Building the Ringing Rocks Trail

AMC’s Professional Trail Crew came down from their Pinkham Notch, NH base to Bucks County on August 1 for a week long project to clear and build a 1.3 mile stretch of trail that was damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

When completed the Ringing Rocks Trail, which is being developed as part of the PA Highlands Trail Network, will connect the popular Ringing Rocks County Park with the D&L Trail in Delaware Canal State Park.

Much of the trail crew’s work involved removing scores of blown-down trees that obliterated what had been a well-established footprint of an historic logging path. The crew also diverted a section of the trail around the seriously eroded  crest of a slope overlooking High Falls Creek. The next tasks that must be completed before opening the trail to the public include: developing a “Footpath Crossing Agreement” that is required by PennDOT to cross River Road (Rt. 32 is a state road); and blazing and signing the trail.

Thanks to the work of the AMC  Trail Crew, an obscure, historic logging path is well on its way to becoming one of the premier hiking trails in Bucks County, with the added value of providing a new connection between the iconic Ringing Rocks Park and the D&L Trail (a National Recreational Trail in Delaware Canal State Park).  The AMC Trail Crew also worked with volunteers from the Friends of Nockamixon State Park to clear a portion of the Mink Trail along Lake Nockamixon.

AMC’s Professional Trail Crew – founded in 1919.
The trail follows the footprint of an historic logging path.
Hundreds of blowdowns were strewn across the wooded slopes.
The crew worked for 5 days in Ringing Rocks Park.
The old logging trail evolves into the new Ringing Rocks Trail.

 

 

Some blowdown clusters were complex and difficult to remove.
The crew takes a lunch break on a fallen oak.
The crew rerouted the trail around a stretch of serious erosion.
On the first day, the crew toured the project area.
AMC Trail Crew spent a day assisting the friends group.

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