Van Campens Glen

Vancampens Glen, Delaware Water Gap (3/27/2010)

This is the hike of the week for 8/27/2009 as described on the NYNJTC site. It also happens to be hike #8 ("Millbrook Village and Van Campens Glen") in Hiking New Jersey: A Guide to 50 of the Garden State's Greatest Hiking Adventures (1st edition). We hiked every foot covered in this hike at least once before, except for a stretch in Van Campens Glen. The last time we tried to hike that glen was over two years ago, when ice prevented us from getting very far. But today, all the snow from our severe winter was gone, and the area was gorgeous, one of the most beautiful stretches in all of New Jersey with numerous cascades and waterfalls in a narrow corridor with patches of rhodendrum on both sides.

During this hike we also passed several abandoned houses, which all belonged to folks who were forced out by the government during the 1970s fiasco regarding the damming of the Delaware river at Tocks Island. To read a fascinating account of the aborted dam project, check out this 11-part series that appeared in The Pocono Record in 2001.

Total distance covered today was 6 miles in about 4 hours.

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