Mt. Minsi Lookout

Status: Former Lookout
Elevation: 1,461 feet
Prominence: 181 feet
State: Pennsylvania
Monroe County
AT Access: Trail over the summit

In 1921, a Scranton, PA newspaper wrote that a steel tower was being placed on Mt. Minsi. It would be 47 feet high and in order to get the material up the mountain, it would be necessary to construct an entirely new road of over four miles.

In 1935, a local newspaper said that there is a tall steel tower at the summit of Mount Minis, which serves the double purpose of a fire lookout tower and aeroplane beacon light.

In 1959, a Coast and Geodetic Survey crew visited the site, placed benchmarks and described the tower as a 4-steel column structure with a square lookout house mounted on the top and a stairway leading from the ground to the house. The lookout house was enclosed with windows on all sides. It was orange in color.

A 1977 article in a Hazleton paper discussed the trail in PA and said the Mount Minsi fire tower was a popular stopping point. The tower offered panoramic view of the rugged Delaware Water Gap.

Today, at the actual top, there is only the footings of a fire tower that once stood there. The trail will also hit the old fire road that at one time served this fire tower.

Mount Minsi is the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware Water Gap. It is the eastern extent of the very long Blue Mountain. The site today is forested with the steps and footings still remaining.

Del Water Forest Lookout

Appalachian Trail route as it passes over Mount Minsi

1921 newspaper article

Summit view from Mt. Minsi

Footings and stairs where the lookout stood.

Mount Minsi Postcard

1955 USGS with 1957 update

Footings and stairs where the lookout stood.

View from below the lookout site on the trail northbound. Kittatinny Mountain.

Also on the summit is a small communications building.