“met up with a college buddy on saturday to hike the NJ side of the gap, up to mt. tammany, onward to sunfish pond and back to I-80 along the AT. we did some letterboxing and found two stashes, the compass in my watch was surprisingly accurate. letterboxing is similar to geocaching, without the GPS and coordinates; you rely on headings from a compass primarily.

saturday was cold, but crystal clear, and the views from mt. tammany were excellent. you get such an awesome view of the gap.

the hike up along dunnfield creek was very scenic with cascades and rock ledges. the creek has carved a really cool gorge. upon reaching sunfish pond we took a break and walked around on the thick ice on the pond. people have stacked up stones on one end of the pond.

it was a great dayhike, we hiked about 10 miles. it was great to finally see a place i've always wanted to explore.”

“Cool beans, jmitch. I've been wanting to check out that elusive Sunfish Pond. I'll be hitting that area again soon, me thinks.”

“Artex

We could plan a dayhike if you want....”

“Sounds good! :-) Sometime in February, perhaps?”

“Sure...sometime othet then when will be freezing our asses off.”

“I just got up from a nap...can you tell? That would be sometime other than when we will be feezing our asses off.....”

“How does one "feez" their a$$ off? Does it involve higher taxes of some sort?”

“Feez: A viking term used to describe the freezing of one's ass!”

“I've been up the A-Trail to Sunfish Pond, but have never made it to Mt. Tammany. I always think I'd find Boss Tweed's body up there or something. He wasn't a nice guy!”

“I was up there yesterday jmitch. I didn't do Tammany because I had my brother's golden retreiver with me. She's gonna be a great hiking dog!

That loop (Mt Tammany-Dunnfield Creek-Sunfish Pond-return via AT) is one of my favorite hikes. I've done it often after work in the Fall because I can be on the trail at 4:10pm.

I can't get enough of the walk along the Dunnfield. The dog loves it! The cairns at Sunfish are pretty cool. If you have time on your next visit, do the 1.9 mile loop around Sunfish. There is a great spot overlooking the pond on the other side.”

“hay NO planning trips other then Snowtubing in MA. in Feb got it!!

Mapleleaf”

“shhh Pennsy, don't give away the secret spot!

Sounds like a nice hike. The Dunnfield-Sunfish-etc loop is one of my faves too. The creek is picturesque along the Dunnfield trail for much of the way up to Sunfish.

I go up there several times a year, since it is only an hour from home. :o)”

“

Action Alert!

I’m guessing a few of you may have read in today’s Star-Ledger about a plan to build a 250-room hotel/conference center on Depue Island in the heart of the Delaware Water Gap. I found another article in the Pocono Record.


I didn’t even realize that the island was still privately owned, I thought the reason no canoe camping was permitted was because it was such an unspoiled gem. Anyone who has canoed this stretch of river knows what I mean. The island is quite visible from the Appalachian Trail and any large-scale development would spoil the view.

This park was created at great public expense and to have a developer take advantage of the wonderful setting that we all paid for is terribly wrong IMHO.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network and the Sierra Club have taken positions against this proposal. The Sierra Club has a list of officials to contact and includes a sample letter (although a non-form letter would probably carry more weight). I urge everyone in the area to contact as many officials as you can and urge them to oppose this plan.”

“look everyone! Violin is using his powers for good, instead of evil!
;-)

i've never been there, but that pic is awesome...”

“The photo is a south-facing view. Depue Island is in the other direction.

Depue Island is visible, as jmitch notes, from the AT on Raccoon Ridge south of Keyser Road and north of Sunfish Pond.

How the island remains in private hands after all the land was bought up for the Tocks Island Dam seems pretty mystifying. Anybody have a clue?”

“Ooops, sorry, violin posted the alert, not jmitch.”

“I just read about this recently. There is also a fight going on in the Upper Delaware, which is part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. A power company wants to run power lines across the river corridor. The power lines are coming from Canada and upstate New York to northeastern New Jersey and New York City.”

“Thanks Violin. That's a stupidly selfish idea and hopefully it gets stopped. I canoed there 3 times and would hate to see it spoiled. There's already enough down that stretch.”

“yet another thing we have to fight against. if the poconos have ailing resorts, why doesn't he buy one of those and turn it around w/ a conference center, etc. no, instead he has to spoil a scenic island. isn't shawnee island developed?”

“Yeah jmitch - it has a golf course - owned by the same guy.”

“You're right jmitch, there was a huge resort that closed down a couple years ago near Mt. Pocono I don't remember the name of it, but why not build on a site like that.”