Pennsylvania Rocks
When hiking north...where do you encounter the "rocks" and where do they end??
What I've read is after the halfway point in PA, they get worse. They don't end until you are into NJ.
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Hammock hangs are where you go into the woods to meet men you've only known on the internet so you can sit around a campfire to swap sewing tips and recipes. - sargevining on HF
The rocks really start after Duncannon, once you cross the Susquehanna. From there most of the way to Delaware Water Gap you'll have big rock patches, plus lots of embedded rocks in the trail surface. The rock patches are where you'll do the famous Pennsylvania Rock Hop, because there's no other way to navigate them. The rocks thin out on the other side of the Water Gap and you'll be completely past them by the time you hit NY17a, just a bit north of the NJ/NY state line. People make a lot of the PA rocks, but it's not really as bad as many would make it out to be. There are a lot of long ridge walks where the trail is pretty flat and has a good trailbed. PA is challenging in it's own way, but still a joy to hike much of the time, and even some of the rocks (Wolf Rocks, for instance) can be really cool.
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Rock fields are a periglacial indicator which formed during the last Ice Age. So they occur south of the glacial margin (DWG in this case) where freezing and thawing action was extreme for thousands of years. This split the rocks up, and they accumulated and often flowed downhill if they were on a slope. If not on a slope they just accumulated in place, thousands of boulders, often covering up the original rock outcroppings. So rock fields (like rock glaciers in the Rockies) are a climatic indicator, and a relict landscape feature from a time when things were much different. As you go further south the periglacial processes weakened due to higher temperatures, and the Devil's racecourses gradually disappear. So Penn was the sweet spot for freeze/thaw action 10,000-50,000 years ago. It's not happening so much now.
For my money, some of the worst are around Canopus Lake in NY, about 1-2 miles along the shore line.
Coming SOBO, I thought the “Rocksylvania” thing was a little overblown. Yeah there are some sections of unpleasant trailbed, but it’s not torturous. And there are some long sections of old rail and road bed that are very nice hiking.
I remember the rocks getting noticable on the end of the Cumberland Valley walk heading up the ridge to the shelter before dropping into Duncannon, There was a brief respite heading through Duncannon and once we crossed the river and went into the woods the rocks got far more noticeable. Peters Mountain Wilderness was definitely mostly rocks with another respite in the valley. Once we headed north of Swatera gap, it was rocks full time and they tended to move when stepped on.
I now understand your logon name (RockDoc). Thanks for this explanation. I thought "Glaciers pushed up rocks, glacier melted and left rock piles".Originally Posted by RockDoc
For a couple of bucks, get a weird haircut and waste your life away Bryan Adams....
Hammock hangs are where you go into the woods to meet men you've only known on the internet so you can sit around a campfire to swap sewing tips and recipes. - sargevining on HF
Strategic
The rocks really start after Duncannon, once you cross the Susquehanna. From there most of the way to Delaware Water Gap you'll have big rock patches, plus lots of embedded rocks in the trail surface. The rock patches are where you'll do the famous Pennsylvania Rock Hop, because there's no other way to navigate them. The rocks thin out on the other side of the Water Gap and you'll be completely past them by the time you hit NY17a, just a bit north of the NJ/NY state line. People make a lot of the PA rocks, but it's not really as bad as many would make it out to be. There are a lot of long ridge walks where the trail is pretty flat and has a good trailbed. PA is challenging in it's own way, but still a joy to hike much of the time, and even some of the rocks (Wolf Rocks, for instance) can be really cool
Originally Posted by RockDoc
Rock fields are a periglacial indicator which formed during the last Ice Age. So they occur south of the glacial margin (DWG in this case) where freezing and thawing action was extreme for thousands of years. This split the rocks up, and they accumulated and often flowed downhill if they were on a slope. If not on a slope they just accumulated in place, thousands of boulders, often covering up the original rock outcroppings. So rock fields (like rock glaciers in the Rockies) are a climatic indicator, and a relict landscape feature from a time when things were much different. As you go further south the periglacial processes weakened due to higher temperatures, and the Devil's racecourses gradually disappear. So Penn was the sweet spot for freeze/thaw action 10,000-50,000 years ago. It's not happening so much now.
Translation: Delaware Water Gap, where the trail crosses into NJ, is at the southern extent of glaciation. Rock piles (glacial moraines) are found north of DWG while rock fields, rock patches and embedded rocks just south. Sunfish pond a few miles north is the first glacial lake northbound on the AT.
FWIW, there is a side trail at the north end of the lake leading to legal swimming. There is piped water and restrooms at the opposite (eastern) side of the beach. You can continue north (~0.25 mile) on the flat side trail/dirt road paralleling the AT to a large new shelter (fall of '21 or '22) for AT hikers only next to an immense field. It eventually rejoins the AT further north. It may not be in the data book yet.
Just south of the the lake, I think you get rewarded with a beautiful section of elevated (rock levee) level rail trail as compensation.
The rocky sections start a few miles south of Duncannon, PA and end at High Point Shelter in New Jersey.
Not so sure of the declarations of end of "rocks" at DWG. I remember western New York having plenty of PA type rocks.
I didnt find the rocks to be bad in PA besides the 30 most northern miles and the southern most portion of NJ. But none of the rocks really bothered me.
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SOBO'ers never complain about Pennsylvania rocks.
I remember a new relow just south of Duncannon. It had enough rocks on it to send your boots to Heaven. (Or the other place.) Did I mention, it's up hill too!
They end at Highpoint State Park? Where is the "Stairway to Heaven"? That seemed to be all rocks...just did the section from Delaware Water Gap to The Cookie Ladies house,and walked on just as much rock as soil,it seemed like.
I think when people complain about the PA rocks they mean the miles of little pointy rocks that are often loose and jab at the bottom of your feet as you walk over them. So yeah other places have rocks and tough hiking but PA has the worst of those types of rocks. There is like a 5 mile section of them leading up to Wolf Rocks (when going NOBO) that I recall as being the worst but there were stretches with those types of rocks often in the northern half of PA. I often ask people their favorite and least favorite parts of the AT and the clear winner for least favorite is the northern section of PA. Once I reached the forest road leading up to Mt. Minsi I was pretty happy that the worst of them was over. Just my 2 cents.
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I live in PA. Everywhere you go it is rocks and roots. The roots are coming for your ankles every time you take a step and are not looking down keeping tabs on them. If the roots didn't trip you multiple times, all of the rocky trails most certainly will with their assorted rocks of varying sizes ranging from medium to tiny. You will also get what I have lovingly termed as 'hamburger feet.' Be sure to let them rest in any cool streams, and make sure your feet are dry before hiking toward more hamburger feet!
I guess its understandable that people complain about those rocks after hiking so many miles NOBO/SOBO! I bet it wouldn't be an issue if they were at the beginning of the hike..
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