Delaware River Trip - 6/08/16 to 6/11/16 Buckingham PA Launch to Driftstone Campground on the Delaware

Karl and I developed the following rough plan.  The river agenda was planned as follows:

9/08 - Drive to the drop off point at Buckingham, PA and make our way to camp at Soaring Eagle Camp Ground in Stalker, PA (~13 river miles)
9/09 - Camp at Ascalona Campground (~34 river miles)
9/10 - Camp at Kittatinny - River Beach Camp Grounds (~28 river miles)
9/11 - Camp at primitive site (Wallpak Bend) in Delaware Water Gap (~23 river miles)
9/12 - Camp at Driftstone (~24 river miles)
9/13 - Return home

So we would travel about 122 miles over the trip which is pretty easy trip except for the one day over 30 miles.  This was ideal for me as I was not kayaking any due to my mother's extended illness.  Unfortunately due to the over turned tractor trailer we couldn't start as planned so only ended up doing about 109 miles.   It was still a great trip.


Day 1

We arrived at Soaring Eagle Campground, unloaded the boats, and started to set camp.  We arrived pretty late and took site closest to the river.  The owners came down and asked up if we minded moving a campsite as they had regular that was going to stay 3 nights and they preferred that site.  Karl and I didn't have problem as we hand not setup tents yet and certainly understand the importance of a regular 3 night customer to the campground.  We shifted over one site and completed our setup.  

Day 2

Our first day of kayaking was going to be our longest day but I knew it would be fun due to all of the rapids and riffles in store for us.  We broke camp and took a few photos and headed down the river.

The had not been much rain so the river was fairly low which is not my favorite for kayaking.  We had to managed water depth throughout the trip and did end up having to pull the boats a couple of times. 

We started out with quick rapid right after Kellman's Bridge.  This was the first of many though out the days including "major rapids" at Skinners Falls, No 9 Railroad Bridge, Mastope, Conlang, and Kunkeli.   

As usual after Labor Day and during the week, the river was very private.








We did see our first Bald Eagle which I never get tired of seeing in the wild.

 Overall the first day was great fun.  We arrived at Ascalona Campground and setup camp.  The campground was pretty full as it was Friday night but we had no issue getting a spot right on the water.  After setting up camp we had dinner.  This was first time for me eating the dehydrated meals which I found to be pretty good.  There were a couple of loud groups that were up very late, but I mainly slept right through the night.

Day 3

We had breakfast and got on our way pretty quickly.  We had another series of rapids again which makes the upper Delaware really fun.  None of the rapids are sever and it is just fun to be going through both changing scenery and river conditions.

We started out passing under the Roebling Aqueduct. 

The major rapids were Cedar, Shahola (one of my fav), and Mongaup,

As you can see, it was really nice day to paddle the river.  We made good time as we approached the end of the upper Delaware.






Along with the major rapids, I also really enjoy the long riffles at Hawk's Nest and Millrift.  Millrift in particular has a lot of really nice waves for an extended distance.  Really fun ride.  As this was a Saturday, there were a LOT of people on this area of the river. 

As we went past Millrift and started to enter the Port Jervis area, I noticed a solo paddler a head of us.  I started to try to catch up to chat but both Karl and I stopped to check in with our ladies as we had just exited a large mobile dead zone.  By the time we started back up, this paddler had disappeared.

At this point, we exited the almost continuous fast water of the upper Delaware and made a push to our campground.  Our site was fairly close to the river but not as close as the previous 2 nights.  The campground was pretty full on a Saturday night so I was glad that I had reservations.  The campground was clean with nice showers.

Day 4

We had pretty short paddle but this section of the Delaware requires much more workman like approach as the water doesn't feel like it is moving due to the width of the river and less drop to the river.

We got a bit of a late start, but as we paddled down the river, I noticed the solo kayaker again.  Karl and I pushed to catch up.  We caught up with Rob who had started out at Skinners Falls.  This was his first trip down the Delaware and he was doing solo as I did in 2013.   We decided that we would all travel together and push to the campsite that Justine and I stayed in on our first Delaware Water Gap trip.

This part of the river is really flat and slow moving, but we arrived at Wallpack Bend campsite about 5 pm.   As you can see below, our site had a private mini cove.  

 

 

Karl took the initiative to find a standing dead tree and quickly got firewood for the night....Thanks Karl!

It was nice to have 3rd person on the trip.  We exchanged contact information so we could potentially do another trip in the future.  I must say that it is recommended that you don't solo kayak.  There is greater safety in numbers both on and off the river.

Day 5

The next morning it was pretty cold.  Karl found more wood for us.  I had my coffee and breakfast after which we started on our final leg to Driftstone.   Driftstone is a great campground and we would have vehicle so we could go out to eat.  I was looking forward to the HOT showers at Driftstone as well.

Paddling the Gap requires a lot of paddling.  Unfortunately we ran aground a few times so also required some pulling.  It was only ~24 miles so still was pretty easy.  The only rapids / riffles were in the gap and then around a rail bridge near Driftstone.  Rob was being picked up at Portland, PA so we stopped there for a few minutes before Karl and I made the final push.

We arrived at Driftstone in late afternoon and carried all of our gear up to the campsite.  The campground was empty on a Monday night at the end of the season. We had the place to our selves.  I recommend this campground as I really like it.  Karl and I sent out for dinner and settled in for the night.

This is a great trip.  I don't think that I could ever get tired of it.  I would like to try starting farther up the river some time to try different areas, but this is always a good trip.  I would have preferred a couple more feet of water in the river.  I the coming years, I would like to try a trip before Memorial Day to do a comparison.

Hope you enjoyed the read and Happy Paddling....