 |
| Hiking the Appalachian Trail |
Earlier this year, my brother and I hiked a section of the Appalachian Trail up to the Culver's Gap Fire Tower in Sandyston, NJ. I didn't get many pictures on that trip so I've been wanting to get back up there ever since. Even more so, I wanted to extend that relatively short hike to the Sunrise Mountain Scenic Overlook which is roughly another 3.5 miles up the trail. Fast forward to last week and I finally got the chance to go back. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. I did hike up to the Culver Fire Tower but the area was so socked in with fog that there were no views to be had. On top of that, an early morning rain had turned the rocks that this part of the Appalachian Trail is littered with into a slippery mess. Alas, it was time to give up and try again another day. That day was today!
 |
| Culver Gap Parking Lot |
The Appalachian Trail is a 2,200 mile long hiking trail that runs through fourteen states between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It was conceived by Benton MacKaye in 1921, and after a decade of hard work from thousands of volunteers, it was completed in 1937. It is now maintained by 31 clubs, the National Park Service, the United States Forest Service, and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. My hike along the Appalachian Trail begins at the Culver's Gap Parking Lot along Sunrise Mountain Rd at N41° 10.816' W74° 47.275'. The trail is located just to the left of the trailhead sign. Get on the trail, make a right and you'll be heading north toward the fire tower.
 |
| Trailhead Sign |
 |
| Entering the trail |
 |
| Sunrise Mountain Rd |
 |
| Appalachian Trail Sign |
Less than a quarter of a mile up the trail you'll come back around to Sunrise Mountain Rd. Make a left and hike a short distance up the road until you see the AT sign on the right. For the next half mile you'll be climbing up the side of a very rocky mountain until you get to the first overlook. From this location you can see Kittatinny Lake to the west. Just a tenth of a mile later, at N41° 10.807' W74° 46.763', you get your first view of Culver Lake to the south.
 |
| Rocky trail |
 |
| Hiking the Appalachian Trail |
 |
| View of Kittatinny Lake |
 |
| Narrow hiking trail |
 |
| View of Culver Lake |
 |
| Flowers on the Appalachian Trail |
 |
| Sunrise |
 |
| Overgrown trail |
After hiking for a little over one mile you will come across the first of two hidden overlooks. These unofficial overlooks are hidden along the trail to your left. The only thing that marks there location, other than the GPX file I have made available below, are two barely visible trails leading up to them. These are two great locations to get an awesome view of the mountains to the north while grabbing a bite to eat. The view from overlook #2 was wide open and nothing short of stunning.
 |
| View from hidden overlook 1 |
 |
| View from hidden overlook 2 |
A half mile later you'll get your first view of the Culver's Gap Fire Tower at N41° 11.272' W74° 45.995'. The Appalachian Trail crosses right past it. While the top observation room portion of the tower is closed to the public, you can still climb nearly to the top for some of the best views on this hike. On this particular day it was so windy that I thought I was going to be blown off the tower. One gust of wind nearly pulled my camera from my hands. The Culver Fire Tower is a 47 foot tall fire watch tower located in Stokes State Forest in Sandyston, NJ. Built in 1933 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Culver Fire Tower replaced the old Normanook Fire Tower which stood in the same location since 1908. The Culver Station Tower is 1 of 21 currently active fire towers in the state of New Jersey.
 |
| First view of the fire tower |
 |
| At the base of the fire tower |
 |
| Culver Station Fire Tower |
 |
| View from the Culver Gap Fire Tower |
 |
| View from the Culver Fire Tower |
 |
| View from the Culver Fire Tower |
Just to the south you can see a communications tower. Here are two photos of that tower, one taken today and the other one taken on a foggy morning last week. As you can see, if you're planning to hike to this location, you'd be best off picking a nice clear day.
 |
| View of the nearby communications tower - today |
|
|
|
 |
| Foggy view of the nearby communications tower - last week |
 |
| More views from the Culver Fire Tower |
 |
| More views from the Culver's Gap Fire Tower |
 |
| Looking down from the fire tower |
 |
| Culver Gap Fire Tower and Communications Tower |
 |
| Picnic table |
Once you're done enjoying the views from the fire tower you can choose to make this a short day and hike back to your car or extend the hike to the Sunrise Mountain Scenic Overlook. I chose to do the later. From the tower, the hiking trail loses about 300 feet of elevation over the next mile. When you near the lowest point you'll cross the Stony Brook Trail. If you hike this trail for a tenth of a mile you can get a look at the Gren Anderson Shelter at N41° 11.965' W74° 45.157'. The Gren Anderson Shelter was built by the Green Mountain Club in 1958. It sleeps eight and has a privy and a water source. I took a dozen photos of the shelter to share here but my camera decided not to save them. Thanks Samsung!😡
 |
| Back on the Appalachian Trail |
 |
| The rocky hiking trail continues |
 |
| Rugged hiking trail |
 |
| Appalachian Trail in New Jersey |
 |
| View from the Civilian Conservation Corps Pavilion |
After hiking roughly 5.5 miles you will finally come to the Civilian Conservation Corps Pavilion at N41° 13.093' W74° 43.223'. At 1,653 feet of elevation, the pavilion gives you amazing views of the mountains of NJ and PA. It is also a great location for spotting bald eagles and hawks. It used to have a number of benches to enjoy the views from but on this particular day just one bench was still in place.
 |
| Civilian Conservation Corps Pavilion |
 |
| View from the pavilion |
 |
| View from the Civilian Conservation Corps Pavilion |
 |
| Civilian Conservation Corps Pavilion |
Less a quarter of a mile later is the Sunrise Mountain Scenic Overlook.
This area offers a few picnic tables and a privy along with another
great view. For those looking to get to these views without all that
fussy hiking, you can actually drive up Sunrise Mountain Rd to this
location. There is a free parking lot that holds roughly a dozen vehicles. This location marks the midway point of my day hike along the Appalachian Trail in New Jersey. From here I hiked another 5.5 miles back for a total of 11 miles. Thanks for following along!
 |
| Sunrise Mountain Scenic Overlook |
 |
| View from the Sunrise Mountain Scenic Overlook |
 |
| View from the first overlook |
 |
| Another view from the first overlook |
 |
| Yet another view from the first overlook |
 |
| Yet another view from the first overlook |
If you'd like to follow my steps through the Appalachian Hiking Trail,
check out the map of my trip and download the GPX file below. It
contains the route I took as well as some important waypoints.
 |
| Appalachian Trail Elevation Graph |
No comments:
Post a Comment