Best of the Appalachian Trail: Overnight Hikes

by Leonard M. Adkins, Frank Logue, Victoria Logue

Overview

Experience sleeping under the stars on the Appalachian Trail with this guide.

Hikers can traverse Virginia's Southern Shenandoah, enjoy North Carolina's Mount Cammerer Loop, and summit Vermont's Killington Peak with Best Hikes of the Appalachian Trail: Overnight Hikes by Victoria and Frank Logue and Leonard M. Adkins,the most comprehensive and useful guide to the best Appalachian Trail overnight hikes.

This new edition includes new overnight hikes, as well as updated trail information. Each hike profile contains driving directions to the trailhead; a preview of the flora, fauna, and history hikers will encounter on the trail; and hike difficulty ratings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781634042611
Publisher:	Menasha Ridge Press
Publication date:	08/21/2018
Edition description:	3rd ed.
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Frank and Victoria Logue hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in 1988, and they have returned again and again to hike its many sections on day and overnight hikes. Frank has also served on the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s Board of Managers. In addition, the pair has continued to hike out west and abroad, including Israel, Jordan, France, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, and England. The Logues live in Georgia, where Frank works as an Episcopal priest and as an assistant to the Bishop of Georgia. Victoria continues to write, working on both nonfiction and fiction. She has recently published her fourth novel. Currently, they love visiting and hiking with their daughter, Griffin, in Arizona.

Leonard M. Adkins has been intimately involved with the Appalachian Trail for several decades. He has hiked its full length five times and lacks just a few hundred miles to complete it for a sixth. He has maintained a section of the trail near McAfee Knob and was a ridgerunner for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. He was also an A.T. Natural Heritage Site Monitor, aiding the conservancy and the National Park Service in overseeing the welfare of rare and endangered plants. In addition, he has served on the Boards of Directors of the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club and Old Dominion Appalachian Trail Club. Among other long-distance trails Leonard has completed are the Continental Divide Trail from Canada to Mexico, Pacific Northwest Trail from Glacier National Park to the Pacific Ocean, and the Pyrenees High Route along the border of France and Spain. In all, he has walked more than 20,000 miles, exploring the backcountry areas of the United States, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, and the Caribbean.

Leonard is the author of 20 books on travel and the outdoors. His Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail was presented the National Outdoor Book Award, while The Appalachian Trail: A Visitor’s Companion, received the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award. He has also written more than 200 articles for magazines such as Blue Ridge Country, Backpacker, Islands, The Roanoker, and Blue Ridge Outdoors. Along with this thru-hiking wife, Laurie, he lives in Virginia, within easy striking distance of the A.T.

You may learn more about his adventures at habitualhiker.com.

Read an Excerpt

Delaware Water Gap and Kittatinny Mountains
moderate
27 miles traverse

This hike begins in Delaware Water Gap near the Pennsylvania–New Jersey border, passes through the Worthington State Forest, and follows the Kittatinny Ridge to Culvers Gap. Among the highlights of this traverse are the beautiful glacier-cut Sunfish Pond and the wonderful views along the Kittatinny Ridge. A section of this hike passes through oak and hickory forests with scattered pitch pine, white pine, red cedar, hemlock, and rhododendrons. During mid-summer, blueberries are plentiful along the Trail.

A dam was authorized to be built in the Delaware Water Gap area in 1962. Severe opposition halted the project, but not before the government established the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, meant to provide recreational facilities for the never-established lake. The recreation area now provides a protected corridor for the Appalachian Trail.

Throughout much of this hike, camping is permitted only at shelters or designated campsites. Camping is permitted on the recreation area lands between mile 6.5 and mile 22.1. However, you must follow certain conditions: Camping is permitted only in areas that are 0.5 mile from road accesses or the boundaries of the national recreation area. You must camp not more than 100 feet from the Trail and at least 200 feet from other campsites. Camping is prohibited within 100 feet of any stream or water source. No camping is permitted from 0.5 mile south of Blue Mountain Lakes Road to 1 north of Crater Lake.

The Hike

From the Dunnfield Creek Natural Area, follow the A.T. north through the parking area, pass a pump with good water (it has been tested), and enter the woods. After turning left at mile 0.2, cross a wooden bridge over Dunnfield Creek, and shortly thereafter, turn right onto a woods road, following the left bank of Dunnfield Creek.

Take the left fork at mile 0.5 and continue along the woods road. The blue-blazed Blue Dot Trail leads right to Mount Tammany. Also at this intersection, the Dunnfield Creek Trail follows the route of the Blue Dot Trail for a distance before branching off to rise to Sunfish Pond. The A.T. continues to follow the woods roads as it gradually ascends. At mile 1.6, you will reach the junction with the yellow-blazed Beulahland Trail, which heads left to Fairview Parking Area on River Road. There is also the red-blazed Holly Spring Trail which goes right for 0.2 mile to intermittent Holly Spring.

The A.T. continues ahead with the Kittatinny Mountains visible to your right. At mile 2.6, pass by a grassy road which goes left to soon intersect the Douglas Trail. At mile 3.2, you will pass Backpacker Site (a designated camping site) at a trail junction. Turn right onto the woods road. To the left, the blue-blazed Douglas Trail leads 1.7 miles to a developed campground along the Delaware River in Worthington State Forest. The Trail is named for William O. Douglas, who campaigned against the proposed dam in the 1960s. He is also the only US Supreme Court Justice to have hiked the entire Appalachian Trail.

Hike 0.6 mile to Sunfish Pond. This glacial pond has been designated a Natural Area as well as a national landmark. Camping is not permitted here. The Trail skirts the pond and crosses its outlet and the Sunfish Drainage Trail at mile 4.1. Walking beside interesting rock formations, pass by the junction with the Turquoise Trail at mile 4.5 and, in another 0.1 mile, the yellow-blazed Garvey Trail, which leads left 0.1 mile to seasonal Garvey Springs. Descend to cross a brook, and reach a power line cut-through at mile 6.2, which provides views from both sides of the ridge. At the crest of the ridge, 0.1 mile later, you should be able to see the storage ponds for Yards Creek pump-storage hydroelectric development to the right and the Delaware River to the left. A view of Catfish Fire Tower lies ahead between the ridges.

Leave Worthington State Forest at mile 6.5 and enter the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. After 0.2 mile, the overgrown Kaiser Road comes in from the right. In another 0.3 mile, the Kaiser Road Trail takes off to the left. Hike 0.4 mile to reach another viewpoint where you can get another eyeful of Yards Creek storage ponds. At mile 7.9, the Trail turns left, descends, and crosses a stream. (Red-blazed Coppermines Trail goes off to the left here.) Pick up water from the stream if you intend to camp along the first couple of miles atop the ridge. Reach Camp Road (formerly Mohican Road) at mile 8.9. From the far side of Camp Road, begin to ascend.

Climb 0.6 mile to the top of Kittatinny Ridge, and enjoy good views to the right. In another 0.6 mile or so, the Trail reaches the rim, follows the ledges a short distance, and reenters the woods. The ledges offer good views to the right. The Trail joins the rim again in another 0.1 mile. The orange-blazed Rattlesnake Swamp Trail heads left for 0.5 mile to Catfish Pond and the Mohican Outdoor Center. Hike another 1 mile to the Catfish Fire Tower, which offers a panoramic view from sixty feet above the ground. From the tower, you will begin your descent to Millbrook-Blairstown Road.

Follow the gravel road from the tower for 0.3 mile. Turn left off the road, and be sure to follow white blazes through a series of turns on and off gravel roads. Just after the orange-blazed Rattlesnake Swamp Trail intersects the gravel road you are following, you can take the gravel road to the left for 50 feet to Rattlesnake Spring, a reliable water source.

Continuing on the A.T., reach Millbrook-Blairstown Road at mile 12.3. Go left, following the paved road a short distance, and turn right onto a footpath. Cross a wooden bridge over a beaver pond outlet at mile 12.8. In 0.3 mile, reach a power line cut-through with views to the left of the Wallpack Valley and Pocono Plateau. Follow the cut-through to the right for 0.1 mile, turn left at the second power line tower, and enter the woods. A short side trail leads right to a view of Sand Pond of Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, which belongs to the Bergen Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

The A.T follows the crest of the ridge through the woods. Pass by the side trail to the Boy Scout Camp in 0.8 mile. At mile 14.6, the A.T intersects a dirt road, which it follows for the next 1.6 miles. A clearing at mile 15.5 provides a view of Fairview Lake, while an unmarked road 0.4 mile later leads right 40 yards to a view of the lake and the highlands of New Jersey. Pass by a water pump (a good source of water as it is tested) and come to Blue Mountain Lakes Road at mile 16.2. Turn right to follow the road for 100 feet, turn left into the woods, and sign the Trail register 0.1 mile later. Cross the face of a smooth rock at mile 17.3, pass by a swamp at mile 17.5, and negotiate the face of a steep escarpment at mile 17.9. Intersect and turn right onto a gravel road at mile 18. Fifty feet later is a blue-blazed side trail to the right that goes 150 feet to a view of Crater Lake. Pass by orange-blazed Hemlock Trail in another 0.3 mile and the blue-blazed Buttermilk Falls Trail in an additional 0.8 mile. This latter pathway descend 1.6 miles and 1,000 feet in elevation to the falls—the highest in New Jersey.

Continuing on the A.T., leave the gravel road at mile 19.4, passing by an unmarked trail to the left (leads a distance to a western-looking view). After a descent, cross a stream at mile 20.6, where a blue-blazed side trail leads right to a water source. Rise to the top of Rattlesnake Mountain (elevation 1,492 feet) in another 0.4 mile, where you can look westward to the Wallpack Valley and the Pocono Plateau.

Cross a stream 0.3 mile later, turning right onto a dirt road in another 0.5 mile. Just after this is a unmarked trail to a view to the west. At mile 22.1, turn right off the dirt road and enter Stokes State Forest. In 0.4 mile, come into a clearing with a view of the Wallpack Valley and Pocono Plateau in Pennsylvania. Cross dirt Brink Road at mile 23.2. A blue-blazed side trail to the left goes 0.2 mile to Brink Road Shelter. Water is available about 100 yards beyond the shelter.

Continuing on the A.T., sign the Trail register at mile 23.6. An unmarked side trail at mile 24.7 goes to an overlook of Lake Owassa. Blue/gray–blazed Jacob’s Ladder Trail descends to the left 0.2 mile later. Another 0.7 mile brings you to a large cleared area with Culver Lake visible to the north and the Culver Fire Tower visible further north on the ridgeline you have been following. Make a right-angle turn in an additional 0.4 mile, where you have a view onto US 206 passing through Culvers Gap.

Cross over a gravel road (which is the route of the gold/brown-blazed Acropolis Trail) and under a power line at mile 26.3. Descend into Culvers Gap at the intersection of US 206 and Upper North Shore Road at mile 26.8. Cross the intersection, enter the woods and go another 0.2 mile to the short route to the parking area.

Trailhead Directions

The parking lot of the Dunnfield Creek Natural Area is located in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The recreation area is the first exit after crossing the I-80 toll bridge from Pennsylvania into New Jersey in the Delaware Water Gap. For those driving westward on I-80, the exit is the rest area just before the toll bridge. You will see the white-blazed A.T. as you pass by the information center. Follow the blazes as you drive to the parking lot at the trailhead, which is 0.5 mile beyond the information center.

Registration is required to park overnight at the northern trailhead, so follow US 206 northeast of Branchville, New Jersey to Culvers Gap. Continue another 0.5 mile to the Stokes State Forest office. After registering, return to Culvers Gap, turn left onto Upper North Shore Road and go another 0.3 mile to the parking area on Sunrise Mountain Road, just north of its intersection with Upper North Shore Road.

Table of Contents

Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont
Massachusetts
Connecticut
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Maryland
West Virginia and Virginia
Tennessee and North Carolina
Georgia
Appendix
Trail Maintenance Clubs
Index
About the Authors