Today we hiked the Coppermine Trail in the Delaware Water Gap. We’ve done this hike several times and usually combine it with other trails to make a loop and extend the mileage. Today we did an out and back. The trail climbs up fairly steeply through a ravine toward the Kittatinny Ridge. Within the first mile, we passed one of the mines which is closed off to protect bat habitat. There’s also a bridge within this first mile where you can stop and enjoy views of the water cascading down off the mountain. After crossing the bridge the trail narrows and continues to climb with nice views down into the ravine. After reaching the top of this steep section of trail there’s a short spur to another cascade. From here the trail levels out and becomes mostly hardwood with a few small stream crossings. It continues through the forest until terminating at the AT south of the Mohican Outdoor Center. We walked up the road to grab a bite at MOC before returning the way we came. This was the first time we hiked the Coppermine Trail in the opposite direction. I enjoyed the views going down just as much as going up.
Click “Read More” below for more photos from this hike.
It felt so good to be back out on the trail! The humid summer weather is finally starting to let up, and I’ll be able to get back out there and put some mileage on my hiking boots. Today we headed out to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area to the Copper Mine Trail. We’ve done this one several times before, but there are a lot of connecting trails you can pick up and make the day as long or short as you want. We headed up past the mine, crossed the bridge over a small waterfall and then began to ascend up the ravine. It was one of those misty mornings where the sun’s light shines down through the mist, making the trail look extra pretty. We continued to the top of the waterfall and entered into a forest of mostly hardwoods where the trail leveled out. Soon we reached Camp Mohican Road and decided to check out the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Mohican Outdoor Center. It was a nice surprise that we’d never been to before. The center has coffee, food, outdoor picnic tables and also a recreation and rest area for weary A.T. thru hikers. After checking out the center, we decided to head further up the road where we would climb up the Rattlesnake Swamp Connector Trail to the top of the Kittatinny Ridge, follow the A.T. Southwest and then loop back to the Mohican Outdoor Center to get some food. The loop trail Rattlesnake Swamp started out on flat boards crossing a wetland. It soon climbed steeply up to the top of the ridge where we had mostly unobstructed views along the A.T. We followed the A.T. about 1.5 miles until we were back at the road to the Mohican Outdoor Center. I had my eye on the pancakes I’d seen when we were there earlier. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing better than finding a place that serves coffee and pancakes in the middle of a hike. The ladies working at the center were super nice and we chilled out at one of the outdoor picnic tables and ate before heading back on the trail. Before hiking out, we checked out some of the campsites in the area for a future overnight stay. We then headed back along the ridge on the A.T. and took the longer route via the Kaiser trail back to the trailhead. We ended up with about a 10 mile day. It felt so nice to be back out there. Now that the weather is cooling off, I’m looking forward to spending more time doing longer hikes with more mileage again.
This was my first trip to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. I’ve known about this place since we came to Pennsylvania, but avoided it because of how crowded I understand it gets. Since it was a weekday, I took a chance on it being less crowded and I’m really glad I did. There are so many trails here to explore and the visitor’s center (complete with gift shop) is wonderful. We did an easy out and back to the North Lookout. There are harder routes here with lots of rock scrambling which we will try another time. Today was a day for sight seeing and checking things out. I can only imagine how awesome it must be up here when the birds are migrating along the flyway. We didn’t see a much today aside from a turkey vulture riding the thermals, but it was a nice day to come and explore and learn a little bit about the history of the place which I didn’t know at all. Hawk Mountain was founded in 1934 by Rosalie Edge, a conservationist who eded the pointless hunting of raptors migrating along on the Kittatinny Ridge. Raptors were once thought to be a threat to “wild game” and humans thought they needed to interfere with nature by slaughtering thousands of raptors. Heartbreaking. Thankfully, Rosalie Edge stepped in and silenced the rifles. Today Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is a place to learn and explore. There’s also a wonderful native garden with a turtle pond just near the entrance. We will definitely be back to hike more of the trails and do some bird watching.
