Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / New Jersey / Kittatinny Ridge

Appalachian Trail: Delaware Water Gap to Culvers Gap

Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Worthington State Forest, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Stokes State Forest

New Jersey’s share of the Appalachian Trail is 72.4 miles, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC). New Jersey Monthly notes that from the Delaware Water Gap it runs north about 40 miles to High Point State Park before turning east, mostly along Kittatinny Ridge. This page covers the first stretch northbound, from the Delaware River at the Water Gap to Culvers Gap on US 206.

It’s a ridge walk past a glacial pond, two fire towers, and long views over the Delaware River valley, with three land managers along the way: Worthington State Forest, the National Park Service, and Stokes State Forest. Each has its own camping rules, so read the Camping section before you plan nights.

The hike

Backpacker opens its description where “the Delaware River pours through Kittatinny Ridge.” The trail crosses the river on the I-80 toll bridge from Pennsylvania, passes under the interstate, and climbs along Dunnfield Creek. New Jersey Monthly, describing a 2016 southbound trip, says the Dunnfield cascades in the last half mile drown out the highway, and calls the descent into the gap about 2.5 miles long and sometimes rocky.

Sunfish Pond comes at about 4.5 miles from the Mount Tammany lot in that article’s count. The state forest map calls it a 41-acre rock basin pond at the crest of the ridge (New Jersey Monthly says 44 acres), and the trail crosses boulders along its shore for about half a mile. The state lists it among New Jersey’s Natural Wonders. North of the pond, New Jersey Monthly notes the Herbert S. Hiller plaque, honoring a trail maintainer, and a lookout over Lower Yards Creek Reservoir.

The National Park Service places the side trail to the AMC Mohican Outdoor Center at New Jersey AT mile 10.3. New Jersey Monthly describes a small store, couches by a fireplace, and paid hot showers there. Past Mohican, the trail climbs to the Catfish Fire Tower, which Backpacker describes as 60 feet tall, then crosses Millbrook-Blairstown Road and Blue Mountain Lakes Road, where a short road walk leads back to the trail, according to New Jersey Monthly.

Crater Lake, a former resort, sits just off the trail. Beyond it the ridge runs over Rattlesnake and Bird Mountains. New Jersey Monthly says the turn at the top of Bird Mountain is unmarked, and suggests a steep 1.6-mile round trip down to Buttermilk Falls, which it calls the state’s highest waterfall. SummitPost places Brink Road about 3.8 miles south of the Culvers Gap lot, with views of Culvers Lake and Lake Owassa on the final miles into the gap.

The ridge keeps going north from Culvers Gap on the Culvers Gap to High Point page. Farther north, the High Point to Wawayanda page covers the Pochuck boardwalk and the Stairway to Heaven.

Tips

Camping

The ATC says camping on the New Jersey AT is restricted to designated sites and campfires are prohibited.

In Worthington State Forest, the state’s guidelines say the only established campsite is the Backpacker Campsite where the Douglas Trail meets the AT. Camping elsewhere on the AT in the forest is prohibited, sites are first come, first served, the stay is one night, groups are limited to 10, and ground fires are banned. The state’s AT sheet adds that the site has bear boxes and pit toilets, that camping is prohibited at Sunfish Pond, and that the site is “reserved for overnight thru-hikers only.”

On National Park Service land, backcountry camping is allowed only along the AT and only for hikers on trips of two or more consecutive days, one night per site and 10 people per site. You can’t camp within 100 feet of water, within half a mile of a road, or within 200 feet of another party, and camping is banned from half a mile south of Blue Mountain Lakes Road to a mile north of Crater Lake. Stoves are allowed; ground fires are not.

The AMC’s Mohican campsites are walk-in sites booked online, with privies and shared bear boxes nearby. Brink Road Shelter, in Stokes State Forest, has a bear box and pit toilet, according to the state; SectionHiker described it in 2011 as “a small and weathered 6 person shelter.”

Inside Intel: On a 2009 southbound trip, William Menke camped at a site on the Buttermilk Falls Trail marked by a rock cairn, and later at what he called Backpackers Campsite Number 2 near Sunfish Pond, with bear boxes and racks and a small stream beside it. SectionHiker’s Philip Werner started his 2011 hike from the Mohican Outdoor Center, calling it a convenient, secure place to park and camp.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Ridge miles from Sunfish Pond to Culvers Gap:

Fires are banned along this stretch of Kittatinny Ridge, so your shell does the work when weather turns. We weighed the Arc'teryx Beta SL against the Torrentshell 3L and Foray 3L.

Read the comparison →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.