May 2012 be as kind to everyone as it has been to the Williams and Cranberry Rivers. DNR was able to stock trout in the Williams and the Cranberry on January 25th.  DNR’s stocking plan calls for the introduction of trout once each January and twice in February.  Due to heavy snow cover in January 2010 and January 2011 DNR was unable to access the river, but so far this year things have prooved to be different.

On a side note we really appreciate all of the recent inquiries about the cabin.  It is supporting our belief that the economy is improving.  Regarding another measure of activity, on the day after New Years we had 148 people hit this webpage.  The previous record was 123.  We wish for all a great year.

We are looking forward to the cooler Fall weather, and our return trip to the luscious Appalachian mountain highlands of the East.  We are looking forward to the color of fall.  We are looking forward to West Virginia DNR’s fall trout water stocking of the Williams River, the very special Cranberry River, the Cherry, and the Forks of the Cherry as well.  Life is good.  For detail about the fall stocking of trout see their Web page.  www.wvdnr.gov/Fishing/Stocking/DailyStock.shtm  For a quick overview of our cabin and photographs, scroll down to the August 2009 post.  All of the posts between here and August 2009 are about our recent experiences  with the cabin and the great Monongahela National Forest.  James has made a video of the cabin and the surrounding area that explores the various aspects of the cabin.  He has set the video to music, and if you want to see it go to this link: http://vimeo.com/20651993 .  The video shares a great deal of detail about the cabin in an entertaining way.  To rent the cabin check the “Availability” page to see if your  dates are available, and then email us at livingwatercabins@comcast.net   Let us know the nights you want to rent, how many adults, and children in your party, and we will send you an email with the cost, answer your questions, and provide additional detail.

Those West Virginia hills are home to us, and it will be good to get away from all this economic turmoil to the sanctuary of our personal mountain playground.  We look forward to a cool fresh air walk in color, and the opportunity to catch another golden rainbow trout – the gold standard of recreational value for West Virginia.  The golden trout are heavily pursued for the obvious reasons.  We always like to remind ourselves that for each of those easily seen pretty golden trout placed in the waters, WVDNR puts 9 other trout of various species along the side of it.

We would like to thank you for considering our home for your get-a-way, and thank you visiting our pesonal web page.

This year the trout fishing is unbelievable on the Williams River.  It was so great that we could not pull ourselves away from the Williams to experience what the Cranberry River had to offer, which we would expect to be equally marvelous.  Our thanks to West Virginia’s Department of Natural Resources for their commitment to stock all of the 2010 quota of trout that was planned, produced, and raised for the Williams.  DNR usually begins stocking the Williams in January, but do to the extreme depths of snow in the mountains this winter they could not begin their stocking schedule for the Williams until the middle of March.

Though my boys, Dona and I returned all of the trout we caught to the stream Phil, who rented the cabin the five days before our arrival, kept two of his fish he caught in the morning before leaving.  He cleaned the fish, and put them in a bowl of ice in the refrigerator for when we arrived that evening.  We grilled those two trout along with the shrimp we had bought for dinner that evening along with the corn on the cob, coleslaw, and strawberries.  Dinner evolved into a very healthy feast.

Following is a photograph Tyler shot of a beautiful Golden Rainbow Trout that I caught on a very small fly that presented as a close match to the current hatch.  In the evening as these small insects emerged the trout had no use for anything else and a fly rod with the little floating fly was the only opportunity to attract a strike.  I have more success with a fly rod than a spinner on the Williams River.  There are other photographs of our trip as well.

While we were on the river late in the afternoon on Saturday the first insects began to emerge from the water giving the fly fishing men and women something to work with to match the hatch.  Though there were many people on the river fishing with natural baits and spinners there were those who pursued the trout with  fly rods and flies.  The Williams River is perfectly suited for fly fishing.

Virtually the full length of the Williams River is accessible by a recently paved road paralleling on one side of the river and then the other. Though the paved portion of the road is thin, those using the area are very courteous and safe while passing each other.

It was almost heaven in West Virginia over Thanksgiving up at the cabin.   We hiked along the Cranberry River up into the primitive Cranberry Backcountry.  We were mesmerized by the views of the Monongahela National Forest from the Red Oak mountain fire tower in a chilling free wind.  The Williams River before and after the snow was absolutely beautiful.  We ran down to Clarksburg to my sister’s home  for Thanksgiving dinner with about 20 family members assembled as her guests.  In the evening we took time out  to see the movie The Blind Side, which was excellent.  On the drive home we saw 35 deer.  Four of them were in front of the cabin when we drove up.  Later from the hot tub we were able to see them continuing to feed in the field in front of the cabin.

A Beautiful October Morning

For a quick overview of the cabin quickly scroll down a couple of posts.

Dona and I had a chance to run up to the cabin during her fall break to catch the tail end of some spectacular color.  Dona has always liked to fish particularly from the pier at the seashore, but this fall I bought Dona her first pair of waders, which was a new fishing sensation for her.  We went up river to a pretty nice place where we could get into the Williams River for a little light fishing.  She loved it.  Earlier this fall we walked around the neighborhood to break in her new hiking boots and on our second day we drove up over Red Oak Mountain to the Cranberry Back Country Gate, parked, and walked in about three miles behind the gate along the river.

To get to the Cranberry River and the entry into the back country drive from the cabin down-river 2.8 miles to where the “Low Water Bridge” crosses The Williams River and where the forest service road heads up over the mountain.  From the bridge it is 7.4 miles up over the mountain and down to the parking lot at the gate that stops motorized vehicles from entering the back country .  The forest service road behind the gate provides easy and safe access for hiking or biking along the Cranberry River.

Note that there are handicap accessible outdoor style toilet houses near the parking lot.  Remember to take towelettes as there is no running water available.