New boater (soon) in WV

[malaki86]

My wife and I are planning on buying our first boat, more than likely a pontoon boat in the 18-22' range. This probably won't happen until next year.

Anyway - my question is this:
We live in north-central West Virginia, close to Morgantown and Clarksburg. There's a number of lakes near us, such as Cheat Lake, Tygart Lake, Stonewall Jackson Lake, etc., as well as the Mon & Tygart Rivers. But, what we're really looking for is a place where we can load up our camping gear onto the boat, hit the water, find a nice secluded spot along the shore and setup camp for a day or two.

Does anyone know of any places that allow that within, say, 2-3 hours of this area? I know of plenty of spots along the Mon & Tygart Rivers where I can, but non of them have any real places that we can go swimming off the shore if we decide to.

 

[pine island fred]

Re: New boater (soon) in WV

Am guessing that any shore line along a river or lake is private property and it might be difficult to find a place to camp. Might be to far for you to travel but can recommend CLAYTOR LAKE down past BLUEFIELD in PULASKI VA. There is a web site for it. SIL has a place toward the headwaters with a concrete ramp. Lots of room to pitch a tent, very remote location. Old girl is having difficulty keeping the place and I have been suggesting she use the site to generate a few bucks. Stay in touch if you are interested. FRED

 

[malaki86]

Re: New boater (soon) in WV

The sad part is that the lakes in my area are state parks, so even though they're state property, they have rules that say you can't camp anywhere other than the overcrowded campgrounds. Camping to me is getting away from everyone.

Even if I have to pay to camp "where I want" wouldn't be an issue. I just don't want to listen to everyone around me when I'm trying to get away from it all.

 

[pine island fred]

Re: New boater (soon) in WV

Very small part of CLAYTOR is state park. Majority of lake front is private property. This particular location you would have an occasional barking dog or pickup on a dirt/ gravel road. Very quiet at night but have reports of a bear showing up at night. FRED

 

[malaki86]

Re: New boater (soon) in WV

Bears showing up at night is when it's fun - LOL. That happened to us last year when we were camping locally. It happened on the 3rd night and it's when I finally lit up all the lanterns, started banging the pots and pans and tied up the dog. That must've been enough because it didn't come any closer and we stopped hearing it.

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: New boater (soon) in WV

I know this post is a few months old....but you might be OK at Stonewall doing that in certain places....We fish there during the spring and I have friends who will have camped at places like Oil Lick Road and Mudlick Road and no one has ever run them off. Stonewall has a lot of private land, State land and some areas that I doubt if anyone would care about. A lot of people night fish in these areas as well, pretty much the same as camping, in my book. Might ask the powers to be up there just in case.