Kayak Camping in the Delaware Water Gap with my wife (July 2014)

I'm finally getting to write up the first kayak camping trip that I took with my wife. We decided to test it out with a single night in the through the calm waters of the Delaware Water Gap.  The plan was to do about 20 miles over the 1 night trip.  The most important thing was to get away and have some private time together.

Plan 7/26 - Eshback, Lehman Twp, PA (Mile Marker 231.6)
7/26 - Hamilton, NJ (Mile Marker 224.2)
7/27 - Kittatinny NPS, Columbia, NJ (Mile Marker 211.7)

 I was in a Wilderness Systems Tsunami 145 and my wife utilized our Old Town 120 Loon.  I carried most of our gear for the trip.   It was good to have lady along to ensure that we had appropriate food such as S'mores.  From my previous trip on the Delaware in 2013, you can see that the food situation was not good.

 It took us roughly an hour and 1/2 to get to the drop off point.  The weather was pleasant and we only had 7 miles to go to our stopping point labeled as Hamilton, NJ on the Delaware Water Gap camping maps.  You can do a search on "Delaware Water Gap camping and map guide". I recommend you do this as you can find all of the free primitive and group sites that can be reserved in the park.  There are a few sites that have privies which is a plus especially if you are traveling with ladies.  Hamilton is one of the sites that has privy on each camp site.

 After loading up the boats, off we went.  This was the first time in the park during the weekend and it was a much different experience.  I would recommend going during the week.  As we went down the river, all of the campsites were full to capacity.  It was not tranquil on the river.  By say 1:30 p.m, people had already settled into the camp sites with their kids playing in the water and cookouts started.

Even with this, there are long treks along the river where there are no campsites and therefore, no people.  Wallpack for example was packed with people, but a mile farther down was OK.  Either way, it was good quality time with my wife.

The Peters, NJ sites go from #56 to #68 and they are were full.  As we came next set of sites at Quinns, NJ, these were also all occupied.  Same story as we came to sites at Freeman Point (Sites #82, #83).  These were not our planned stopping point, but I was starting to get a bit concerned.  We just paddled on and enjoyed the scenery and calmness of the rivers.

The sites at Hamilton, NJ went from #89 to 100.  As we entered this series of campsites, people were already staying at everyone of the sites except one that was partially blocked with a downed tree.  So Judy stop to look at one to see if we could get access to it while I went on to see if there were any available ahead of us.  I thought it was going to be a problem if we could not get one of these as they are the last set that have privy on the site.

When I came to site #100, it was open and although it had a steep access to the site, it was doable.  I quickly checked the site and it was clear (someone had even swept it) and there was a privy.

Of course I didn't have any mobile coverage to contact Judy, but she came paddling down in a few minutes.  The site farther upstream was not really suitable so she came down to find me.  I flagged her down and we pulled the boats up to unload.

I think the campsite was roughly 12 to 14 feet above the river and the steps were mainly washed out so I carried it to the highest point and handed gear up to Judy.  I think it took us 15 minutes to get everything up the embankment.

Judy and I setup the tent and she organized all of our supplies for the night.  As you can see, there was plenty of wood already on the site.  I believe most of this was downed during Super storm Sandy.  I did need to cut up the wood for the fire.  All in all, we had everything done and fire started well before dark.

I took a few minutes to explore the neighbors.  I believe the people at site #99 were from Germany since they were speaking German.  I went down stream about 100 yards and there was small house.  Still it was fairly quiet and we didn't hear much noise throughout the evening.  We had our dinner, a few drinks, our S'mores, and retired for the evening.

We had leisurely Sunday morning.  People from upstream started to pass by our campsite.   We only had 12 Miles to go so it would be easy trip, so we had time.  We enjoyed breakfast and hot coffee.  One of the additions to our gear was a French Coffee pressure.  Good investment in my opinion.

Judy and I loaded the boats and hit the water around 11.  As we paddled down the river, I could tell that she was not up for the original 12 miles so we decided to stop at Worthington State Forest Access point (Hardwick, NJ).  I called the girls to pick us up as it would be an hour for them to get there to pick us up.  I had already had a great time and appreciated the trip so I didn't want to over do.

We arrived about 30 minutes before the girls got to the pickup point.  I sat and spoke with the park ranger during this time.  I expressed my concerns that we almost didn't get a camp site.  Interesting he told me that they didn't ticket people who camped on the river bank in these types of situations.   They do check to make sure the people are OK.  I told him my big concern was having an appropriate camp site since I was traveling with my wife.  To me the lesson learned was to travel during the week in the Delaware Water Gap.  It is very private during the weekdays.

It was a great over night trip and best company that I could possible have.  Thanks Judy.

Happy Paddling