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Pittsburgh, PA & Monongahela Forest, WV
May, 2026

Williams River in the Cranberry Wilderness

May 18-20

Williams river has about 24 Forest Service campsites over about 12 miles. Wonderfully maintained and spaced plenty far apart. Gorgeous, healthy forest. We had our own little trail to the river and stayed for 3 days. LOVED IT, although it was SUPER hot and humid. Everything here seems to move SO SLOW when it’s hot.

Our beloved and quiet river that we enjoyed all to ourselves for 3 days.

Animal tracks under the huge rocks.

Robin’s egg:

Trail from the fire to the river:

We learned that it is Tent Moth season, and the caterpillars were ALL OVER THE PLACE including all over us. You’d feel a tickle, and there would be a 2-3 inch hairy slowpoke climbing on your neck. Or not feel anything, and realize three of them are crawling all over your pants or hat.

They went absolutely any and everywhere. The eventually even cocooned on the tires!

Our tent looking like a UFO at night haha:

The next day was quite eventful… It started off watching caterpillars crawling on the outside of the tent.

Then off to eat our breakfast on the big rocks by the river.

Aaron started fishing…

And when my back was turned, I heard a big SPLOOSH like he did a cannonball into the river. He didn’t :( He fell off the rock and into the water below trying to get his lure. THANKFULLY he only hurt his leg - it could have been much worse! But that leg bothered him the whole trip, which sucks.

Lure searching.

At night, the froggies come out and sing! They’re adorable. Unfortunately these are the best pics I could get.

The plan for day 3 was to scout Middle Fork Trail, which we’d be backcountry camping on the rest of the week. We initially wanted to go to the west end of the trail up to the east, since the trailhead was right on the river we were camping on. We went to the trail and it was UNREADABLE. As if there was no trail at all. On top of that, it was super muddy and one edge of it was a sheer drop. We could never navigate that, so we decided to drive to the other end of the trail and see if it was any better. It was! We walked far enough to see a camp we liked, and it was still so hot and humid we headed back to the river. Eerily, even though we were in the land of gorgeousness with a scenic highway, there were NO OTHER CARS ANYWHERE. Just open roads, driving alone for as far as you could see. It was creepy, like in some kind of horror movie.

Nests of moths in the trees: