Hike #135
Group shot in Delaware Water Gap PA
5/30/4
This trip was a major landmark for my hikes. I had recently taken outdoor leadership
training at Lake Nockamixon, PA to lead my own trips through the Appalachian Mountain
Club. The course was two days of lectures and mini group hikes intended to prepare us for
leadership challenges. After taking the course, each “leader in training” was to co-lead two
hikes with two different current leaders in the club. My first choice was obvious: Rich
Pace. Rich convinced me that for my first AMC leadership outing I should not do one of
my long hikes, which I could not totally accept. I recruited some of my friends who had
been hiking with me in the past to join and continue after a nine mile AMC hike for
another loop making it a total significant mileage.
At the parking lot in Del Water Gap PA
Starting out along Lake Lenape
Along Lake Lenape
Along Lake Lenape
Old road behind Lake Lenape
Along Lake Lenape
Group shot along the back of Lake Lenape
The group behind Lake Lenape
Table Rock, PA
The group on Table Rock
Along Mt. Minsi Fire Road
Along Mt. Minsi Fire Road
Old foundation on a side road at what used to be Lake Latini
Taking a break at Winona Cliff along the AT
View on the way up Mt. Minsi
AT on the way up Mt. MINSI
View of Dunnfield NJ from Winona Cliff
Along the AT in PA
Near the top of Mt. Minsi where the AT meets the fire road
Me with my flutophone on Mt. Minsi
My beat up old shoe
Mt. Minsi
Mt Minsi
View from Mt. Minsi
View from Mt. Minsi
View from Mt. Minsi
On Mt Minsi
Maple leaves
I decided on a Delaware Water Gap trip, as when a hike there is posted through the
AMC, it attracts a good number of people (I would in fact become annoyed in the future
with this, as the name “Delaware Water Gap” leads everyone into thinking they will be
hiking to the popular places such as Dunnfield Hollow or the AT, forgetting all of the
lesser known points). After I had chosen the route, I had Rich post the trip on the
Delaware Valley AMC hotline, a yahoo group used for more last minute trip postings
(most trips are posted through AMC Outdoors Magazine, or a newsletter called
“Footnotes”.). He recieved the e mails from interested parties and then forwarded them to
me so I could handle all of the leadership responsibilites. Henry had given me his old
computer for my 24th birthday, and it could’nt have happened at a better time, as I would
need it from now on for the hikes.
I had everyone meet at the AT parking area off Mountain Road in Delaware Water Gap
PA. Cathy of course was there to join in on my first real AMC outing. In addition, Skyler
Jermyn, Chris Jones, and Amit Bhojwani all joined to experiance what the AMC would
bring us. Skyler and Chris signed on to do the entire hike, while everyone else would cut
out at the nine miles posted through AMC. Rich was already waiting for us with the group
when I showed up.
Also joining us were four newcomers from the AMC: Barth Johnson, who works for
Warren County and is was already good friends with Rich, I had met once before on a
hike up Point Mountain. Atsuko Lin, Jeen Lee, and Barbara Bish were the other three
AMC members who joined. I remember Atsuko kept the best pace of the group, and gave
me good hope that I would fine hikers who could meet my level within the AMC.
At the beginning of AMC hikes, we stood in a circle and introduced ourselves, then I
went over the trip route and what we would be doing. This is called the “Circle talk”. I
have adopted this practice pretty well, unless we have a small group and everyone knows
each other. Already, I was looking very unlike everyone in the club. I showed up wearing
one of my Aloha shirts and a straw head I had bought in Las Vegas, and I was wearing
two different kinds of shoes, as I had worn out one left and one right from separate pairs
but felt I still had a good pair of shoes!
It was important to me to do something very different than anyone else was doing on
their Water Gap hikes, so I began by bringing the group around Lake Lenape and up
Table Rock Trail. After crossing the Table Rock, I brought everyone down to the Minsi
Fire Road, then on one of the old side roads passing by a swamp area and a pond. The
pond is marked “Lake Latini” on old maps, but is hardly a pond let alone a lake. There
was also an old foundation of some sort of house along the route. A trail led us along an
outlet out to the AT, which we followed to a lookout into the gap. This area, though not
shown on many maps any more, is called Winona Cliff. I pointed out the railroads and told
the history of them while we rested briefly here.
Rich taking pictures of bugs on top of Mt. Minsi
Hola
AT on Mt. Minsi
View near Totts Gap on the AT
View near Totts Gap
View near Totts Gap
In Totts Gap cave
Totts Gap cave
Totts Gap cave
Totts Gap Cave
Totts Gap cave
Totts Gap cave
It was great to have Rich co-leading, because I still had the opportunity to be myself, and
being myself meant sprinting up to the near top of Mt Minsi to the Minsi Fire Road from
Winona Cliff on the AT. I played the flutophone while I waited for everyone at the top.
We soon ascended to the top of Mt Minsi where we took another break. The view was
perfect; great visibility.
We continued on the AT out to Totts Gap, stopping at the gas pipeline along the way to
take in the view. Continueing down hill, we visited the cave just south of the AT. This was
another place hardly anyone in the AMC visited, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We
soon turned back up Totts Gap Road, and followed it north heading off the ridge as I had
with Peeps on hike #109.
Totts Gap cave
On the way down the ridge at Totts Gap
Utility line at Totts Gap
Utility line at Totts Gap
Utility line at Totts Gap
Mountain Road in Del Water Gap
Old Mountain Road in Del Water Gap PA
Del Water Gap PA
Off trail view at an old house site off of Mountain Road
We continued to the old road out to the gas line, then out to the other northeast bound
road back towards the Water Gap. There were some giant puddles in this section. Barth
helped Cathy around most of them while I led the group. This time, someone, I think it
was Amit, asked what a small side path led to, and I did’nt know, so I ran out to see.
What we found was a nice off trail viewpoint on the foundation of some old house. I was
very pleased to find this place. We continued downhill as the old road became paved,
though still badly washed out.
View off trail from an old house site
Old house site off of old Mountain Road, Del Water Gap PA
When we reached the bottom, we turned right back to the parking area where we began.
Cherry Valley golf course
Stroudsburg PA
Rich, Cathy, Amit, Jeen, Atsuko, Barth, and Barbara all left at this point, and seemed
happy to have come on the hike. Skyler, Chris and I continued back in the direction we
had just come from only to soon reach a golf course. My Kittatinny Trails map showed
that there had been a road crossing the area, but it was not in sight. We stood around for a
minute until a guy came up on a cart asking what we were up to. I let him know we were
doing a hike, and he directed us to the old road, and allowed us to pass across the course.
The road was dirt, in a line of trees adjacent to the green. There were many golfers out,
and many balls were on the road. Chris or Skyler picked one up, and one of the golfers got
quite upset saying “I really hope you did’nt move that!”. We had a laugh about it later.
The road took us past a house, then off to the right into Cherry Valley. We turned left
onto the main road along the creek and walked up over Godfrey Ridge the same way
Peeps and I had taken on the last trip.
Shop Rite in Stroudsburg PA
The Good Year Blimp over Stroudsburg PA
Stroudsburg PA
Broadhead Creek in Stroudsburg PA
NYS&W right of way south of Stroudsburg
NYS&W railroad bed south of Stroudsburg
NSY&W right of way south of Stroudsburg
We stopped at a gas station to get some drinks, and while we were waiting, a couple guys
pulled up in a hot blue car. I honestly can’t remember the make and model, I think maybe
an early seventies model Mustang. The guys got out and went into the store. One guy
came out first, wearing a leather jacket and looking kind of rough, and began talking to us.
After a bit of a converstion, he asked “You guys into Bio Hazard?”. I had heard of the
band but did not know their music. We kind of nodded or said we’d heard of them. The
guy replied with “Well, they SUCK!”. He went on to tell us he was a former member of
the band for their first couple albums, but either left or was kicked out, I can’t remember
which. Either way, he was an interesting fellow and it merits inclusion in this entry!
We continued walking into the town of Stroudsburg, and stopped in the Main Street
Jukebox, a favorite record store of mine for getting rare and bootlegged Beatles
recordings. Chris was always happy to visit places like this as well; he would go into the
back and look through obscure funk and jazz records, as well as old Quincy Jones
soundtracks. He ended up buying a few records and stuffing them into his backpack.
Skyler kind of wandered a bit, paying little attention as he was listening to a Japanese
Language learning tape the entire day, sounding out new words aloud as we walked!
Next we headed out to where the NYS&W Railroad right of way was near the
McDonalds, and continued on to I believe it was the Shop Rite to get more to drink. We
pushed Chris around in a shopping cart a bit before continueing on.
After seeing the right of way, we headed back to a bridge across teh Broadhead Creek
and walked roads looking for signs of where the railroad right of way would have been.
We walked through a new developement for some time, looking at street names until we
found one which was an obvious clue: “Susquehanna”. As NYS&W stands for “New
York, Susquehanna, and Western”, and there was nothing otherwise to do with the river
of that name in Stroudsburg, I assumed it must refer to the railroad. We continued along a
few other roads as I recall out of the developement and into a small community park with
a ballfield. There was a game going on, and the parents looked at me funny as I climbed to
the bottom of a bridge over a creek on the access road. I noted that it’s stone construction
dates it back before 1900, and assumed this was originally the railroad bridge. I was
correct, for after crossing the ballfields we found ourselves on the nice, clear right of way
high above Broadhead Creek. There were some places that were badly washed out, but
none that were difficult to walk.
Broadhead Creek trestle site
Broadhead Creek
Broadhead Creek crossing
I injured my leg crossing Broadhead Creek
Broadhead Creek crossing
Broadhead Creek crossing
Crossing Broadhead Creek
After Skyler got sick from swimming the Broadhead Creek numerous times
Soon, we reached the site of where a trestle once carried the railroad over Broadhead
Creek. The river was very wide and full of rapids at this point, so we made our way up
and down the shore looking for somewhere we could wade across. I kept trying to make
my way out, but was unable. I finally gave up after taking a fall and hitting my lower leg
badly on a rock. Skyler, being a registered lifeguard, decided to try to swim the creek at
the base of one section of rapids, but above a second one. He found that it was possible to
swim it with one hand in the area, meaining he could bring his cd player and my camera
across safely. After swimming across and back, he realized he should have taken his jeans
off, as they were now soaked. He put his jeans in a bag, then swam our important stuff
across. I went next, tieing a bandanna around my hat to keep it on. It was a tough swim,
but I made it across alright. Skyler swam back across to retrieve his other stuff, and Chris
headed out holding his backpack with records on his head. He made it in alright, and
Skyler found one rock he could rest on out in the river before continueing across. On his
last time back across, Skyler was getting very tired, and Chris and I helped him out of the
water. After swimming across the river five times, Skyler needed to sit and rest. After a
few moments, he puked violently! Chris and I were just bewildered by this, but Skyler felt
better after a few moments and we were laughing about it.
We climbed up the hillside and across the active DL&W tracks, then up to the other side
of the trestle site. We began walking the right of way here, until we came across an area
full of tents with a nasty barking dog in front of us! It seemed we had walked into the
middle of this circular encampment with ropes tied all the way around it. We did not trip
any of the ropes, just stepped under them. As the dog went nuts, I yelled out “We’re just
hikers, we’re just rail enthusiasts walking the railroad right of way, just passing through!”.
Making our way up to Rt 80 at Marshalls Creek exit from the NYS&W right of way
No one came out of any tents, and we continued on. It was tough trying to figure out
which way to go. It was getting darker all the time, and there appeared to be a lower
grade below us. I was starting to think we were not on the right of way. In fact, we were
on the right of way, and followed it by following old telegraph poles that had not been
removed. Part of the right of way was obliterated by the construction of Rt 80, and we
had to climb up to the highway to the next exit in order to stay on it!
Unfortunitely, when we reached the exit, it was impossible to see where the tracks
continued as it was getting too dark. We stopped in a convenience store to get some
drinks, which we needed badly at this point. Skyler was walking in his boxer shorts, which
apparently accidently opened up to reveal his manhood to the female clerk; we still tease
him about this! The clerk was fortunitely not easily offended.
We walked along a road looking for familiar street names, and when we got to the next
intersection, we asked a guy having a picnic with his family which way to the Water Gap.
He directed us downhill along another road. We came out to an interesection after a
bridge over Marshall’s Creek, and we turned right. It was well after dark by now, and I
did not know where we were going. There was a bar ahead to our left, so I went inside to
ask for directions once again. It was a good thing I did, as we were going to head straight
where we should go left! I abandoned the idea of asking for directions to the Water Gap,
instead realizing if I could get to the active railroad tracks, I would know how to get back
to the gap. It turned out we were in the area of North Water Gap, and we followed the
road out to the former DL&W tracks. Though we did not know where, I knew at some
point on this stretch of road we crossed the former NYS&W right of way. We crossed a
bridge over Broadhead Creek, then followed the tracks south into the Delaware Water
Gap. When we reached the bridge underpass under Rt 80, we climbed up to the AT, then
headed back to where we started early in the morning! We got back to the parking area
between 10 and 10:30 pm! Quite a day to remember.
No comments:
Post a Comment