Knifes Edge 🔪 🐻 Bear Rock

If you are in the mood to do a quick hike and want to go off the beaten path, Knife’s Edge is one of many for you. Located on the Appalachian trail west of the Bake Oven Knob is the trailhead, however this could also be accessed on PA-309 which runs over the mountain.

Today we started at the Bake Oven side trail head. The trail starts out flat and smooth, with a few large mud puddle which can easily be walked through or around. A little less than a mile the trail begins to get Become rocky. The trail is well maintained and is marked with white markings which can be found on the normal surfaces in a trail (trees and Rocks). There are three views you will encounter and it is highly recommended to check them out.

Sign depicting where Bear rocks is

After navigating the trail for a mile and change you will encounter the first view and rock structure, this is pointed out on a sign nail to a tree: Bear Rocks. This area requires an easy climb up rocks to a fantastic view of North and South. There are two vistas to look out from. The area for the most part did seem untouched! After hanging out in the area for a while we trekked on to Knifes Edge, we skipped the second viewpoint, which appeared to be smaller, but had shade to cover.

Northern view Bear Rocks

One Rock formation on Bear Rock. Feat. Rich

Southern view via Bear Rocks

As we continued on there were many campsites that were well made for fellow hikers. Of course we had to check them out! In some parts the trail get very rocky and can get very slippery, eventually you will end up in an open area and it will be a large rock formation about which looks like a knifes edge coming out of the ground. Here we saw about four Hawks flying and dive bombing, this area only allows you to lookout south towards Schnecksville. After taking a break and talking to some hikers passing through we decided to head back.

Climbing up Knifes Edge

Walking on Knifes Edge

Southern view of knifes edge

This trail is approximately 4.3 miles out and back and is definitely a top trail in my in my book!

Mike