Mind The Gap

A few months ago, on a long train ride to a Dutchess County dirt road ride, a friend planted the seed of curiosity: Delaware Water Gap. There must be some good dirt roads out there!

This week, with low temperatures and high winds conspiring against a long point-to-point ride, I did some research, plotted a route, and on Wednesday drove out to Peter's Valley, in the heart of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

The first part of the ride focused on a five-mile unpaved length of Old Mine Road alongside the Delaware River, and a portion of 10-mile-long Mountain Road, following the Flat Brook a mile or two east of the Delaware.

The area is notably unpopulated. I was aware of its history: in the 1950s, the federal government planned to dam the Delaware and create a 30-mile lake in the valley. The Army Corps of Engineers bought out hundreds of land owners, but when the dam project was eventually dropped, the land stayed empty.



Still, this emptiness could be startling. The first hour of the ride, I passed three cars. Wide meadows that looked like they could be farmed, are not. From time to time on Mountain Road I passed abandoned homes.

Mountain Road has one principle water feature, Buttermilk Falls. At 75 feet, it is the highest waterfall in New Jersey.



The road also provided numerous supporting water features, in the form of wide slushy puddles. These were surrounded by piles of icy chunks and an outer perimeter of frozen splash.


I got pretty good at skirting around these.

Later in the ride, I explored some woods roads in Stokes State Forest. Much technical climbing and descending (at least for someone on a road bike with 32c tires) - and many of those big puddles.

Oddly this was the one part of the ride in which I encountered people: hunters, with orange vests & long rifles. Lots of 'em. This was Bear Week in NJ. I was glad to get the hell outta there!

The area also has quite a few abandoned roads. In plotting my route, I was of course hoping to encounter as many of these as I could! But looking at Google Maps, you never know quite what you're going to get.



My plan was to take Ridge Rd to Van Ness down to Old Mine. Seems reasonable, no? From other map sources, I had an idea Van Ness might be unpaved or unmaintained... but I was not expecting this!



The road was overgrown but quite easy to ride. I followed it down to a partially-frozen pond.


Parts of the road along the pond were submerged; I had to portage my bike and step carefully! Past the pond, the road seemed to disappear, and I was off on a bushwacking adventure among tall grass and pricker bushes.


I used the compass on my Garmin and followed an overgrown trail northwest, hoping to eventually cross Upper Ridge Road. I was glad when I got there!






So things had worked out a little differently than planned, but that's OK. I don't feel like it's a real scout unless I've had an adventure or two.




Near the end of the ride I rolled through Walpack Center, with its handful of white clapboard buildings and, not surprisingly, no people.


I just scratched the surface of the area's unpaved roads. I'll be back...