Mount Tammany Fire Road

View looking east at the New Jersey Forest Fire Service's Helispot 3 along the Mount Tammany Fire Road on Kittatinny Mountain

The Mount Tammany Fire Road is an unpaved 4.5-mile (7.2 km) road on the eastern ridgeline of Kittatinny Mountain from Upper Yards Creek Reservoir to Mount Tammany, the 1,527-foot (465 m) prominence on the New Jersey side of the Delaware Water Gap. The fire road, located within Worthington State Forest, is maintained as a firebreak and access road for wildfire suppression efforts by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.[1] There are three helispots along the fire road used by the Forest Fire Service.

The Mount Tammany Fire Road was constructed as a dozer line created after the 1976 Dunnfield Creek fire on Kittatinny Mountain which consumed over 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of forests from April 18 to April 22, 1976.[2] Today, the road is often used as part of a loop with the Appalachian Trail, Sunfish Pond Fire Road, Dunnfield Creek trail and other trails by hikers visiting the Delaware Water Gap.[3][4] The Mount Tammany Fire Road connects with the Blue Dot Trail, Red Dot Trail, Turquoise and Taylor Trails on Mount Tammany.[1]

Locations

Grove of aspen and birch trees along the Mount Tammany Fire Road

References

  1. ^ a b New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry, "Worthington State Forest Map" and "Worthington State Forest Trail Map". Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  2. ^ Dave Shelton, "'Tinderbox' state parks open in northern areas", The New Jersey Herald, April 25 1976.
  3. ^ NJ Hiking (blog), "Mt. Tammany and Sunfish Pond", September 3, 2015. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  4. ^ AllTrails.com (National Geographic blog), "Mt. Tammany Loop". Retrieved October 24, 2015.