Looking for a weekend place

[bobbymo]

Hey guys. I am looking for a nice trout stream with cabins. I am trying to find a place to go for a long weekend that I can take the wife and dog. I would need a dog friendly place and somewhere were there is more to do than just fly fish. Maybe hiking, horseback riding, shopping nearby....something like that. It doesn't have to be in PA but close would be nice. It would also have to be somewhere where we could fish in the summer months. My wife is a teacher so we wouldn't be able to go until end of May or begging of June. I would love to do some dry fly fishing.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Fishidiot]

Have you considered some of the state parks? I'm not sure about your neck of the woods but down here in south central there are some parks with cabins for rent. Nearby are hiking trails (including the Appalachian Tr) as well as world class trout fishing. In particular, you might check out Pine Grove Furnace SP. I'm not sure about rates, vacancy, or dogs in the cabins.....but it would be worth a call. There is trout fishing and hiking right there in the park and big name streams, like Big Spring or Yellow Breeches, are within a short drive of 15-30 min. Not sure about horseback rentals but there are bridle trails in the area (Michaux SF). Camp Hill shopping mall is probably about 30 min away.

 

[Maurice]

What about Harmans -----> see sidebar ad.

Deep summer its fishing diminishes and not sure of hatches although summer means terrestrials anywhere I suppose. Looks pretty nice and gets rave reviews here. I think they have one cabin for pets. Or pets are not allowed, I forget.

 

[sandfly]

most state parks do not allow dogs....try this area there are lots of places on trout streams. have everything you are looking for including hatches. your wife would love Wellsboro and all is dog friendly here. if ya need more info pm me or call me and I could help ya out..

 

[bobbymo]

Thanks all. Harman's looks pretty interesting. They have one dog friendly cabin. Sandfly, I didn't see the area in your post. Are you talking about Wellsboro in general?

 

[geebee]

Greenbriars in WV looks pretty cool - spa, riding, falconry & C&R trout fishing.

I'd also look on vrbo - lots on stream cabins i various states.

 

[sandfly]

yep Wellsboro and grand canyon of pa.

 

[pcray1231]

I went to an even at a cabin in black Moshannon SP once. Place was very nice. It wasn't mine, so I don't know if dogs were allowed, but the hosts had a dog there. Black Moshannon Creek is stocked with a handful of wild fish, but probably a bit too warm in the summer. There are some brookie streams nearby that are good in the summer, and it's really only a half hour drive or so to Spring Creek. There is plenty of hiking around, both in the park, and out of, and I've seen horses though I don't know any details of how to go about that.

They have rustic cabins - in the campground, and modern cabins. We were in modern cabin #20 which was very nice. Full kitchen, nice living room with a wood burning stove, upstairs were several bedrooms. Set away from other touristy stuff, on a private drive with a nice view.

 

[salmonoid]

sandfly wrote:
most state parks do not allow dogs....try this area there are lots of places on trout streams. have everything you are looking for including hatches. your wife would love Wellsboro and all is dog friendly here. if ya need more info pm me or call me and I could help ya out..

I don't own a pet (unless you count a feral cat that the kids have "adopted" and that eats our food pile scraps), but most state parks do allow pets and they are experimenting with dogs in cabins in 2014 and 2015.

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/thingstoknow/pets/

Specifically:
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/staythenight/cabins/index.htm?tab=Dogs#Dogs

I notice from time to time when booking a cabin that certain cabins are marked for pet owners. I have yet to stay at a state park cabin that I did not like. I second pcray's motion for Black Moshannon, especially the Ski Lodge, which is cabin 20. This year will be year three that our extended family has made a trip there. Pine Grove Furnace has about double that in consecutive years of trips there.

And you can't go wrong anywhere up in Sandy's northern tier, state park or otherwise.

 

[pcray1231]

Also, being from the Pittsburgh region, you could go to the National Forest area.

We have a cabin in the region so never rented anything ourselves, and can't actually give a review. But I will say the Flying W ranch seems to be the type of place you're looking for.

They are located on the edge of the National Forest, and do a lot of touristy stuff like lead groups on horseback rides. They do have cabins to rent and are in a beautiful area. Tionesta Creek is real close, and is stocked, but is too warm in the summer for trout. It's a good smallmouth stream/river, though. There are lots of smaller streams nearby which primarily harbor native brookies. There are slightly larger (still smallish medium) sized streams with wild browns in

 

[bobbymo]

Thanks guys. Lot of great ideas here. I appreciate all the advice. I will let you know how it goes!

 

[Chaz]

Many CG's have cabins both private and public, and they have streams or lakes. Figure out where you want to go and search the web sites by typing in google CG's near...

 

[tomitrout]

If you're looking at Harman's, I'd also suggest driving a bit further to maybe Shenandoah National Park for mtn natives, Mossy Creek limestoner down in the valley, or maybe hit the Elk River in WV, nice lodging and B&B's near that water around Slatyfork, imagine there's some pet friendly lodging around Snowshoe if the smaller places aren't pet friendly. Have also heard good things about Holly River State Park, I think that's the name, to the west and north a bit of Slatyfork, a couple drainages to the west...nice camping and cabins, but not sure about pets,,,and the Blackwater can be productive there in Davis, lots of lodging around the valley, and smaller brookie water to explore.

 

[pcray1231]

And late May/early June, if it's more about fishing and being in a nice area, man I love Penns Creek in the Poe Paddy area.

It's a forested remote valley in the mountains of central PA, and Penns Creek forms a gorge through it with beautiful overviews and a number of hiking trails lead to overlooks and such. Penns Creek, in the gorge, is of course a world famous trout fishery, and the mid-state trail runs along much of it. My wife always liked the area, FWIW.

There are other streams in the region as well, both stocked and unstocked.

As far as lodging, well, that's the tough part. That valley itself is very remote. From outside, it's at least a half hour on dirt roads to get in there. In the valley itself, there are 2 state parks. One is Poe Paddy, which is right on Penns Creek, and very pleasant IMO. But it's a campground, and a primitive one at that. No cabins. The other is Poe Valley, which is a few miles up the hollow. Poe Valley does advertise 3 "camping cottages", but I have no idea what those are like. There's a little lake there, and it's a bit more modernized.

You could also opt for somewhere like Hemlock Acres Campground, which has a number of cabins. Private campground that's fairly easy access to the Poe Valley, but still 20 minutes or so on dirt roads. But it's 10 minutes to Coburn and Millheim, which are small actual towns in the area. The towns themselves are rather quaint and often have things going on. Millheim has an excellent brew pub called Elk Creek Cafe that we all love. Good food and beer, and usually good music on weekend evenings. My wife and I often drove out there from State College on Saturday nights.

7 Mountains Camground is another option. It's got lots of nice cabins and is