Hike #577; Lower Worthington/Delaware Water Gap Loop

 Hike #577; Lower Worthington/Delaware Water Gap Loop

8/11/11 Lower Worthington/Del Water Gap loop with "Action Adam" Stevens, Corrin Dylnicki, and Amanda Rosenblatt

Heading up Mt. Tammany Trail with a view into PA

My next hike would be another evening hike after work, this time in lower Worthington State Forest from Dunnfield in the Delaware Water Gap. The trip would be sort of an excerpt from the Lower Worthington hike I had led so many times in the past already.

I knew I wanted to get a night hike in, but I didn't know what. I also knew it would be nearly a full moon and therefore perfect for this sort of thing.

Corrin had told me that she had never been up Mt. Tammany, and then I realized it had been quite a while since I'd been up myself. Since she was to leave the following week to go to Wisconsin for school, it would be a good opportunity for her to finally get up there, and I needed the exercise.

While starting my night hike, I found this five leaf clover!

While getting ready to go in the parking lot at Dunnfield, I found one four leaf clover, followed by a five leaf one. It may have been the best looking five leaf clover I have found yet. I gave these ones to Corrin (Action Adam was upset I didn't find any for him because now both Corrin and Amanda had received clovers from me.).

We began by heading up the Mt. Tammany Trail (Red Dot) steeply. It was not nearly as humid as it had been, but the climb is always a workout. Action Adam commented on how this was his first hike back with me since injuring his shin in Lake Sonoma over a month earlier, and that he started with this tough one.

On the way up Mt. Tammany

We continued steeply and soon came to the small overlook over Arrow Island down through the gap. A nice shadow was cast over everything giving an interesting look. There were a lot of people on the trail, all headed down, finishing their hikes while we were just beginning the ascent to 1549 above sea level.

We took a little break at the small overlook before continuing out ascent.

View toward Arrow Island from along Mt. Tammany Trail

From the lookout area, the trail followed a sort of rock spine for a bit, and then made it's way into one of the saddles between two of the ridge sections. Like I usually do, I led the group off trail onto the original Red Dot Trail route that had been rerouted because it was considered too tough. Indeed, there were hand holds on the old route, but I found it infinitely more interesting, and that's why I still do it today.

Carrying a dumbell up Mt. Tammany

At the point of the hand hold climb, I found a dumbell just sitting on the ground and decided I was going to carry it the entire way up Mt. Tammany. It wasn't so bad at first, but it soon became extremely difficult and I found myself questioning what I was thinking.Before reaching the top, I had to take a break, still holding the thing, because I was just far too out of breath.

Success! I carried a 25 lb dumbell all the way up Mt. Tammany

View from Mt. Tammany into the Water Gap

I went up Mt. Tammany carrying a 25 lb dumbell!

It took some doing, but I did reach the top carrying the dumbell. It was difficult even to hold it over my head for the picture. We climbed down the rocks for a bit and had a nice break to admire the view. The ascent, as always, was a killer. Everyone handled it well though.

When we were done with our break, we continued along the ridge along the Blue Dot Trail. When Blue Dot Trail curved off to the right, Action Adam told us that his first hike ever was along that route to the top of Mt. Tammany. There was a small view here and we spent some time trying to see the Paulins Kill Viaduct. I could barely pick it out.

We turned away from the Blue Dot Trail and began following the Mt. Tammany Fire Road from here. This took us out along the ridge through some really nice secluded parts of the park. We passed the former terminus of the Yellow Dot Trail, which was pretty obscure, but recognizable. We continued on from there and eventually reached Helispot #2, which was of interest to Action Adam because he was currently pursuing getting a helicopter license.

Action Adam at Helispot #2, Worthington SF

We continued on along the Mt. Tammany Fire Road from here and past the Turquoise Trail that went left. I'd done that enough times, and wanted to do the section from the north end (which technically we might not supposed to do).

Mt Tammany Fire Road at Helispot 2

Along the way, we came to a spot where there was a large set of diamond plate metal sheets along the Fire Road to the right. We couldn't figure out what it was. Action Adam and I tried to lift it but found nothing underneath. Unfortunately, while bending over to lift it, I spilled almost an entire bottle of wine into my backpack. I had busted the cork while trying to open it earlier (by the next day my car reeked of rotten wine from having my backpack in it).

Strange metal diamond plating left along Mt. Tammany Fire Road

I remember hearing that the trail was supposed to be cleared by the Forest Fire Service, under the direction of Willy Cirrone who originally cleared the route, but from what I could see it never happened.

View from Mt. Tammany Fire Road near Upper Yards Creek Reservoir

We came to one more view along the way where the Paulins Kill Viaduct was visible again, this time much more noticeably. From there, we continued to the end of the Tammany Fire Road where it joined the perimeter road around Upper Yards Creek Reservoir. The reservoir was insanely low, the lowest I'd ever seen it. I figured in part because during the day the water was pumped down to generate electricity, and by night when less power is used, it is pumped back up (that's the nature of the pumped storage facility after all).

Reservoir at sunset

It was starting to get a bit dark, and so we turned off to the left. The sun was going down over the Upper Yards Creek Reservoir which was lovely.

Reservoir at sunset

Along Sunfish Pond Fire Road

We were treated to a few more views of the Upper Reservoir, which was even more surprisingly low the further we went. We continued along the edge of the fence that separated the perimeter road of the reservoir from the edge of the fence. We had to walk along this for a bit until the fence turned to the right and Sunfish Pond Fire Road became easier to follow on the left.

Dike of the reservoir

The dike of the reservoir towered above us to the right. I had forgotten how big it was, because I hadn't been to this exact site since Spring of 2002 with Tea Biscuit and Peeps.The path along that fence was much tougher to get through since the time Tea Biscuit and Peeps went through. It was quite overgrown in places. It was also obvious the Sunfish Pond Fire Road was not used nearly as often any more.

 

We hurried to get away from the upper reservoir, because even though we were not inside of the fence area, I figured maybe no one was wanted near the reservoir at all and I didn't want to start any problems. Huge fines were being given out for people trespassing on the property of the lower reservoir. It was crazy to think that just after 9/11/1, when security was heightened to extreme levels, Tea Biscuit, Peeps, and I were crazy enough to not only go through there, but to walk right up the giant pipe that connected the reservoirs!

LOL whoo boy

Here's a picture from that time.

We continued along Sunfish Pond Fire Road which took us along the edge of some ponds near the ridge top. It was getting much darker, but the woods road section was clear enough that it was easy.

A small pond off of Sunfish Pond Fire Road

The woods road had ruts and there was a section of it that was flooded over by the first pond where we had to go around to the outside. This too was not as I remembered it, dry and easy to just pass through. Here's another shot from back in those days passing through:

Along Sunfish Pond Fire Road, at the head waters of Dunnfield Creek, little ponds.

We continued along Sunfish Pond Fire Road on out to the Turquoise Trail, and then turned right. We then followed Turquoise Trail down hill and back up along Sunfish Pond's north shore to join the Appalachian Trail. We opted to go swimming from the rocky west shore because it was an easy approach for in the dark.

When we got there, Adam and I went swimming; I went half way across the lake, and Corrin only got her feet wet. I couldn't believe no one was as into getting in the water as I was because it felt so perfect. In fact, I don't remember a time when the waters of Sunfish Pond seemed so warm.

We continued on along the AT from here, which ended up being a little difficult. We lost it a few times and had to back track.

When we reached where the AT turned away, we opted to stay on that because it's route was wider and easier to follow in the dark. Fortunately, the full moon served us well and made it much easier to see.

When we reached Backpacker Site (formerly backpacker site #2), there were many people camping and a few of them making a good amount of noise. We just continued on quietly as not to disturb the ridge runners. We accidentally turned right onto Douglas Trail, and when we reached the Douglas Springs I realized we went the wrong way. I then saw the two by three blue on white blazes when we needed to be on the two by six white AT ones.

We got back to the AT and continued on it ahead. The surface was rocky until we got to where a woods road joined it again (which actually started at Douglas Springs, but it gets wet so I opted not to use it).Action Adam was listening to his MP3 playing and got in sort of a zone, running far off ahead of us. He told me later that before he knew it he'd reached the cars.

Amanda, Corrin, and I turned left after a bit onto Holly Springs Trail. We crossed  Holly Springs and then descended into Dunnfield Hollow to turn right on Dunnfield Creek Trail. We had an easy time following the trail ahead, and were eventually joined by the Blue Dot Trail coming down from Tammany. I remember the trail looked much nicer than the previous time, with a lot of work that had been done. One of the reroutes that had been done following the bad washouts on this trail several years before now had some stone steps installed to descend back to the road route after a detour.

We soon came to where we turned away from the trail on the narrow foot path that led to the swimming hole above Dunnfield Falls. It was a little tough to get there in the dark, but worth it for me because I did a running jump into the water from the rock. Corrin and Amanda didn't feel like going in, so we soon moved on.

We continued on Dunnfield Creek Trail and crossed on a wooden bridge. The rest of the trail higher above the creek was easy as always (at least for me, I know it so well having gone my entire life).

We soon crossed over another wooden bridge and were at the parking lot where we'd started.

It was a good workout and a wonderful night for a hike. Again I was happy to have good friends willing to do crazy things with me.We found our cars covered in toilet paper, with the wind shield wipers sticking up courtesy of Action TP Adam.

While starting my night hike, I found this five leaf clover!

Heading up Mt. Tammany Trail with a view into PA

On the way up Mt. Tammany

View toward Arrow Island from along Mt. Tammany Trail

Carrying a dumbell up Mt. Tammany

Success! I carried a 25 lb dumbell all the way up Mt. Tammany

View from Mt. Tammany into the Water Gap

I went up Mt. Tammany carrying a 25 lb dumbell!

Action Adam at Helispot #2, Worthington SF

Mt Tammany Fire Road at Helispot 2

Strange metal diamond plating left along Mt. Tammany Fire Road

View from Mt. Tammany Fire Road near Upper Yards Creek Reservoir

Reservoir at sunset

Reservoir at sunset

Along Sunfish Pond Fire Road

Dike of the reservoir

A small pond off of Sunfish Pond Fire Road

Along Sunfish Pond Fire Road, at the head waters of Dunnfield Creek, little ponds.

LOL whoo boy