The Thousand Steps Trail
William Penn Hwy, Mapleton, PA 17052
Two hours to the southwest of us is the Thousand Steps Trail. A hiking trail of 1,000 stone steps straight up the side of a mountain. It's a serious climb, but years ago, this was merely the miners commute to work.
The Harbison Walker Corporation began mining for sand on Jacks Mountain around 1900. The sand was used for silica, heat resistant, bricks. Workers were originally required to walk up the mountain each day to work, but the trail zig zagged and made the commute much longer than necessary.
In 1936, workers build a stone staircase straight up the mountain, using just over 1000 stones to climb 1,00 feet.
This is a tough climb for many of us today, but there are spots to rest along the way, and it is a really beautiful hike. This is definitely one of my top 10 favorite hikes of all time. Partially that may be from the sense of accomplishment in completing it, but the incredible views and variety of things to see also play a large part in my love of this trail.
The trailhead is at large parking lot on the right hand side of highway 22 about 3/4 mile outside of Mount Union. GPS Coords - 40.41680°N 77.8994°W. In this photo, I'm standing near the start of the trail, looking back towards the parking area.
We were here on Easter Sunday, making the drive after sunrise service at church and arriving around 12:30 in the afternoon. A group of teenagers arrived at the same time, and they got started right away. I changed my shoes, we got the dogs in harnesses, Dan looked for the nearby geocaches... so we did start a little bit after the teens, but still, we laughed when they passed us coming back down, when we were barely half way up. The boys were running the steps.
Although not crowded, there were quite a few people on the steps that day. We stopped often for families to pet our two dogs, and to "wait for that group to get down" before we headed up the next section. That wait was a great time to catch our breath!
We talked with a lot of different people that day. An older gentleman hiking for the first time, a young family struggling to keep up with their young son who was climbing with ease. A family who does the trail every Easter as a tradition, and a young athletic looking crew who weren't sure they were going to make it to the top. We passed an Amish couple who were not even slightly out of breath, and a couple of teenagers who were having severe second thoughts less than 200 steps in.
Woohoo! The 1,000th step!
Middle aged, overweight, and out of shape - we took well over an hour to reach the top. A lot of that truly was waiting for groups to come down a section before we headed up, on a day with less people, I think we could have made it in less than an hour. (I know that many in much better physical shape than us, can complete this easily in 30 minutes.)
Wait - why are there more steps??? Although this is called the 1,000 Steps Trail, there are somewhere around 1,040 steps. I didn't count for myself, and I have found articles stating there are anywhere from 1,032 to 1,046... It's definitely more than 1,000 and less than 1100.
At the top of the steps turn right and go less than 1/4 of a mile (much less) to this beautiful view.
While there were a lot of people on the steps, we saw almost no one on the trails to the overlooks. To climb all those steps and not see the overlooks... how sad. However, I know we could have seen a lot more than we did too - there's just so much to see up here.
Along the path to the Dinkey Shed.
The "Dinky Shed" is a stone structure that serviced the Dinky trains. It's located less than a 1/4 of a mile to the left of the top of the 1,000 steps.
Inside the Dinky Shed.
To the right of the dinky shed are more steps. More. Steps. Not too many, but enough. Climb up them, and follow the trail to the left. It's worth it, I promise.
Once up the steps past the dinky shed, there's a beautiful, flat, less than a 1/4 mile trail to the overlook. You will walk right along the edge of the mountain. We saw hawks and turkey vultures flying beside us, or slightly below where we could look at their backs as they flew.
Photos really do not do this view justice at all. . You can watch trains wind along the river and see the church in the town below. There's a large rock here, perfect to sit on and admire the view.
Molly and Max, helping Dan check out the geocache container they found nearby.
We went on to find a few more geocaches on out the trail, and I very much enjoyed that walk - but from the top of the steps to this overlook was my favorite part of the trail.
And then, after exploring the area, finding the geocaches, and admiring the view... it's 1,000 steps back down.
Down was much faster than up. We passed fewer people, and even with stopping to find two geocaches on the way down, and stopping to talk to others at least twice, it took us around 45 minutes total. Down is a different kind of hard than up. Going up I was out of breath. Coming down, my knees and feet hurt - a walking stick was a big help!
We were sore and tired by the end (and even more so the next day...) but not so miserable that we couldn't tackle a second, much shorter, climb up a nearby mountain, to see the Three Sisters rocks before heading home.
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Text from this sign is transcribed below:
Welcome to the Thousand Steps. Here, amidst the rugged grandeur of Jack’s Narrows are important remnants of regional industrial and transportation history, tangible reminders of a work ethic which helped transform a nation and a story of a community partnership that coalesced to preserve the tract for future generations.
The Juniata River carved a strategic east-west passage through a chain of mountains known to geologists as the Ridge and Valley Province. Native American paths, stagecoach roads, an early 19th century turnpike, the Pennsylvania Canal, the Pennsylvania Railroad and the William Penn Highway have all utilized Jack’s Narrows below.
Abundant reserves of ganister, a Tuscarora sandstone used in the production of silica bricks, led to the construction of three refractories and Mount Union’s position as the “Silica Brick Capital of the World.” The heat resistant refractory products were crucial to the steel, iron, glass railroad and other industries. Harbison-Walker utilized quarries on both sides of the Narrows between 1900 and 1952. Miles of dinkey railroad grade and six inclined planes were used to remove the ganister to the refractory. At their peak, Mount Union’s refractories employed 2,000 people and produced an estimated 500,000 silica bricks per day.
The Thousand Steps were constructed about 1936 by Harbison-Walker employees. A challenging hike today, the steps were a commute to a long and difficult workday in Ledge Quarry. It is to the memory of these workers and their brethren in Mount Union’s refractories, the the members of the Save Our Steps Committee pay special tribute.
The Committee was formed in 1996, when loss of public access to the property was imminent. Thanks to a partnership that included the Central Pennsylvania Conservancy, Mount Union Area Historical Society, Keystone trails Association and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania among others, public and financial support was rallied and the Thousand Steps and the surrounding 669 acres were preserved for future enjoyment. The project would not have been possible without the financial support of those listed on the opposite side of this sign.
Today the tract is managed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. It includes threatened species, unusual fossils, a diversity of plant and wildlife and several miles of the Mid-State Tuscarora Link Hiking Trail. Please respect the fragility of the natural and cultural features and enjoy your visit.
A COMMUNITY
CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE
Funding assistance from
Keystone Recreation, Park and Recreation Fund
Administered by the
Bureau of Recreation and Conservation
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
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