Philly Trail Wanderers

Make some room for your Thanksgiving dinner with a jaunt up and down the steep and difficult Lehigh Gap section of the Appalachian Trail!

This hike will take in the north (east) side of craggy Lehigh Gap where the Lehigh River cuts a pass through the great wall of the Blue Mountain. The gap has been extensively denuded of vegetation due to zinc processing during the early 20th century. Environmental reclamation has progressed since the 1980s, but the gap still contains long stretches of treeless and rocky terrain. Great for expansive views over the Lehigh Valley to the south and the Poconos to the north. Not so great on the feet though.

We will make a figure-eight loop on the northbound side of the gap as oriented by the direction of the Appalachian Trail. The ascent will total around 1000 feet of elevation gain in one mile. The northbound side is the more difficult of the two sides of the gap. The climb requires lots of boulder scrambling and some short hands-free stretches. This is a more difficult hike. Make sure you are confident you can complete a hike with this amount of elevation gain, mileage and technical difficulty. In total we will gain about 1100ft of elevation and hike around 5 miles.

Parking will be on the northbound side of the gap off PA route 248. Search for "Appalachian Trail Parking, Walnutport" or use coordinates "40.78293923543664, -75.60368464975784" to find the parking lot. We will start at 9am. Please make sure you are on time as I will not be able to check my phone for anyone arriving late once we start. As always, bring appropriate equipment, footwear and ample water and extra calories.

AllTrails map of approximate route can be found here:
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/us/pennsylvania/lehigh-gap-east-loop-via-appalachian-trail

Note this will not be our exact route.

Hike will cancel with bad enough weather.

Kittatinny is a corruption of the Lenape "Kitahtene" which means "Endless Mountain". During the last Ice Age the top of the mountain was scoured by ice sheets and the hard quartzite topping the ridge was broken into sharp blocks. The name of the mountain probably refers to the linear nature of the mountain, stretching from the Shawangunks in New York to the Mason-Dixon Line, but it could just as easily refer to the experience of walking across its rocky top.

Here, we traverse a short section of the Kittatinny ridge top between the Yards Creek gap at the Mohican Outdoor Center, past the Catfish Mountain firetower and its views, down to Millbrook Rd. and a spring purported to have healing powers (it doesn't). This will comprise a moderately difficult 8 mile loop with some short climbing sections up the ridge. The trail can be rocky in stretches which requires good footing and appropriate footwear. As always bring some water and extra calories to get you through the day.

We start at 9am from the parking along Camp Mohican Rd. by the AT trail crossing. Make sure to arrive on time. Once we start I do not check my phone for late comers.

Hike will cancel from severe weather.

The Appalachian Trail has been rerouted many, many times since its first completion in the 1930s. Locally, BMECC member and avid hiker Lloyd Showers of Bethel, PA advocated in the 1920s for an AT alignment over Rund Kopf (Round Head), an edifice of crumbling white quartzite boulders which offered fine views of the Berks County countryside and the ridge-and-valley Appalachians marching off to the west. When the trail was cut it ultimately did not take in Lloyd Showers' beloved Round Head. And so he built himself his own trail from the valley bottom to the top of the mountain. Showers 500 Steps as it would be called was maintained by the BMECC until 1978, when the AT was rerouted over Round Head and incorporated parts of Showers' trails. Today the steps themselves are more of a boulder scramble than a proper set of steps, but they make for an adventurous climb up the talus fields below Round Head.

This will be a more difficult, 7 mile out and back hike. We will hike the 3 miles from Route 501 to the point of Round Head, descend the mountain and return up the boulder field. The climb will be strenuous and requires scrambling over large rocks and boulders. There is an elevation gain of 500 feet over around 0.4 miles. Wear appropriate footwear with good traction. As always bring water and extra calories for the day. When we complete the climb we will take a break at Round Head before returning to Route 501.

Meet up will be at the AT parking along Route 501 on the top of Blue Mountain. Make sure to arrive on time. Once we start hiking I will not check for late comers and will not be able to check my phone.

Link below for the AllTrails map and trail description. You can also copy directions to the trailhead from there.

https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/us/pennsylvania/round-head-via-appalachian-trail

Note this is not the exact route we will follow.

Hike will cancel from severe weather.