This first camping trip was a little spur of the moment. So much so that we had gotten home from a party at 2am on April 10th, sat down and figured out where to set off to that day. We had one weekend free for weeks and were determined to get out there, but the state campgrounds wouldn't open until the next weekend. We searched on
Reserveamerica.com and found a KOA just North of the
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on the Pennsylvania/New Jersey border. We awoke as early as possible the next day, packed our gear and set out. After a wrong turn and a not-so-quick stop for supplies (which took a while for my dazed self to accomplish on little sleep), well let's just say we would have made it there in about 2 hours . Check out the map and directions listed below...
Normally we turn to KOA's for extended road-trips. They're a good place to pitch a tent and lay your head when you'd rather not fork out the cash for a hotel room. When we're on a weekend camping trip just for the fun of it I usually prefer state park campgrounds for more wooded/secluded primitive (tent only) sites, fewer people and fewer RV's but I have to say I really enjoyed our stay at this campsite. We were practically the only tent campers there so early in the season, so we had our pick of sites. We chose site #35, which had the best view and was the most out of the way. Check out the map here:
Delaware Water Gap/Pocono Mountain KOA campsite map. If you're planning on staying here, beware that most of the sites have little/no privacy, even though we were told they were secluded and woodsy by their management on the phone. Site #38 was also pretty nice and was occupied by some other tenters while we were there, but I wouldn't stay in any of the others.
Our first night was relaxing and indulgent. We set
up our tent with tarp and all (pictured above) got out our cooking gear and made ourselves a campfire stew. I had never attempted this before so it was bound to be interesting. We will be investing in a dutch oven soon but for now we just tossed all the ingredients: stew beef, onion, pepper, mushroom and carrot with some worcester , beer and beef stock into an aluminum tin and covered the top with several layers of aluminum foil. We then carefully placed in on a log once the fire had died down a bit and let it cook for about 15 minutes. I'll post a recipe once I get a little better at this...but it made for a pretty good dinner.
We crawled into our tent before it got too chilly hoping to preserve some warmth, and rose early to cook up some breakfast on the camp stove and pack our gear for a day hike. We had grabbed a trail map for the nearby Delaware Water gap recreation area and decided on an 8 mile figure eight up around the ridge to secluded sunfish pond, a glacial pond known as the 8th wonder of New Jersey.
Download the National Park's trail map to follow our hike!
Sunfish Pond via the AT or spur tails to the ATWe started at the Fairview Parking Area and took the #8 yellow blazed Beulahland Trail for 1 1/3 miles to it's intersection with both the AT and Holly Springs trail. This was a nice walk in the woods to start us off we took our time on the uphill as the trail climbs about 400ft. and took in the spectacular birth of spring. The leaves were all just barely peaking out in a range of bright greens and near pinks. If there was one weekend in which to see Spring this was it!
We reached the intersection and continued straight ahead to the red blazed Holly Spring Trail, wich quickly meets up with the #9 green blazed Dunnfield Hollow Trail. We turne left to follow the green blazes northeast along rapidly flowing Dunnfield Creek. Dunnfield Hollow trail proved challenging as there are roughly six river crossings or fordings back and forth over Dunnfield Creek, some over rocks and some over logs, so be sure you will be up to the challenge of balancing yourself and your pack over swift waters and unstable footing, but it's worth it for the beautiful scenery. This was the most interesting part of the trail for us the giant pines and small rapids made us want to slowly stroll the trail for hours rather than hiking it to an end goal, and after the fordings there were still more challenges ahead involving the navigation of a swamp and some rock scrambling!
Once we reached Sunfish Pond the trail evened out and we sat eating lunch, while our puppy Charlie greeted his fellow Canine hiking companions. We skipped the walk around the pond because we honestly didn't find it to be that spectacular and headed back down the #1 white blazed AT for roughly 3 miles down to the Dunnfield Parking area, passing by an AT through hiker site and taking in some beautiful views over Pennsylvania. Otherwise the AT proved rather uneventful until we hit it's intersection with the beginning of the #9 green blazed Dunnfield Hollow trail where Dunnfield Creek rushes into the Delaware river. There are some beautiful rock formations, ferns and pine trees framing this beautiful, clear, rushing creek. We stopped to take off our hiking boots and rest for a bit before heading on our way.
We continued out of the parking area and headed left then right along the road to cross under I-80. The AT is a little tricky here and not very well marked, just keep looking for the white arrows and blazes painted on the sidewalk, road-posts and the overpass. The trail continues along Kittatinny Point overlooking the river, but it looked like rain so we skipped it and hiked on. The AT splits off and continues over a pedestrian pass on the I-80 bridge over the Delaware into PA, but we continued along the road, crossing back under I-80 and continuing to reach the traffic light on Old Mine Road. From here the Karamac Trail splits off to the left and continues along the river. The trail is not blazed but is fairly clear as it follows an Old Rail Bed. We passed remnants of old industry, steel and rivets, mud and brambles until we reached the point where the railway used to continue over the river. The old massive bridge supports still run over the Delaware here which is a rather odd and impressive site, but this late in the day this look-out seems to turn into a local hangout for teenagers to do whatever they do so we didn't linger. The way back to the parking lot is not clearly marked here and we had to ask, there is also false trail continuing along the river. The real trail turns straight up to the right and it takes one last hard up-hill haul to get back to the Fairview Parking Area. We then crossed Old Mine Road to get back to our car and, exhausted, collapsed into the seats.
We ate our fill of fire-cooked sausage and veggies and collapsed into our tent for the night. By morning it was time to head home and stop for some great diner breakfast on the way!!
Next time there will be more pictures! I set the camera battery on the charger the night before we left and forgot it! The few we have are Iphone pics.
We casually drove into Clarence Fahnestock's campground on a Saturday afternoon in May to find hoards of families barbecueing and partying it up with not a site to be had! We were pointed in the direction of Snow V
alley Campground up the road but it just...wasn't for us. So thank Apple for iphones we were able to find an open KOA about an hour north in the Woodstock, Sugarties area. I've stated my opinion about KOA's before but the Woodstock/Sugarties Campground was a breath of fresh air! The staff was great and we ended up in site T-8 which was as secluded as any state park site we've found. We set up camp and basked in the quiet as there were only a few large RV's down a few sites for company. I took a minute to snap some photos of the greenery while Charlie Dog chilled out by the fire pit.
But the best part of the trail was yet to come, it's over halfway through the hike, but the trail opens up into beautiful enormous green pastures with absolutely stunning views back toward Jordan pond. Complete with goat...yes...goats. Make sure you close all the gates behind you and pay attention to the yellow blazes here because the trail runs through private property here!
