Basecamp: Mohican Outdoor Center
- Fall hikes on the Appalachian Trail
- Peak time for leaves, peak time for bird watching: fall hawk migration
- Make it a service weekend: volunteer for a family-friendly trail crew
- Leaf peeping on the waterways: paddling on the Delaware River
- Fall bike touring on the Paulinskill Valley Rail Trail
- Fishing and paddling on Catfish Pond
- Cast flies for trout at Flatbrook and the Paulinskill River
- Autumn on high: rock climbing in the Delaware Water Gap
- Visit the Lakota Wolf Preserve and Historic Millbrook Village
- Check out fall-themed Weekend Getaways: digital photography, Irish dancing, hiking for mind and body
Located in the 70,000-acre Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Mohican Outdoor Center is a great base for exploring this jewel of wilderness outside the urban areas of New York and New Jersey.
A trail network that connects with the Appalachian Trail only a quarter mile away makes Mohican Outdoor Center an ideal basecamp for hiking loops from 1.5 to seven miles, plus varied terrain makes it popular with beginners, families, and more advanced hikers.
Guidebooks and maps: Nature Walks in New Jersey 1. Fall hikes on the Appalachian Trail
Mohican is an ideal jumping off point for a number of Appalachian Trail hikes.
Coppermine Trail
For an easier, family-friendly hike past the local waterfalls down to the Delaware River, take the Coppermine Trail off of the Appalachian Trail. Go two miles past the Coppermine Falls and down to the river, where you can see the remains of abandoned mines that date back to the eighteenth century. The trek is four miles roundtrip, with an elevation change of approximately 700 feet.
Circuit
For those hiking north on the Appalachian Trail, take the 5.8-mile long loop trail out past Catfish Fire Tower and make the trip back to Mohican Outdoor Center on the Rattlesnake Swamp Trail, passing by Catfish Pond. Or, take the shorter 2.9-mile loop, if you’ve got less time.
2. Peak time for leaves, peak time for bird watching: fall hawk migration
Every fall, New Jersey is a paradise for birdwatchers as northern populations of red-tails and other hawks migrate southward starting in late August and peaking in September and October. According to AMC's Nature Walks in New Jersey, one of the best places to view the migration is Raccoon Ridge, a peak in the Kittatinny Mountain Range. The advantage being far fewer people than at the more famous raptor-watching spot, Hawk Mountain, yet with more than 15,000 spottings in a typical migration.
For a moderate hike, stay on the Appalachian Trail going south along the Kittatinny Ridge until you get to Raccoon Ridge, where you will be greeted by outstanding views of the New Jersey Highlands to the east and the Delaware River and Pocono Mountains to the west. This hike is suitable for both adults and children, with an approximate hiking time of 4.5 to 5 hours. See AMC's Trip Planner for more information about this hike.
3. Make it a service weekend: volunteer for a family-friendly trail crew
Make a meaningful contribution by helping to maintain trails as part of a weekend-long volunteer trail crew at Mohican Outdoor Center. Volunteers spend one weekend a month, April-November, at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area working on various trail projects during the day and returning to the lodge at night. The crew is ideal for individuals and families, and no experience or special skills are required, just a desire to give back to the trails.
4. Leaf peeping on the waterways: paddling on the Delaware River
Moderate to flat-water makes for excellent beginner and family canoeing and kayaking on the Delaware River. If you go, Kittatinny Canoes in Dingman’s Ferry and the Pack Shack Adventures are just 15 miles away in the town of Delaware Water Gap, and both offer rentals and guided trips.
5. Fall bike touring on the Paulinskill Valley Rail Trail
Whether you are looking to go off-roading or stick to the pavement, there is a variety of terrain for bikers to check out in close proximity to Mohican Outdoor Center. Weaving through hardwood forests and farmland, northwestern New Jersey’s 27-mile Paulinskill Valley Rail Trail transports naturalists and ambitious fat-tire riders back in time. Located a few miles from the Appalachian Trail and Mohican Outdoor Center, the trail meanders past remnants of abandoned railroad stations and old logging roads, crossing the Paulinskill River at multiple points along the way. Once used to haul agricultural products and Pennsylvania coal, the trail now alternates between sections of challenging singletrack and pavement (to recover on) in Kittatinny Valley State Park.
Excerpted from July/August 2005 AMC Outdoors article "Paths of Least Resistance."
6. Fishing and paddling on Catfish Pond
Just a half mile north on Camp Road past the main lodge at Mohican Outdoor Center, you'll find Catfish Pond--home to perch, bass, sunfish...and catfish! Canoes and kayaks are available to cast your line offshore, or take a quiet flat-water paddling trip with the family.
7. Cast flies for trout at Flatbrook and the Paulinskill River
Slip on your waders and go stream fly-fishing in the Flatbrook, located about 5 miles away from Mohican Outdoor Center, or head to the Paulinskill River, which runs through Blairstown. Both are well known for trout fishing.
8. Autumn on high: rock climbing in the Delaware Water Gap
With over 200 rock-climbing routes, the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is an ideal training ground for novices, plus it has its share of more challenging climbs for experienced climbing buffs. Climbers flock to Rick’s Rocks, just three miles from Mohican Outdoor Center on Route 602 at the Appalachian Trail in New Jersey, and to the head wall of the Delaware Water Gap, about 10 miles south of the lodge.
Join AMC's multi-day "Rock Climbing for Beginners" program being offered in early October as part of AMC Outdoor Explorations.
9. Visit the Lakota Wolf Preserve and Historic Millbrook Village
Open year-round, the Lakota Wolf Preserve in the mountains of the Delaware Water Gap is home to packs of Tundra, Timber, and Arctic wolves, as well as bobcats and foxes. View four packs of wolves in a natural surrounding and learn about the social structure of wolf packs, their eating habits, and interactions with humans. The preserve is located about eight miles south of Mohican Outdoor Center.
Four miles away from Mohican Outdoor Center in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, you’ll find Millbrook Village, a re-creation of a nineteenth century farming village. Millbrook Days, the biggest annual event held here, is always on the first full weekend in October. The event celebrates turn-of-the-century crafts and features basket makers, woodcarvers, furniture builders, a Shaker box maker, a tinsmith, spinners and weavers, cider and apple butter makers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, machinists, horsemen, and many others. If you’re up for a moderately difficult half-day hike, the AMC’s Nature Walks in New Jersey describes a 5.1-mile loop hike that begins and ends at Millbrook Village.
10. Check out fall-themed Weekend Getaways: digital photography, Irish dancing, hiking for mind and body
This fall, there's a variety of special, fall-themed Weekend Getaways being hosted at Mohican Outdoor Center. Themes during September and October include digital photography, hiking for mind and body, and Irish dancing, among others.
