If you’re a paddle sports enthusiast, your options just opened up wider on one well known West Virginia water. The DNR completed a project in cooperation with the Department of Highways and Brayman Construction last fall creating a new “carry down” access ramp on Cheat Lake in Monongalia County.
“It gives access to the upper part of the lake,” said DNR district fisheries biologist Frank Jernejcic. “Although there is a lot of powered boat activity in the summer, during the fall, winter, and spring there isn’t much activity with the powered boats so it’s an ideal place for canoes and kayaks.”
The ramp is a gravelled lot on the east end of the new Ices Ferry Bridge. The location was originally created on the lake shore to provide a staging area for construction crews to build the new bridge. Jernejcic saw it as an opportunity.
“We knew the bridge was going to be replaced eight or ten years ago,” he said. “We started thinking some of the access they would need for construction could be left in place and we could utilize it for boating and fishing.”
In addition to the carry down ramp and parking lot, the area offers a rocky shore for bank fishermen to enjoy. The project came at a bargain for West Virginia’s anglers and boaters.
“We purchased about $5,000 worth of stone to put down on it. That was our only cost,” said Jernejcic. “We probably couldn’t have afforded to do a site like this.”
It’s a unique feature to the lake which until now had no real boating access for canoes and kayaks. Jernejcic believes it will become a popular attraction once those who enjoy paddling find out.
“Nobody knows about this yet. We finished this in November and the bridge was finished in November. We just put up a sign and there’s been no real publicity about this site,” he said.