SMITHS GAP RESET

Recovered in Good Condition on March 14, 2004

Spatial/elevation data

Coordinates N 40.822733° W 75.422416°
Elevation 1611 ft.
Location Pennsylvania
   Northampton County
      Kunkletown Quad

Mark description

Type Triangulation Station Disk
Setting Bedrock
Monumented 1929 by NGS
Description (NGS) NGS Datasheet
Marker
Leaflet USDA images from CalTopo
Google Map View Full Map

NGS recovery information

Descriptive text

The station mark and reference marks 1 and 3 were recovered in good condition. The 1942 description is adequate, with the following additions. Kunkletown-Port Phillip Rd. is now called Smith Gap Road. There is a small parking area at the point where the Appalachian Trail crosses this road. The blazed tree was not found. The station mark is now approximately one foot below the surface of the ground, is covered by loose soil and several flat stones, and is surrounded by a circle of rocks approximately 6 feet in diameter. Reference mark 1 is covered by several flat rocks.

Narrative and photographs

Though it was our main goal for the day, we saved the recovery of SMITHS GAP RESET for the second half of our day, following the search for Sasha’s Cache in the gamelands to the south. After finding the cache and climbing back up the steep hill to Smith Gap, we headed in on the Appalachian Trail toward the triangulation station. It was a short walk—0.5 miles along the A-T—to the point where our GPSrs were directing us off the trail to the south. I think I could distinguish a dim trail to the station at this point, but it’s far from certain.

When we arrived near the coordinates for the station, its location was obvious. Not only was there a depression in the ground surrounded by rocks roughly forming a circle, but there were also remnants of white plastic material used to mark the station for aerial surveys. We dug down and removed a few stones, enough to verify that this was indeed the mark, and then we went in search of the reference marks.

Reference marks 1 and 3 were located without much difficulty using only the bearings given on the datasheet and estimating distances as we walked. RM1 was found beneath a pile of flat stones, possibly serving as protection. RM3 is exposed and is of a bright blue-green color, so it was easy to spot from a distance.

The soil, roots and rocks were cleared from the station and the station disk was cleaned, and photographs were taken. As noted in the 1942 recovery, the marks are stamped SMITH GAP instead of SMITHS GAP, which is given as the designation. All are in good condition. Before leaving the area (rather quickly, due to the sudden drop in temperature and feeling of impending precipitation in the air) we re-buried the station mark, returning it to the condition in which we’d found it. Similarly RM1 was covered again with stones.

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