ABOUT THE PARK:
Delaware Water Gap NRA - National Park Service
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 40.979776, -75.141934
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| At 7 AM there were two other cars in the lot. At 1 PM the lot is full and people are hiking up in droves, even in the middle of the week. |
TRAIL MAP:
NY/NJ Trail Conference - Kittatinny Trails Map #120
HIKE DISTANCE: 6.4 miles
THE HIKE:
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| The hike starts on the Appalachian Trail right off the parking lot. |
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| The trail starts out as an old paved road, |
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| Passing Lake Lenape on the right. |
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| The old road is wide and smooth starting out. |
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| The AT leaves to the left. The return via the fire road comes in from the right. |
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| Now the trail is a footpath. |
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| Mount Tammany, NJ on the left and Mount Minsi, PA on the right. |
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| Crossing Eureka Creek |
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| The trail turns right but a few steps ahead before that turn is Lookout Rock. |
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| A little bit of a smooth spot before ... |
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| Rhododendron Bud |
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| ... more rugged uphill climbing. |
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| Mount Tammany |
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| Canada geese started flying in front of Mount Tammany. The line took forever to fly by. There must have been several hundred geese. |
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| Old fire tower footings on Mount Minsi. |
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| The last time we were here that same sign was on a tree. Well, it still is, sort of, except not the whole tree. |
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| An unmarked path on Mount Minsi to... |
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| ...views of the Delaware River. |
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| Break time. |
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| Traditionally, Shawnee and I have always hiked out to Tott's Gap on the fire road before returning. It's a very quiet and peaceful stretch on grassy woods road. But this time it would have made the hike too long for her so we just went out a quarter of a mile and back for old time's sake. |
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| Bake at the Mount Minsi summit to head back. |
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| Enjoying the 70+ degree weather in March! |
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| We ran into some other hikers who asked "Is that Shawnee?" They are blog followers and immediately recognized Shawnee. How nice to meet them! |
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| Heading back down on the Mount Minsi Fire Road. |
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| It's a long trudge down on chunky rocks. |
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| We don't find this very pleasant so... |
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| ... we left the fire road on an unmarked trail ... |
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| ... to a pond ... |
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| ... but instead of looping around back to the fire road, we kept going and met back up with the Appalachian Trail. |
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| We had never returned this way before we got to see the views again. |
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| It was really getting hot at this point - 82 degrees according to the car once we finished! |
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| Meeting back up with the fire road where we would have come in from the left had we stayed with that route. |
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| Back at the parking lot. |
We had hiked Mount Minsi in March of 2010 and March of 2011. Here are some comparisons to 2011 pictures taken in approximately the same places.
Stunning views!
ReplyDeleteIt's so stunning that you forget all about the I-80 noise down below!
DeleteThank you. For an old now disabled hiker, you provide vicarious fun!
ReplyDeleteAwww, thanks. Glad we can offer you some fun!
DeleteDaniela
This looks like a great hike with stunning views! I liked your close up of the bird and butterfly. I'm glad you added a picture of yourself and Shawnee at the end. You both look great! I admire you for going on all these hikes alone with just you and Shawnee. Shawnee is a great dog! Love seeing her in your pictures. Thanks for sharing! Joanne
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joanne. She really is a great dog. To think she was unadoptable and that I kept her because nobody was willing to deal with her fear issues when she was young. Their loss, my gain!
DeleteDaniela
Brings back good memories of my days hiking while enrolled in college at nearby East Stroudsburg University. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou were much closer than we are but still worth the trip!
DeleteDaniela