Thursday, July 10, 2025

Gap-tion Packed Day Along the Delaware River

Nothing like a pun that is both forced and terrible to get your attention.

Molly was the first to stir this morning at about 6:45. That's pretty wild considering she was up for periods of the night. I think aside from the girls, who slept well and until about 7:30 or 8:00, everybody else woke up a various moments and for various stretches throughout the night. Like we always say, the first night of any trip is always the hardest.

After a pancake and sausage breakfast, we got ourselves changed and ready for our first hike of the trip. From our campground, we headed south on 209 for a mile or two before reaching PEEC. There are a lot of family-friendly and dog-friendly trails around the center.

We picked a combo trailhead - the Two Ponds Trail and the Tumbling Falls Trail. That two trails go along the same path for just under a mile. If the girls were feeling good, we'd keep going on the longer trail - the Tumbling Falls Trail - and see some waterfalls. If it was too much, we'd keep it short and stick to the Two Ponds Trail.

By the time we started our hike at about 9:30, the sun was already out in full force and the humidity was creeping back up. Combine that with the bugs waking up from their nighttime slumber, and we ended up sticking to the Two Ponds Trail, which, as the name implies, takes you around two different ponds.


The trail has minimal elevation change and darts in and out of shorelines, ferns, and pines. We stopped occasionally, especially when the path took us right up along the one pond. It gave Molly a chance to cool off while giving everybody else a chance to take a break.

After the hike, Cara and the girls took a look inside the Environmental Education Center before we set off explore other parts of the park. We drove to the George W. Childs trailhead, which is a short hike among three different waterfalls. It is not a dog-friendly trail, so we decided to come back later.

Once back at the campsite, the girls rode their bikes around a small loop in the campground. Somehow, Cara and I got to sit and relax in a hammock for 10 minutes. That might be the biggest win of the entire trip.

Lunch followed and then we went back to the river access point we saw yesterday. There, dog, kids, and adults alike mucked around and walked out to various rock formations. The river was quite shallow and the current not too quick. It was a nice way to cool off in the ever-increasing heat and humidity.

After some water exploration, we decided to give everybody a 30-minute break before snacking up and heading back to the Childs Falls trailhead. Molly was exhausted, so she had no problem taking a nap in the air conditioned camper for a little bit.

Now, with complete transparency in mind here, we probably should have taken our wins from the day and not have pushed for one more hike - even if this tiny loop around a few waterfalls was going to be a mile or so. Aspen nearly fell asleep on the drive to the trail and by the final 1/10 to 2/10 of a mile, she was in full-blown meltdown mode. Cara ended up needed to carry her back to the car. We're not 100% sure what caused the meltdown, but part of it can certainly be attributed to being overtired.

That said, the start of our hike was great. Aspen and Acadia looked the part with their backpacks, hydration packs, and walking sticks. We took the path less traveled to walk along the creek and then pop out at some of the waterfalls. The path takes you down a long the running water. Toward the bottom of one of the falls, there is a bridge that we crossed and allows you to then walk up a bunch of steps to get back to the top, essentially completing the loop.

Despite the rough ending to this hike, we were glad to have done quite a bit on only one full day in the park. Once back to the campsite, the girls and I went on a little bike ride to an open field while Cara worked on dinner. That bike ride ended quickly, though, as Acadia's chain popped off of her bike, and she fell off while pedaling up a hill.

That officially closed the lid on any more expectations for the day. It was pretty much showers, dinner, and packing up camp a bit before considering bed by 8 PM. Thursday is a travel day. We have roughly 4.5-5 hours to head north and get to North Hampton, NH, where we will stay for 2 nights before the push to Maine and Acadia National Park.

The Delaware River Water Gap and Dingman's Campground were great. We enjoyed ourselves. The heat, humidity, and bugs could have been better, but it's important to put things back into perspective when you're camping in mid-July. This place would be absolutely stunning in the fall.

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