Hamilton Ridge

Hamilton Ridge, Delaware Water Gap (12/1/2007)

This 6.5-mile lollipop hike begins at the Millbrook historical village parking lot at the intersection of Old Mine Road and Route 602. Proceed north on the orange-blazed Orchard trail uphill to its end, making a left on the blue-blazed Hamilton Ridge trail. Take this trail to its western most intersection with the orange-blazed Pioneer trail. Turn right on the Pioneer trail and take it to its end, turning left onto the Hamilton Ridge trail and then proceed back to the parking area via the Orchard trail.

As you will see, during this hike you will pass by two abandoned houses on the Pioneer trail (which used to be Hamilton Road, and which is still labelled as such on Google Earth) within a quarter mile of it's western trail head. I assume these houses belonged to folks who were forced out by the government during the 1970s fiasco regarding the damming of the Delaware river at Tocks Island. I was overcome with a feeling of profound sadness when I came up close to these two houses, one with a chimney still in very good condition. The rooms still contained couches, love seats, sewing machines, magazines, an unopened SPAM tin. In one room, the fragments of children's drawings were still tacked to the wall. Outside one of the houses, a car sits abandonded with a 1950s-style vacation trailer behind it.

To read a fascinating account of the aborted dam project, check out this 11-part series that appeared in The Pocono Record in 2001.

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