Delaware Water Gap
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- Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania is also a town located near the gap.
The Delaware Water Gap is a mountain pass on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where the Delaware River traverses a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. The Worthington State Forest is to the immediate northeast on the New Jersey side of the border. Interstate 80 passes through the gap on the New Jersey side via the Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge, while the New Jersey Cut-Off mainline of the old Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad passes through on the Pennsylvania side.
The Delaware Water Gap is the site of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, which is used primarily for recreational purposes, such as rafting, canoeing, swimming, fishing, hiking and rock climbing.
With a fishing license, one can fish in the Delaware for carp, shad and other fish.
The Red Dot Trail provides a path to the top of the Kittatinny Ridge, which has views of the entire area. This is roughly a one hour hike, transversing over 600 vertical feet. The Gray Dot trail goes from I-80 to the top of the gap along the top of the big wall. This trail is very steep and is known as the climbers trail.
Rock climbing is mostly done on the New Jersey side. Climbers will walk along the cement wall along I-80 until they pass the big wall on I-80 and then go up a path that goes along the base of the big wall. The path is steep with poison ivy in the spring and summer. The wall is metaquartzite with bands of shale. The bands of shale are a between a half inch and four inches thick. There is loose rock which occasionally falls The sun shines on the wall from 10am to 3pm.
The ridge of the Appalachians that the Delaware crosses is called the Blue Mountains in Pennsylvania and the Kittatinny Ridge in New Jersey. The New Jersey mountain is Mt. Tammany (located in Worthington State Forest), the Pennsylvania mountain is Mt. Minsi. The summit of Tammany is 1200 ft (360 m) above the river. The Appalachian Trail threads the gap, and climbs the Kittatinies by a beautiful stream called Dunnfield Creek.
In the 1960s, a dam was almost built upstream of the water gap at Tocks Island. The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area was created from the land acquired for the planned reservoir.
Pahaquarra Scout Camp was located on the Old Mine Road on the New Jersey side of the river. The camp served Boy Scouts from the George Washington Council.
Camp Weygadt was located at the base of Mount Tammany. It served Boy Scouts from the Delaware Valley Council.
External links
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