Hike 123
Group shot by Rich on top of Mt. Mohican.
2/8/4
My next hike was to be my next outing with the Appalachian Mountain Club. Rich Pace
had posted a trip within Worthington State Forest, covering some of the trails I would use
in my Upper Worthington section hike. My only issue was that the planned hike was not
long enough for me. I immediately began planning a way to do my desired mileage,
beginning very early and hike several miles before meeting Rich and his group.
Icy tough spot on Karamac Trail
5 AM in Delaware Water Gap
Former NYS&W Railroad mile marker, Karamac Trail
Old steps at former Karamac Inn site
Sun rising over Farview Trail
Along NYS&W railroad bed, now Karamac Trail
At old Karamac Inn site
I was able to get Jim Delotto to come out at 5 am to do the first section! We drove to the
Garvey Springs parking lot and left Delotto’s car (he did some donuts in the parking lot
before we left), then drove to the Kittatinny Point information station. We began walking
when it was still dark, freezing cold, and the wind added a terrible bite. The moon was still
in plain sight, and I recall thinking I should have worn something warmer. I had only a pair
of jeans, a tee shirt and a leather jacket, with sneakers to fight through the deep snow. In
addition, the sneakers were cleats!
We walked the frontage road along Rt 80 and under to Karamac Trail, former NYS&W
Railroad right of way. There was almost immediate relief to the cold winds. We walked
out to the former bridge site, then headed down along Karamac Trail, taking extreme care
not to slip off the icy trail into the Delaware.
This time, with the snow cover on the ground, I was able to spot a long series of stairs
stretching uphill from the river. We decided to follow them uphill, passing by foundations
and reaching the road. We made our way across the the Farview Trail, ascending the
ridge. The sun was coming up beautifully with light glistening over the snow. There was a
thick layer of ice on top of the snow, and as we stepped our feet crunched through the
upper layers before packing down the soft snow beneath.
When we reached the Appalachian Trail we turned left heading northeast until we reached
the backpacker site at Douglas Trail. We took notice that Tea Biscuit and I had our names
on the back of the kioske from years before!
Laurel Falls
Along Douglas Trail
Ascending on Douglas Trail
Rockcores Trail
Along Rockcores Trail
Ascending on Sunfish Drainage Trail
Sunfish Drainage Trail
Sunfish Drainage Trail
Sunfish Drainage Trail
Sunfish Drainage Trail
Sunfish Drainage Trail
Sunfish Drainage Trail
Sunfish Drainage Trail
Sunfish Pond
Navigating the brush at Sunfish Pond
Sunfish Pond
Sunfish Pond
Near Sunfish Pond
Sunfish Pond
AT Near Sunfish Pond
AT near Tocks Swamp
Near Sunfish Pond
AT on Mt. Mohican
View from Mt Mohican north
On Mt. Mohican
Mt Mohican
Mt. Mohican
Top of Mt. Mohican
Top of Mt. Mohican
Mt. Mohican
AT into Tocks Swamp
Along the AT, Worthington
Garvey Springs Trail
Garvey Springs Trail
Garvey Springs Trail
Laurel Falls along Garvey Springs Trail
Garvey Springs Trail
Rock cores test bore care
Rock cores cave
Rock cores cave
Rock cores cave
Rock cores cave
We began heading down the Douglas Trail, and it was getting close to the time I planned
on meeting Rich at Garvey Springs. I immediately turned on my radio to contact him,.
Soon, Rich’s voice began to come through, and Delotto and I began running hard down
Douglas Trail toward the parking area, our feet breaking through ice the entire way. By
the time we reached the bottom, the stitchng on my shoes were tearing and coming out
due to the abrasive ice.
In the parking lot, we were met by Rich, as well as the rest of his crew, Cindy Khun, Bob
Savron, {name unknown}, {name unknown}, {name unknown}, and {name unknown}.
Delotto decided not to continue on with the rest of the group, and he was soon off. While
we waited and I was introduced to the group, Bob Savron, Rich’s co-leader came up to
me looking very concerned. “You’re wearing all the wrong stuff” he said to me! Before I
could say anything to him, Rich said “This is Mike, I don’t worry about him”. I was
surprised to see that the entire group save for Rich and myself were using Ski Poles, and
everyone but me had crampons on their shoes! Had this been someone else’s AMC hike, I
would not have been allowed to join!
We made our way up past Garvey Spring Falls, which was beautiful, then continued on
Douglas Trail to the Rockcores Trail, also known as Northwest Trail, to the Sunfish
Drainage Trail. The very steep trail with thick upper ice layer really did a job on my shoes,
as they were tearing about more and more every step.
No surprise to me, I was still ahead of most of the group even with my lack of proper
gear. When we reached Sunfish Pond, we continued along the AT and shore line, stopping
for lunch break on a knoll just off the Turquoise Trail near the AT. Rich and I went out
onto the well frozen lake before we headed back to the AT northbound. We continued on
the AT to Mt. Mohican where we had beautiful clear views, and could see as far as the
Catskills in NY! It was the most clear I had ever seen the view from this point. All of the
towers on the ridge to the north were clearly visible.
After an extended break admiring the view, we headed back southbound on the AT,
through Tocks Swamp to the Garvey Springs Trail, following it downhill back to the cars.
Before heading out, {name unknown} told us about a test bore cave near the end of
Rockcores Trail, and Rich and I were keen on checking it out. A few of us went up there,
to find the entrance blocked off. I was certain I could squeeze through underneath, but
decided not to try at this time. Anyway, since most of the hiking was over, my feet were
getting very cold fast. Rich took me back to my car, and I had had another nice experiance
with the AMC. I felt better with this particular group than the previous one, and I ended
up getting along very well with everyone, especially Bob Savron who found we had a
mutual interest in not only hiking, but the music of George Harrison.
Photography by Mike Helbing and Rich Pace. I used my Minolta QtSi, Rich used his
digital 2mp.
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