I havent been as active on the forum(or the sport) for the last decade. A little crazy to think back at when i was a student at PSU when i made this account. Two young kids and an intense career have subtracted from fishing, but i want to try and recapture that moving forward. As my kids(1.5/4) age, i hope it will be easier to involve them. As it stands, we have two bike trailers for taking them along on bike trails as well as kid carriers for taking them on hikes. In fact, some of my favorite memories with the family over the last few years are the random days we took off to hike/bike, play in a stream{(while dad sneaks in a cast or two), and just generally be at peace outside. This leads to my main question/advice from the group. Like probably every other guy on the forum, ive harbored fantasies about a weekend place away from Pittsburgh since i was probably 15. That dream is definitely within financial reach now. Not a lakefront place at Deep Creek kind of budget, but enough for four walls and a roof. As i start to think through if this is a good idea, i also started to think about the where of it. For decades, i assumed this would be somewhere in the laurel highlands near the Yough. We like the gap trail, i proposed to my wife at Fern Cliff, and it is an area that we have hiked, fished, and biked for decades. To be completely honest however, i dont know that ive ever had a 'good' day fishing the yough. Ive had a few great smallmouth from when i was a member at the C-vill gunclub, but ive waded a decent amount below the falls and above the falls and it is an immense amount of work for so-so fishing. The two floats i did with guides over the years were also kinda meh. Gorgeous floats, and there are portions of that river where you can really fool yourself into believing you are 200 years in the past. This year i picked up a trailer, titan 12.5, newport 300 motor, etc. and spent more time on the lower yough from buena vista/boston/west newton, and while i love being on the water, the fishing was disappointing this summer. Obviously an off year with rainfall, but the youtube/social media feedback on the yough is it was terrible this season. Also, those portions of the yough are a little too industrialized for my tastes. Beyond the Yough, Meadow Run was a lot of fun 15+ years ago, but seems like it gets crazy amounts of pressure the last 5+ years ive visited. All to say, i am overlooking my nostalgic bias for Ohiopyle and want to poll the group for what areas they suggest.
1) if you have a second place, would you do it over again? Did you find it to be a maintenance/financial burden, or did you not use it as much as you anticipated?
2) How far is it from your primary residence? How far is too far? I feel like anything over 2 hours one way is hard to consistently hit. Thankfully with remote work, it isnt crazy to think we could leave our place in the South Hills of Pittsburgh after work on Thursday and be at the weekend place before 8pm during the summer.
3) I am hesitant to go too cheap on a bare-bones no running water kind of place, because id like this to be collectively about family outdoor time and not just dad's fishing the entire weekend. Also, like above, i think it would get more use if it had decent amenities and the ability for me to work half a day on fridays.
4) Anything i am missing that i should definitely be thinking about?
Like i already said, Ohiopyle, Ligonier, Confluence, Yough Lake were my first thoughts. From cursory views, these are not areas with a ton of bang for your buck(i suspect air bnb is to blame for that, especially for the few homes in Ohiopyle, wowza). I dont have much experience along the Allegheny River, but i am curious about Emlenton/Foxburg north. We have done a few of the bike trails along the Allegheny and some were nice. Some were terribly bumpy. Similarly, we spent several weekend trips throughout the ANF doing Heart's Content and some other hikes. Not enough to scratch the surface, but i know there is likely enough trails/wilderness to keep us occupied for awhile. And finally, beside the Allegheny River, it is nice that French Creek, Clarion, Oil Creek, and Tionesta Creek could offer some variation. I havent fished a single one of them and they might all be terrible disappointments, but variety is nice. If you were looking within a certain drive time of South Hills Village Mall, where would you spend your money? Also, feel free to tell me this is a horrible idea and that ill barely use it and in a few years my children will be so involved in sports that i will never see them again. This is all feedback i have received to my face, so you wont hurt my feelings.
1) if you have a second place, would you do it over again? Did you find it to be a maintenance/financial burden, or did you not use it as much as you anticipated?
2) How far is it from your primary residence? How far is too far? I feel like anything over 2 hours one way is hard to consistently hit. Thankfully with remote work, it isnt crazy to think we could leave our place in the South Hills of Pittsburgh after work on Thursday and be at the weekend place before 8pm during the summer.
3) I am hesitant to go too cheap on a bare-bones no running water kind of place, because id like this to be collectively about family outdoor time and not just dad's fishing the entire weekend. Also, like above, i think it would get more use if it had decent amenities and the ability for me to work half a day on fridays.
4) Anything i am missing that i should definitely be thinking about?
Like i already said, Ohiopyle, Ligonier, Confluence, Yough Lake were my first thoughts. From cursory views, these are not areas with a ton of bang for your buck(i suspect air bnb is to blame for that, especially for the few homes in Ohiopyle, wowza). I dont have much experience along the Allegheny River, but i am curious about Emlenton/Foxburg north. We have done a few of the bike trails along the Allegheny and some were nice. Some were terribly bumpy. Similarly, we spent several weekend trips throughout the ANF doing Heart's Content and some other hikes. Not enough to scratch the surface, but i know there is likely enough trails/wilderness to keep us occupied for awhile. And finally, beside the Allegheny River, it is nice that French Creek, Clarion, Oil Creek, and Tionesta Creek could offer some variation. I havent fished a single one of them and they might all be terrible disappointments, but variety is nice. If you were looking within a certain drive time of South Hills Village Mall, where would you spend your money? Also, feel free to tell me this is a horrible idea and that ill barely use it and in a few years my children will be so involved in sports that i will never see them again. This is all feedback i have received to my face, so you wont hurt my feelings.
