Conashaugh View Trail



Conashaugh View Trail, Delaware Water Gap, PA (6/1/2013)

I've had this area on my To Hike list for years, ever since I saw it on the NYNJTC North Kittatinny Trails map #122. But for several reasons we never got around to it. First, it's relatively from our house (about 75 minutes). Second, repeated Google searches yielded no photos from the area (aside from trail wands). Third, though hikers are welcome, it's a trail system used predominantly by equestrians. But after discovering that Daniela and Shawnee hiked this area last week, and seeing their awesome photos, I decided to head out there today. Instead of doing the nearly 12 miles that those gals did, however, we limited it to under 8 miles on a hike suggested by Daniela.

Instead of parking at the large horse trail lot off Conashaugh Road we parked at a tiny pull-off on Zimmerman Road, a woods road (of dirt and mud along stretches, gravel elsewhere) denoted as #5 on this map. We headed west to #4, through a beautiful gorge with lots of Sandy damage, then north to Zimmerman Road which we took west to Conashaugh Road. The stretch along this road was on pavement and though traffic is allowed (this is the way to get to the horse trailer lot) not a single car passed us the entire 20-25 minutes we were on it. We continued into the woods south of Long Meadow Road at #2. Though not shown on the aforementioned map there is a beautiful lake to the west of the trail along this stretch, with a huge beaver lodge far west and a sunken structure on the northern side. Continuing on the trail south we passed through large stretches hugged by beautiful boundary walls on both sides before finally arriving at a nice vista over the Delaware River, also not denoted on the map. Continuing counter-clockwise we took a spur to the Marie Zimmermann Farm Complex and then decided to continue further south to Marie Zimmermann's house (not on the map). Amazingly, when we got to the house one of the men restoring it volunteered to give us a quick personal tour of the inside, which won't be open officially for tours until June 29. How cool is that?

After our personal tour of the Zimmermann house we backtracked through the farm and continued north at #3. This section contains a brutal climb, especially on this humid 90 F afternoon. At #4 we headed east back to the car at #5, but not before surprising (no kidding) a couple who were doing what the cicadas are doing this weekend in New Jersey ... mating. We thought we had seen everything there was to see on a hike. Until today, that is. Needless to say, the two of them, sprawled in the vegetation in nothing but their birthday suits just off the trail, were as surprised as we were! Alas, there are no photos of this encounter.

Total distance hiked today was 7.3 miles in just under 4 hours.

(Click on the thumbnail to bring up a bigger image in a pop-up window)


Pull-off on Zimmermann Road

First bridge crossing

Two frogs in a well

Gorgeous vegetation


Everything is green

Lush

First views ...

... of the gorge

 

Lots of Sandy damage

And lots of ferns

Millipede

Grumpy toad!
 


Sporadic blaze disc

Climb along gorge

Trail intersection

 


Explosion of green

Lots of saplings

Tiny eft

Pine needle floor
 


Entrance gate

On Zimmermann road west of #9

On Conashaugh Road

Laura and "fighting" trees
 


Open field east

Butterfly sunning

South on Conashaugh

Old growth ... the tree!
 


Swampy area

Swallowtail

Back in the woods

Heading south to ...
 


... gorgeous lake

Drowned trees

View west

Sunken shack
 


Close-up of sunken shack

Beaver lodge at other end

Lovely reflections

Stone wall
 


Sturdy boundary wall

Wildflowers ...

... along trail

Gorgeous greens
 


Horse prints

Pine saplings

Wall detail

Now descending
 


To a vista ...

... looking south to ...

Dan & NJ [photo by Laura]

Delaware River
 


Stink bug

View over Delaware

Continuing descent to ...

... Marie Zimmermann's farm
 


Stone barn through trees

Various structures

Stone barn

Silo and barns
 


Washing machine

View from barn


Driveway to Zimmermann house
 


Through the entrance

Up the driveway

Side view

On back porch
 


Living room

Fireplace

Heading upstairs

Marie's bedroom
 


Her library

Inside the turret

Marie's garden

Front of house
 


Side view

Barn against mountain

Heading back to farm

Waterfall
 


Three eggs in nest

Red and Black Beetle

More above a mushroom

Deer
 


Back in the gorge descending

Cleared Sandy damage

Near the mating couple

Dan on bridge [photo by Laura]
 

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