[at-l] Escarpment Trail Restoration south of Lehigh Gap along the A.T.(fwd)

[kathy@fred.net (Kathy Bilton)]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 11:06:02 -0500
From: Scott Fonner <scottyfon@hazleton.net>
Subject: Escarpment Trail Restoration south of Lehigh Gap along the A.T.

Please forward this e-mail to any persons who might be able to help.
    From Scott Fonner, in affiliation with Philadelphia Trails Club,
maintaining and restoring the Appalachian Trail section near Lehigh Gap,
and contactable at scottyfon@hazleton.net :
    I am currently researching an abandoned and grown in old blue blazed
trail over the northern escarpment area southwest of Lehigh Gap and
northeast of Lehigh Furnace Gap on the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania.
This trail was called the Escarpment Trail, and was abandoned in the early
1970s. It holds several miles of the best examples of rock formations left
by the intersections of the edges of the Illinois and Wisconsin Ice Ages,
and which are some of the best and most sceneic of the famous A.T. "Rocks
of Pennsylvania".  This Escarpment Trail once began at the A.T. near
Lehigh Furnace Gap, and paralelled it on the northern edge of the
mountaintop till it intersected the trail now called the North Sceneic
Trail, which continues toward Dan's Pulpit at Lehigh Gap. On a more
current map one can see a sharp 90 degree turn by the southern end of the
North Sceneic Trail where it shortcuts back to the A.T. from the place
where the rest of the Escarpment Trail was abandoned. Most of the
escarpment trail was on bare rock, with little trail maintenance needed
except for maintainence of blazes and a few cairns. Most of it involved
travel too difficult for the trail maintainers that were getting into
their seventies and eighties at the time, which was its cause for
abandonment. Some old timers belonging to the Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing
Club in Reading PA told me it was the origional Appalachian Trail
location, but was bypassed because hikers kept complaining that it was too
hard.
    I am looking for old topo maps or Appalachian Trail maps which can
help me pinpoint the abandoned trail's location because the old blazes are
nearly impossible to find. At abandonment, most were painted over with
gray rock color making them very well camoflaged. If anybody has old maps
showing this, and can scan them into an e-mail and send to me, it would
help greatly in our trail restoration effort.
    Additionally, we seek to pinpoint a nearby abandoned zinc mine shaft
which I believe lies within the A.T. corridor and is unprotected. In
addition to resurrecting the trail along the Escarpment, we have
intentions to find the shaft and anchor a railing with some chain link
into the concrete around it, to prevent cub scouts and explorer scouts
from falling into it and being killed. This hazard has existed for many
years and is an imminent danger to hikers and especially scouts exploring
the trail corridor. Last time I saw the shaft, I was on a deer trail, in
thick brush, that suddenly ended with a vertical drop into the stench of
rotting animals emanating from a bottomless hole like an entrance into
Hell. I nearly fell into it myself, having been unable to see it till
within a foot or two. If anybody can get the coordinates to locate this
shaft and send them to me, or even send a copy of an aerial photo to help
us locate it, it will save us many hours of searching.
    Thank you for your help,  Scott Fonner. "Blueblaze Explorer"