The rain had stopped but we still managed to get very wet putting everything away. It was a fairly windy day and each time the wind blew, water came of the trees making it feel like it was raining again. We packed up the tent, leaving the soaking wet fly for last, and then hit the road. I had wanted to do a couple of hikes around High Point State Park but the good ones with the incredible views involved climbing over boulders; this was too dangerous to do in the wet and we knew we weren’t going to see much once we reached the top as it was still very foggy.
We hit the road and headed out of High Point State Park and towards to Delaware Water Gap, a recreation area run by the National Parks Service which is supposed to be really beautiful in the fall.
We travelled along the scenic Old Mine Road until we reached Dingmans Bridge, an old fashioned wooden bridge with a $1 toll each way. Crossing the bridge meant we were also crossing from New Jersey into Pennsylvania. After a quick stop for coffee and to have some fruit for breakfast in Dingmans Ferry, we headed back over the bridge, paying our $1 and entering back into New Jersey.
Our coffee stop was at a small locally-run gas station and convenience store. On the wall behind the till was a beautiful photo of a sandy coloured bear. Lee began asking about the bear and we found that it used to visit the village often and its unusual colouring gives it its name - a Cinnamon Bear. We asked what happened to the bear and were sad to hear that it was shot dead by a local hunter who saw it as a trophy that he needed to add to his collection. It was interesting to hear the different opinions on hunting from the locals in this small countryside store where the young girls behind the tills thought it was disgusting yet the older men listening nearby accept it as a fact of life.
Back in the car and back in New Jersey, we headed back to Old Mine Road. We had planned to continue along this road but it turned into a single track unmade road with some very big water-filled potholes. We decided it wasn't worth risking a blown tire or worse still, getting stuck in the mud, so we decided to head back to the main road instead.
The drive through Delaware Water Gap was secluded and very pretty. There were lots of trees covered in red leaves which were falling in front of us as we were driving along. We didn't meet anyone else on the road, I guess it’s now off season and there aren’t many tourists visiting on a wet Tuesday in October.
Throughout our journey through Delaware Water Gap, we kept seeing old frontier houses and barns. We assume they were preserved as a reminder of the past but they were not lived in and they don’t always appear to be very well maintained. We went past the village of Walpack where there was a number of these buildings and then we saw a sign to the Buttermilk Falls.
Buttermilk Falls was on our list of things we wanted to see whilst in the Delaware Water Gap so we followed the signs to find the start of the trail that would take us to them. Lee wasn’t impressed when we turned onto an unmade road, he was even more unimpressed by the large potholes and boulders in the road but I kept telling him how amazing they falls were going to be so he persisted.
We arrived at the falls and they were good, not as spectacular as other falls we’ve seen but the water appeared to be white as it was falling (like buttermilk, Lee said). We hiked up the steps to the top of the falls which were a little slippery in the wet so we had to be really careful. In the summer, I think the hike to these falls is really busy but today, we were the only ones here and it was nice to have them to ourselves.
We jumped back in the car and continued down the road hoping we’d reach the main road again soon. We crossed a couple of single-lane bridges and even went through an area with some tarmac although it was so damaged, it was worse than the road without the tarmac.
We eventually reached the main road and our next stop, Milbrook Village Historic Site. This is another ghost town with frontier houses but the National Park Service and Volunteers use the buildings to demonstrate 1900s century trades, crafts and chores. It closes weekdays after Columbus Day so we had missed it (by only by 1 day!) but we still got to walk around the old buildings.
We picked up Old Mine Road again which now had tarmac and was in good condition and followed it to the Kittatinny Visitors Center. This too was also closed but we stopped anyway to take a look at the river and to have some lunch, we’re still eating left over pizza from New Haven!
We weren’t ready yet to start the journey down to Atlantic City yet so we headed back over the water to Pennsylvania to three scenic pull outs we had seen on the park map.
All three pullouts were a disappointment. Two looked out at trees blocking the view of the river and one just looked at the road we were on. A bit confused as to why they would be called scenic pull outs when they weren’t very scenic, we hit the road again and decided we might as well head towards Atlantic City.
The drive took two and a half hours and it was mostly on large freeways going past the NYC commuter belt. Lee did all the driving and I’m glad he did, freeways should be renamed free-for-all-ways as no one follows any rules on them. After the second stressful journey of the day for Lee, we pulled up in Atlantic City.
Since Maine, we had both been wearing jeans and jumpers as the temperature has mostly been around 50F (10C). Slowly as we have moved south, it has started to get slightly warmer and more humid but today during the drive to Atlantic City, the temperature jumped up suddenly to a huge 82F (28C). I packed all our summer clothes into longer term storage, I’m going to need to dig them out again!
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