Saturday, July 31, 2010

Pictures 28: Adventuring on the Delaware River

About a week before Patrick and I decided we really needed to get outta dodge, we took what was going to be a day trip to High Point State Park in New Jersey and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It turned into an overnight camping trip that also included the Upper Delaware National Scenic River in New York.

We got a late start because I was lazy and wouldn't get out of bed, so for a while Patrick was quite cantankerous. He had wanted to do some serious hiking that day, but since I decided not to get out of bed til about 10 am, his plans were foiled. We tried to make the best of the day anyway, but when signage at the Delaware Water Gap was pretty much the worst we've encountered at any NPS site, then Pat pulled a tendon in his calf that he'd pulled a few weeks ago and which was just starting to heal, it was shaping up to be a pretty lame day.

Since we'd gotten such a late start, however, by about 5:30 or 6 pm, we were still tooling around northeastern Pennsylvania and I said... "Do you want to just - not go home?"

We were in Pat's Jeep, which still had all his camping equipment in it. So he said, um, okay. So we drove up to New York and along the upper Delaware on the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway until we found the Ascalona Campground. What the campground is, basically, is the property of an older couple who had a bunch of prime land along the Delaware and decided to do something awesome with it.

By the time we got there, it was probably near 7 pm, and there was a sign on the main office (aka the proprietors' house) that if you wanted to camp, ring the doorbell if it was before 8 pm - or, if it was after 8 pm, just pitch your tent and register in the morning. We rang the bell, and a woman with a heavy European accent came out and greeted us. When we told her we were just driving around and unexpectedly decided to spend the night, she smiled and said that instead of $15 per person, she'd charge us $12. She told us to camp anywhere - the campground was completely empty, but there was a large party coming in the next day, so we had our pick that night.

We drove down to the campsite furthest away from the main building and pitched the tent. We didn't have service at the campground, so we drove a little ways back south on the byway til we got a bar. I called home and told my parents I wouldn't be home that evening and that I'd see them tomorrow. Done and done.

I'll talk a little bit more about camping when the pictures come up...

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This is the monument at NJ's highest point, which also happens to be right near the northernmost point of the state too.

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We really couldn't have asked for a better day, weather-wise.

34 more images below the jump - click any one to make it bigger in Photobucket.



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Inside the monument, you can climb all the way up to the top. And we did. Which was a stupid idea.

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Pat looks out one of the little windows on the way up

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The parking lot, as viewed from the top

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The Dingmans Falls visitors' center at the Delaware Water Gap

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On our way to the falls!

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It was purdy.

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Climbing up the stairs to the top of the falls, this was taken right after Pat pulled his muscle. He was unhappy.

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See? Very sad.

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We also took a swing by the Delaware Aqueduct, which was designed by the same dude who did the Brooklyn Bridge.

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And there it is!

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The toll house

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Windey and on the side of a cliff and generally marvelous. That's the scenic byway, and scenic it was indeed.

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The Zane Gray House and Museum is part of the Upper Delaware National Scenic River - it's the home of novelist Zane Grey (obvi) who wrote Westerns and adventure stories.

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Pat read Zane Gray as a kid, so he was psyched.

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They were putting a new roof on.

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Inside - Grey loved the American Southwest, in case you couldn't tell. It looked like a Fanta Sean threw up all over this room!

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Check out the painted border in this room - one of Grey's "secretaries" who accompanied him on his sojourns to the Southwest (sans wife) painted the walls.

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Signature - 1915

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The sign above the sink says, "Recent water tests show high levels of arsenic in the water. Do Not Drink water under any circumstances."

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Camped at Ascalona.

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We had the whole place to ourselves.

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The Delaware as it runs right by the campground. The Delaware has some of the cleanest water of any of America's large rivers, and it was just gorgeous and clear and warm and wonderful.

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I had been sweating a lot that day and decided that I wanted to go swimming. I stripped down (what's the difference between a bathing suit bottom and underwear, really?) and went in - it was warm and beautiful and clear and just fantastic. It was heaven on earth. Absolute heaven on earth.

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And then I thrashed around.

While I was swimming in the water, I stayed very still and Pat came and stood over me. We watched as American Shad swam pretty much right between his legs, intently pushing their way upstream. He said that at one point, three came and were gathered around my foot, investigating my toe - and it just spooked me and I moved my foot, causing them to scatter. Laying there in the water, motionless, with the river completely silent as it flowed by me, watching these intense little silver fish swim by, made me feel like I was invisible. I was a transparent eyeball.

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The next day, on the way home, we tried to go to the rangers' station in Narrowsburg, New York, but of course it was closed. Downtown was very cute, though, and I had a great cup of coffee at the Narrowsburg Roasters.

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This eddy in Narrowsburg is 113 feet deep!

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