On the tail end of my trip to eastern PA, I took on 3 more SOTA peaks. This first one is one of just 5 in the W3/PH Philadelphia region of the state, along the Appalachian Trail. Most of my excursions on the AT are during off-seasons, early spring/fall, when serious through-hikers are well beyond the Mid-Atlantic portion of their journey. Being mid-May, I had my first encounter with through-hikers, with their huge packs and tree-trunk thighs built up over months on the trail.
I parked at a lot for State Game Lands 110 a quarter mile south on PA-183 from where the AT crosses the road. There is a small parking area in front of a gate at the trail crossing, but this is posted no parking. There is a lot of space in the SGL lot (at least 50 cars), and very little use on the day I was there.
After about a half mile, I made it to the road crossing. The crossing felt treacherous, but you just have to wait patiently for a good window. After that was a ~1.8mi hike along a straightforward segment of the AT, following the white blazes. The activation zone of the county high point extends to the AT, but I wanted to go to the summit itself. A side trail called the “Caleb Frantz Memorial Trail” leads to the high point, marked with yellow blazes. This short jaunt ends at a very rocky pile in the middle of the forest with a signpost, US flag, and mailbox complete with summit register, declaring you have arrived at the high point.
The last entry in the register was from over a week before, so this must not be a popular side hike for most AT hikers. I enjoyed the solitude, working HK3W in Colombia, VO1AW in NL, DL9NCI in Germany, and F4WBN in France, all on 20m.
- Trailhead: 41.41221, -78.33270 : SGL 110 parking area
- Maps: [AA3TZ SOTA]
- Route: 5.3 mi RT hike, 300 feet elevation to the high point itself, though the AZ extends quite a bit.
- POTA: US-8779, PA 080 State Game Land
On the hike back, I ran into a tall through hiker from Houston who went by the trail name “Big Bird.” He had been on the trail for nearly 90 days with his wife (I did not get her trail name). He was a bit ahead of her so we chatted for a bit to slow the pace down. Big Bird was impressed by all the historical markers around PA, and hung out until we got back to the PA-183 crossing. I also saw a turkey hunter in camo face paint silently stalking down the road as I walked along the gravel road back to the parking area. Guy was in the zone — he didn’t even wave.
Tom Zajdel 