, he caught it 3 times (once with his Tenkara rig, twice with his hands).

    Later we hiked up the Big Rough Run Trail, my favorite, I think. Then we entered the Wilderness and descended the Laurelly Branch Trail to the Middle Fork Trail on the Williams River. On the way we passed an old logging road I've taken in the past to Hell-For-Certain Branch (where to look for me if I ever come up missing ). Laurelly Branch wasn't as wet as it can be, so this made another easy day, though quite a bit more mileage. We camped where Big Beechy Run flows into the Middle Fork of the Williams River. Again, there was no one else there (on a weekend!), though we did meet one couple hiking on the way and saw another couple pass by after we made camp.

    Sunday morning we headed up the Big Beechy Trail, and Bear Chaser lived up to his name. He spotted a black bear on the trail ahead of us, but his bear-chasing super powers are now so finely honed that he merely made eye contact with it and the critter took off before I could see it. I asked him to dial it down a bit next time. He says Big Beechy is his favorite trail, and I can see why. Most of the trail runs along a ridge above 4000 feet through red spruce forest with moss and ferns covering much of the ground. We were continually entertained with bird songs while we hiked all three days. Wood thrushes were all over the place, and the sometimes reclusive winter wrens were there, too. When we emerged on the Scenic Highway and drove back to Bear Chaser's jeep parked at our starting point he obliged me by not scaring off the bear we saw along an overgrown logging road near the Fisherman's Trailhead, so we watched it for a while as it ambled away, continuing to stop and browse. Good company, three days of sunshine with high temps around 70 and nighttime lows in the high 40s and 50s - it couldn't have been better.

  2. #2
    Senior Member HappyCamper's Avatar
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    Thanks for the report WV! I heard there was a quick bit of Tenkara fishing going on. You certainly had a gorgeous few days to hike.
    Exercise, eat right, die anyway -- Country Roads bumper sticker
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  3. #3
    Senior Member ferret's Avatar
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    Great report, WV. I can actually hear your voice when I read it, kinda funny.

    Took my Tenkara setup out on Saturday with a coworker to Maryland and caught my first stream trout. Caught one brown and 2 stocked rainbows. We were on and around the water for the better part of 10+ hours, super fun.

    Cranberry is definitely one of the places on my list to go. Maybe this fall.

    Thanks for the report!

  4. #4
    SilvrSurfr's Avatar
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    Nice trip report, WV. The Cranberry Wilderness is on my to-do list.

  5. #5
    Senior Member sr1355's Avatar
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    Nice trip report and thanks for share....

    Quote Originally Posted by SilvrSurfr View Post
    The Cranberry Wilderness is on my to-do list.
    What he said....
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  6. #6
    Senior Member BearChaser's Avatar
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    Great report WV, could not have said it any better. I'll try to get some pics up this evening, hopefully those black bear pics turn out ok.

  7. #7
    Senior Member MAD777's Avatar
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  8. #8
    Senior Member Country Roads's Avatar
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    Nice report WV!. I gotta get down that way more. I have only day hiked a bit in Cranberry and I have not been there since the year of Hurricane Ivan (2004 or 2005 I think). I have hiked Cow Pasture Trail (I saw the viewing platforms near the beaver ponds and though "what a cool place to sleep", well at least until I saw the bear poo ON the platform); Lets see, I think the trail name of another trail I hiked was high rocks trail?.
    Of course I hiked the boardwalk and then down to see the falls of Hills Creek
    Your report made me remember why I like it down there.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Groovy's Avatar
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    Nice spot.

    Thank's for sharing that report. looks and sounds like a nice place.

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