Hike #730; Minisink Hills to Penn Estates

Hike #730; Minisink Hills to Penn Estates

10/13/13 Minisink Hills, Delaware Water Gap, Stroudsburg and Penn Estates with Michele Valerio, Brandan Jermyn, Stephen Argentina, Mark Norman, Jack Lowry, Jennifer Berndt, Tom Vorrius, Eric Pace, Cory Salveson, Carol Van Giezen, Steve Levy, Marcello ?, Maria Wedgeworth, Carla ?, Seth Gollhardt, Bryan Rojek, Ela ?, David Meyer, ?, Giuseppe Di Caro, Lindsay Haber, Cory Janusz, William "Guillermo" Fabel, Tom Vorrius,

The group on the utility line on Godfrey Ridge

Our next hike would be one between Minisink Hills, Delaware Water Gap and the Penn Estates home of Michele Valerio and Scott Trinkle. We planned this hike to end at Michele and Scott's house to celebrate Michele's birthday.

Originally, the hike was to begin in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, but due to the government shut down, all national parks were closed.

It was sort of ridicules, but I saw it as an opportunity to show that we can put together a better, more interesting hike without using a single bit of federal land. I went back over the maps and slapped together a few more of my favorite places, some that we'd done, and a little bit I hadn't.

I had the hike begin in Minisink Hills near the Odd Lots store where I'd started hikes in the past. We began walking down Rt 209, and headed down hill from it along an old access road which leads to the "phantom bridge" (a spot where only bridge abutments remain, no bridge), that once carried the New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad over the old road. We turned left here and made our way up hill to the former railroad line and followed it high above the Brodhead Creek in one of my favorite sections. Everyone always loves the clear, dramatic shelf above the creek. Although the paper mill or whatever that place is below us is rather ugly, it's an interesting sight to see.

The rail bed took us out on Post Office Road. We followed this and crossed over Marshall's Creek on a stone bridge, then turned left on Logging Road as per google maps. This road we have used many times for hikes, and it leads out to cross Brodhead Creek at the ball field parks near the town of Delaware Water Gap.

We followed the road a bit, and then followed a path that led to Broadhead Creek parallel. Everyone but me went up to the bridge, and I waded across. The water actually felt quite nice, but Summer was over and I was the only one left who'd enjoy something like this. On the other side, we got on the new trail which leads along the edge of the ball fields and into the woods. We'd followed it before, and the bridge had not been in place to get the trail under the railroad tracks. Since that time, the trail plan had changed from using the railroad tracks to extending to the regular road crossing.

We turned to go up to the tracks, walked them north, then cut down to the new trail section and followed it on the other side. There were new concrete stepping stones to get hikers across Cherry Creek on the other side, and then we headed up into Delaware Water Gap.

Once on the main street, we were along the Appalachian Trail blazes for a few moments, but then moved on down the main street to the apple pie and hot dog place in town for a nice break. There was a nice path behind the first building along Cherry Creek which we were able to follow to the lot for the apple pie and hot dog place we'd not used in the past.

After our break, we headed along Rt 611 to the Water Gap cemetery, and cut across it to Foxtown Hill Road. We crossed, and then cut into the Godfrey Ridge property. Guillermo felt a blast from the past, and told us he used to ride his ATVs up there.

We went up the ridge in much the same way we had in the past, following what was probably the old trolley right of way, then headed up a steep embankment to reach the crest of the ridge. We turned left and continued up hill as it became more of a foot path, with some good limited views to the north from the ridge. The Delaware Water Gap could be seen to some extent to the south of us through the trees. I love this ridge quite a lot, but no one ever does it.

This time, we continued to the utility right of way, but unlike the last time, we did not follow it down to the former trestle site for the NYS&W railroad, we followed another pathway down hill to connect with that right of way further to the west a bit. Once we were on it, we continued along parallel with the Broadhead Creek toward Glen Park. Eric joined us along the right of way there, as well as Jack, but I don't know if they found each other before we found them.

We headed out Collins Street I think to Rt 191, then headed into Stroudsburg. We were walking along the main street to the east, and Carol told us she told people from the gallery where she had photography that we were coming by. I agreed to turn us around and go and visit, which was actually quite nice. They had wine and cheese, and Jack and I sang some songs inside.

We moved on from here back through town, and then reached the Stroud Region Levee Loop Trail. Last time, we followed the Levee Trail on the east side, but this time we'd go for the west. It took us to the north, along the creek on a similar berm to the other side. It took us along a bit of street and eventually out to Creekview Park. I recall there being signs that read "end of dedicated trail" although the continued. I guess they just had permission to put the trail through back yards and were required to put up some sort of signage.

When we got to Mill Creek Road, we had to turn left, then right again on 191 until we could descend to the creek again just beyond the roller rink.

From here, we were able to follow the creek for a ways, but the trail again ended near a pond. There was an unofficial trail for a short while, and we had to bushwhack along the creek. It does lead past a really pretty rocky spot, and just beyond we came to more dedicated trail, next to a power line. A foot bridge carried us over a tributary and into Pinebrook Park. This section was called the  Honey Locust Trail. It took us over another tributary and out to 191 again. From there, we turned on Hallet Road to Beacon Hill Road on the left. We followed this for a bit to a long private road that led up hill. Michele recommended this route because the road used to go through to what is now the Penn Estates development, and she realized we could use that abandonment to connect from the last house on that to her development on Deborah Drive. The route worked out quite well, and was much nicer than the long walk up Hallet Road. We did that once, no need to do it again.

Unfortunately, some of the group went far ahead and didn't realize that we were going to turn (made an Assouption). They would have to be picked up once we got to the house. The rest of us turned right on Deborah Drive, then I guess we must have gone left on Blue Beach Drive, and then straight along the berm to a pond. Somehow, a trail or something took us back out to I guess to Lakeside Drive, then we turned onto Stonehenge to get to Michele and Scott's. It really worked out pretty well!

A lot of us stayed at Michele's till pretty late, eating Scott's amazing tasting food and drinking their strong glorious concoctions. It was an overly happy time. I had brought with me a large bag of paperback erotic thriller books I was going to hide all over the place, but Michele and Scott will be thankful that I forgot them, and somehow misplaced them. It's quite possible they ended up in the back of someone's car on the way to a hike, though I honestly don't remember who's it was, and it wasn't an intentional placement. No one's said anything to me about it, so I don't know for sure what happened to them!

I was glad Michele got to experience a birthday party that involved a hike ending at her own home. It's how my own group got started, and there's nothing much nicer than knowing you're safe at home after a great day, and can party as hard as you want without having to worry about going anywhere. To me, it's the only way to celebrate a birthday!