Saint Anthony's Wilderness-Sharp Mountain Rocks
Feb 20, 2018 6:31:00 GMT -5
Post by hoosier on Feb 20, 2018 6:31:00 GMT -5
Saint Anthony’s Wilderness
(Gold Mine Run and Sharp Mountain)
Saturday February 19, 2018
This past Saturday I decided on heading back up to Pennsylvania’s Saint Anthony’s Wilderness, which lies within Pennsylvania State Game lands number 211. And consist of 44,343 acres of land. The area was covered by railroads and coal mines up until the early 1900’s. And many remnants of these can still be found in the area.
My original plan was to do a loop that consist of following some woods roads up to Gold Mine Run, then west out along the north side of Sharp Mountain to Rausch Gap and the Appalachian trail, then east back along an old railroad bed that was known as the Summit Siding or Gold Mine Siding. This old rail bed is easy followed, even though the rails were torn up back in the 1860’s
When I arrived at Gold Mine Run, I found the creek was flowing too highly to safely cross. Which meant it would be impossible to cross the second creek in Rausch Gap and get to the AT. So I altered my plans to follow along Gold Mine Run for a bit, then explored the rock outcropping's along the top of Sharp Mountain, between Gold Mine Run and Gold Mine Road to the northeast. There are no trails to, or along the top of the ridge.
After getting to the last of the outcroppings I headed north off the ridge and headed through some Pine Plantations that were put in by the Game Commission to reclaim old strip mined areas, before intersecting a woods road. Which I followed west back into the Gold Mine Run drainage. Then back south along woods roads to Gold Mine Road.
Nice five mile walk in the woods with some very interesting rock outcrops to be found along the ridge.
A few pictures of the days adventure:
Gold Mine Run running a bit high
Gold Mine Run (no trail at this area)
First outcropping towards Gold Mine Run end of ridge
Rocks piled high
Balancing act
Along the top of Sharp Mtm.
Close-up shot of Quartz Pebbles in the outcroppings
Shelter under the large slab overhead
Boulders and Pitch Pines make a perfect picture
Another large block of stone
(Gold Mine Run and Sharp Mountain)
Saturday February 19, 2018
This past Saturday I decided on heading back up to Pennsylvania’s Saint Anthony’s Wilderness, which lies within Pennsylvania State Game lands number 211. And consist of 44,343 acres of land. The area was covered by railroads and coal mines up until the early 1900’s. And many remnants of these can still be found in the area.
My original plan was to do a loop that consist of following some woods roads up to Gold Mine Run, then west out along the north side of Sharp Mountain to Rausch Gap and the Appalachian trail, then east back along an old railroad bed that was known as the Summit Siding or Gold Mine Siding. This old rail bed is easy followed, even though the rails were torn up back in the 1860’s
When I arrived at Gold Mine Run, I found the creek was flowing too highly to safely cross. Which meant it would be impossible to cross the second creek in Rausch Gap and get to the AT. So I altered my plans to follow along Gold Mine Run for a bit, then explored the rock outcropping's along the top of Sharp Mountain, between Gold Mine Run and Gold Mine Road to the northeast. There are no trails to, or along the top of the ridge.
After getting to the last of the outcroppings I headed north off the ridge and headed through some Pine Plantations that were put in by the Game Commission to reclaim old strip mined areas, before intersecting a woods road. Which I followed west back into the Gold Mine Run drainage. Then back south along woods roads to Gold Mine Road.
Nice five mile walk in the woods with some very interesting rock outcrops to be found along the ridge.
A few pictures of the days adventure:
Gold Mine Run running a bit high
Gold Mine Run (no trail at this area)
First outcropping towards Gold Mine Run end of ridge
Rocks piled high
Balancing act
Along the top of Sharp Mtm.
Close-up shot of Quartz Pebbles in the outcroppings
Shelter under the large slab overhead
Boulders and Pitch Pines make a perfect picture
Another large block of stone
