| Hawk Mountain | |
|---|---|
View from Hawk Mountain |
|
| Elevation | 1,521 ft (464 m) [1] |
| Prominence | 181 ft (55 m) [1] |
| Parent peak | The Pinnacle [1] |
| Location | |
|
Hawk Mountain
|
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| Range | Blue Mountain [1] |
| Coordinates | [2] |
| Topo map | USGS New Ringgold |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Lookout Trail (hike) [3] |
Hawk Mountain is a mountain ridge, part of the Blue Mountain Ridge in the Appalachian Mountain chain, located in central-eastern Pennsylvania near Reading and Allentown. The area includes 13,000 acres of protected private and public land, including the 2,600 acre Hawk Mountain Sanctuary.[4]
The River of Rocks is visible and accessible from the Sanctuary. The boulders were formed by periglacial processes in the Pleistocene epoch, or "ice age."
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In 1929, the Pennsylvania Game Commission offered hunters offered $5 for every goshawk shot during migrating season,[5] as the birds were considered pests. In 1932, Richard Pough (a birder and photographer from Philadelphia) photographed hundreds of killed hawks and published these photos in Bird Lore, the predecessor to Audubon.[5] Thanks largely to the publicity brought by Pough's photographs, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary was incorporated in 1938, and in 1946 began year-round operations.[5] The Game Commission bounty was terminated in 1951, although birds of prey continued to face threats, including from chemical pesticides like DDT. Bird counts have been taken at Hawk Mountain since the end of World War II, with the Sanctuary counting its millionth raptor on October 8, 1992.[5]
The mountain is also home to the Hawk Mountain Scout Reservation and Hawk Mountain Camp (two Boy Scout camps)[6] and the Civil Air Patrol's Colonel Phillip Neuweiler Ranger Training Facility (also known as the Hawk Mountain Ranger School).