Mount Minsi

Mount Minsi, Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania (10/8/2012)

The last time we hiked Mount Minsi was nearly five years ago when the fall foliage was peak (or perhaps a bit post-peak). Back then we followed hike #35 ("Mount Minsi") in the book 50 Hikes in Eastern Pennsylvania (4th edition), with a few extra spurs thrown in for good measure. Today I took the day off to return with my friend Andy and basically did the same hike in reverse, but with additional spurs including a short jaunt along the bank of Lake Lenape, a steep climb on an unmaintained trail up to Table Rock, a spur along a nice unmaintained trail along a stream, and a complete loop around Lake Lettini which is now basically a swamp. Finally, this time I headed further south to hit another spectacular vista on the AT overlooking the Delaware River, something I'm sure I missed last time (there are no photos from this vista).

A newer book, Hiking the Poconos: A Guide to the Area's Best Hiking Adventures (1st edition), contains the same hike as in the earlier book in Chapter 12 ("Mount Minsi").

The fall foliage was still quite minimal, but there were explosions of isolated color within the forest. Total distance was 6.3 miles in just over 3.5 hours.

(Click on the thumbnail to bring up a bigger image in a pop-up window)