damaged mountainside near AT in PA

[mountain Soul]

I was hiking the AT this past weekend near Palmerton, PA. I was appalled at the damage of the mountainside by past zinc refining and manufacturing plants. I read a bulletin about the area posted at the trailhead that gave a small amount of history of the plants. I wanted to know more about what caused this damage and did some research on the Internet. Apparently the waste byproducts of these factories killed all the vegetation for miles along the mountainside. They even named a large solid waste dumpsite, "The Cinder Bank" , which was 2 1/2 miles long and 200ft. high.There was no wildlife in the area-not even a chipmunk! Some of the area was completely white....all rocks and white dead stumps of trees. It was very eery! and it was very sad to see the damage that todays "modern world" has done to our beautiful mountains.

[the goat]

the rattlers love it!

[saimyoji]

http://epa.gov/reg3hwmd/super/sites/...fs/1995-12.htm


Still a concern for the watershed.

[mountain Soul]

the rattlers love it!

I would have been very suprised to see even a snake, it was so barren of any type of life. Jeez.....glad didnt see one while hiking though....am terrified of snakes!

[mountain Soul]

http://epa.gov/reg3hwmd/super/sites/...fs/1995-12.htm


Still a concern for the watershed.

Yes I was on that website...they are still trying to reveg. the area. They even claim to have had success with reveg. 1,000 of the 2,000 acres..but I didn't see much. There was a "corridor" of some bushes, grass and weeds at one section along the AT. But most still looks barren. At one of the shelters, they had a posting of a nearby spring that listed the content of lead , arsenic ect.. in the water. The thing is they have been trying to reveg. it since the early 1980's. That's been 20 yrs without much success!

[the goat]

I would have been very suprised to see even a snake, it was so barren of any type of life. Jeez.....glad didnt see one though while hiking though....am terrified of snakes!

i saw one the size of my leg up there....i almost $hit in my duofolds

[Peaks]

It shows just how fragile our environment is, and how easy we can screw things up.

[mountain Soul]

i saw one the size of my leg up there....i almost $hit in my duofolds

what time of year was it?...that is one reason I waited to hike the upper PA section until now. I love to scramble over the boulders but was afraid of coming in contact with snakes.I was hiking the AT in the Shenandoah National Park this summer-not as many rocks. I saw some while hiking the trail but I was aware of them being there and did not bother me much.

[fiddlehead]

Good practice for desert hiking.
Bush and his gangster buddies would love to do that to the whole country if it could make them richer.

[Blue Jay]

At one of the shelters, they had a posting of a nearby spring that listed the content of lead , arsenic ect.. in the water. The thing is they have been trying to reveg. it since the early 1980's. That's been 20 yrs without much success!

I think there has been a lot of success. There is much more vegetation on the top before you start to descend to the road. Last year there was more compared to 01, and much more than when I first went through in 98. I have heard the water from the spring has been analyzed and the heavy metal levels have returned to normal for American water. I still carried more than I needed, so I didn't have to use it.

[mountain Soul]

It shows just how fragile our environment is, and how easy we can screw things up.

I was aware of places like this. But it really wakes you up to the impact this has on our environment when you actually physically walk through it yourself (instead of just reading about it or seeing it on TV). And this is right here in my own backyard! of PA.

[LIhikers]

My wife and I hiked northern PA this past summer. When we went through that area I felt like I was walking on the moon. It was really wierd. I kinda figure that would be what an area would look like years after an atomic blast.

[mountain Soul]

Good practice for desert hiking.
Bush and his gangster buddies would love to do that to the whole country if it could make them richer.

That is exactly how I described it to people I have talked to today. That it was like walking through a desert! According to the posted bulletin at the trailhead. The plants were very active during the WW1 and employed over 3,000 people. I can't imagine 3,000 people working in that rural area during that time period. It also stated that the pollution continued to the 1980's. I thought we knew better by then!!!

[Newb]

Here in Virginia at the Prince William National Forest the EPA has almost completely reclaimed a small mine that had destroyed 30 or 40 acres. The trees that grow there are oddly stunted, but they claim the water that runs off of it is no longer dangerous. It takes a lot of time.

[mountain Soul]

My wife and I hiked northern PA this past summer. When we went through that area I felt like I was walking on the moon. It was really wierd. I kinda figure that would be what an area would look like years after an atomic blast.

Yes it was eerryyy.. at one section everything looked like it had a layer of white dust. I used my hiking stick to see if it was a dust and would wipe off. However it would not. I saw a couple fire rings in this section. Someone was a lot braver than me I wouldn't want to linger or eat in there.

[mountain Soul]

Here in Virginia at the Prince William National Forest the EPA has almost completely reclaimed a small mine that had destroyed 30 or 40 acres. The trees that grow there are oddly stunted, but they claim the water that runs off of it is no longer dangerous. It takes a lot of time.

What type of mine? We have a lot of coal mines and strip mines in upper PA but this is the first I have seen this type of damage. I have hiked in areas that have been striped mined above Scraton, PA but they still have trees and some sort of vegtation. This area in Palmerton had nothing but rocks...I have hiked the AT in VA almost to the end of the Shenandoah NP. It is very beautiful down there!

[the goat]

what time of year was it?...that is one reason I waited to hike the upper PA section until now. I love to scramble over the boulders but was afraid of coming in contact with snakes.I was hiking the AT in the Shenandoah National Park this summer-not as many rocks. I saw some while hiking the trail but I was aware of them being there and did not bother me much.

it was mid-september. the thing had 9 beads on its rattle, it used to be more (you could see where the top of the rattle had broken off). it had just eaten something too, so it was movin' slow....guess there's some rodents up there too.

[mountain Soul]

it was mid-september. the thing had 9 beads on its rattle, it used to be more (you could see where the top of the rattle had broken off). it had just eaten something too, so it was movin' slow....guess there's some rodents up there too.

I never saw a rattlesnake except on TV...you were close enough to count the # of beads on its rattle? scary!....how loud do they rattle?...is it loud enough to warn you they are there before you get too close???

[Topcat]

They rattle loud enough for you to hear them, but they dont always rattle. I was backpacking in New Mexico last summer and saw several, but only heard one of them. They always make me jump, but are so cool to watch

[mountain Soul]

They rattle loud enough for you to hear them, but they dont always rattle. I was backpacking in New Mexico last summer and saw several, but only heard one of them. They always make me jump, but are so cool to watch

I wouldn't mind seeing one but not when I am in danger or being surprised by it...that's not good if they don't rattle to warn you! I hear they are an aggressive snake and will actually go after you??