Cranberry Wilderness: Big Beechy / Middle Fork Loop
It's been over a year since my last post. SORRY. We haven't been sitting around, but instead we have traveled quite a bit. We've been to Niagara falls, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, & Croatia. I will post some pictures of these trips soon.
In July we hiked in the Cranberry Wilderness again. We spent 3 days and 2 nights backpacking the Big Beechy / Middle Fork loop. The first day was spent hiking the Big Beechy trail and then camping at the confluence of Big Beechy with the Middle Fork river. The second day we left our gear at the campsite and hiked west on the Middle Fork trail down to the 3 forks of the Williams river, and returned the same route. The third day we hiked east on the Middle Fork trail, back to our vehicle. Round trip, including the out and back day hike, it was approximately 22 miles.
We had a great time, and the campsite along the Big Beechy was excellent. I took a VERY COLD swim in the hole below the water falls. Not really a good idea, but I had to do it.
The trail description and map of this hike can be found at MidAtlanticHikes.com
posted by WVwanderer at 8:40 PM
2 Comments:
Nice writeup :) My husband & I are planning on doing this trip this coming July, but just with an overnight & not doing your "second day" there & back to the forks. It is my goal trip for getting in shape. Were the trails & specifically the campsite very busy when you were there? We would probably be hiking in Sunday (july 6) camp Sunday night, hike out Monday...
How do you like hiking with your dog? Do you hike with him off-leash? Do you worry about snakes? We have little dogs, I see your friends in the seneca creek hike have a yorkie (we have a smallish JRT about 12 pounds).. do they hike with the yorkie off-leash? Our JRT (unlike other JRTs') isn't a runner.. he sticks by us, he is pretty a-typical. This would be the first time out since we've had our dog. (I hate to admit it's been a few years)
Hi. Thanks for the comments. The trails and campsites in this area are not heavily used. There was one other couple in the area camping while we were there (but it wasn't a holdiay weekend).
As for hiking with our dog off leash, it depends. If the area is very remote, he's normally off leash. When we encounter other hikers, we quickly leash him. I'm really not too worried about snakes, although if you are in the Dolly Sods area, keep an extra eye (and ear) out for rattlers. My parents just started hiking with us last year with their yorkies. They normally keep them on leash.
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