“Mind the Gap” – Mt Tammany and Mt Minsi in One Day
For detailed hike directions, maps, photos and GPS coordinates, visit our updated Mt. Tammany page. The Mt. Minsi detail page is here.
Just an excellent day all around, perfect hiking weather – upper 50s and sunny. So nice after all the rain the day before and getting rained out both days the prior weekend. Slightly disappointed at the foliage – just missed peak color – but it was still spectacular.
Double Your Summits, Double Your Fun.
These hikes are normally done one or the other, not both. Somewhere along the way I saw someone post that they do both in one day every spring to gear up for hiking season, and thought “what a great idea”…
Mt Tammany – on the Jersey side of the Gap:
The total mileage is only about 9 miles, but both are quite steep trails so only do both if you are up for it. (Each hike on it’s own is certainly a nice day out.)
Also factor in driving time to the 2nd trailhead (maybe 10- 15 minutes?) And if you are driving from central Jersey, this is about 1.5-1.75 hrs away – so if you were driving from further south it might be more driving than you want to do in one day. Just over on the PA side is a hotel that used to be a Ramada but we’ve never been to it, and there are B&Bs near the Minsi trailhead… but we’ve not been to those before either. Certainly there are other hotels in the area as well.
In the morning we did Mt. Tammany…
3.5 miles – short but rocky and strenuous due to the steepness. RED DOT – BLUE – GREEN – WHITE (AT)
We’ve done this hike like a bajillion times and it just never disappoints. You might huff and puff your way up the trail if you aren’t an avid hiker, but the view is one of the finest in NJ. And in fall, it just really is special. [note - it really is steep and is not a stroll in the park. You will earn that view. We heard a lot of "are we there yet?".]
In the afternoon we did Mt. Minsi…
About 5.5. miles roundtrip. We took the AT up and the fire road back. There is a viewpoint part of the way up, then the main viewpoint. We continued past that as well to the where it levels off at the top and walked down the easy portion of the AT for a bit, then turned back and had a snack at the other viewpoint. Fantastic overlook of NJ from here as well.
We retraced our path to where the woods road splits off and took that back for a change. It’s much easier heading down that way, less steep.
