Delaware Water Gap - A wild and scenic river, a plethora of waterfalls

Delaware Water Gap... what a strange name.  This is exactly what I thought 30 years ago driving through the area and impressed by the scenery.  Well, it was time to return... so we did.

Dingmans Falls
a short walk from the
Dingmans Visitor Center

It was raining as we entered the park but the ranger stated, "...but this is a water park.  After a rain the waterfalls and streams are outstanding."  She was correct; however, even without the rain it is an impressive park.  The park follows about 40 miles of the Middle Delaware River between low forested mountains of the Appalachian Mountains.  The park lies along the Pennsylvania and New Jersey borders.

Rough and scenic areas

The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area was originally conceived as an land management unit to help "manage" the Delaware River.  The plan for the area in 1960 was an Army Corps of Engineers dam at Tocks Island, just north of the Water Gap. The dam would control water levels, generate hydroelectric power, and provide recreation on the new 37 mile lake.  Sounds good but luckily it didn't happen.

What did happen was about fifteen thousand people were displaced and their three to five thousand dwellings were demolished. Of course not everyone sold and not all buildings were demolished so today you will find historical museum villages and a sprinkling of private residences mostly on the New Jersey side. Fortunately, some of the buildings were spared to preserve 300 years and 13 generations of history and culture when the project proved to be economically & environmentally unsound.

Then the area went into a type of limbo for about 18 years as the government already owned most of the land without a specific plan.  In 1978 the Delaware River was placed under the protection of the Scenic Rivers Act and the land was transferred to the National Park System.

Amazing views throughout the park

There are many trails in the park and our first hike was at the Dingmans Ferry Visitor Center.  We started on the Dingmans Creek Trail which is a short walk and then branched out to the more dramatic views of the water falls.

Falls at Childs' Park

Wall from an old farm in
Childs' Park

From there we headed to Childs' Park with an interesting history.  Much of the area was built by the Civilian Conservation Corp.

CCC shelter from 1935

View from the CCC Shelter interior

Today 80 years later, the facilities are being maintained by retirees who meet each Tuesday and carry on the work of the original CCC. 

Stairs complements of the
Tuesday Volunteers

But this is only a small part of the Delaware Water Gap.  More to come!