Cranberry Wilderness Trip Report

“Just a few notes from an excellent backpacking trip to Cranberry Wilderness. Friday I drove the 325 miles from Baltimore down to southern West Virginia to the Cranberry Wilderness in the Monnongahela NF. It rained most of the way and when I arrived at 9PM I decided to sleep in my truck.

I awoke to a hard frost and clear skies. The weather the rest of the trip was spectacular....blue skies and highs of 60.

I hiked a loop starting on Black Mtn. After plunging into the spruce forest I headed down the North Fork Trail following it 7.5 miles down to the Cranberry River.
Streams along the way were all brimming and the trail was soggy, but this is to be expected in these highlands. This truly is a birthplace of rivers.

At the Cranberry River I napped for a half hour along the bank near the shelter in the warm sunshine. I ambled along the river for a mile or so and then climbed the Tumbling Run Trail, which parallels and crisscrosses Tumbling Run. At 5 I made camp at the site of an old logging camp next to the stream where I'd camped years earlier with all 3 of my children. That night stars filled the sky and memories, my head and heart.

This morning, I hiked back up to the ridgeline and followed the North-South Trail to the trailhead up on Black Mtn. Three was plenty of bear sign and again lots of water. This loop runs about 14 miles and I highly recommend it.

Note: As I was loading up a mtn biker was getting ready to head into the Wilderness. We talked in a friendly manner about the fact that he wasn't supposed to be there. Opinions were expressed, we shook hands and I said that I wouldn't report him personally, but I will call the NF office tomorrow. HAs anybody seen this there as well?

I hope that y'all had a great weekend backpacking.

The drive was”

“You sure picked an awesome place to hike, JO. I was there a few times, the latest about a year ago, and didn't see anyone else on any of the trails, not even mtn biker tracks.

I wrote a journal of the trip for others to read but few did (because of the length I believe). I've since learned to keep trip reports short, well to be honest, I simply don't write them anymore.

Glad you had a great trip!”

“oops! Sorry for the typo.”

“I need to get into that area one of these days. One of many on my short list.”

“sounds cool jo. i'm gonna have to hit that area soon too.”