Delaware River Water Gap

The Delaware Water Gap

The Gap began to form 450 million years ago when quartz pebbles were deposited in a shallow sea. Millions of years of rain, ice, snow and wind erosion shaped the area. The Wisconsin glaciation, which occurred between 21,000 B.C. to 13,000 B.C., covered the entire Kittatinny Ridge and ended near Belvidere. When the glaciers retreated, the gap assumed its present form. The eastern side of the Gap has the Ordovician Martinsburg shale. Sedimentary rock is along the river. The Bloomsburg Red Beds, a red shale, are at the Gap under Dunsfield Creek.

The Delaware Water Gap is about 300 meters across at river level and about 1400 meters wide at the top. The river through the gap is 283 feet above sea level. The ridge of the Appalachians that the Delaware crosses is called the Blue Mountains in Pennsylvania and the Kittatinny Ridge in New Jersey. This is the first major ridge of the Appalachian mountains. The New Jersey mountain is Mount Tammany, named after the Native American Chief Tamanend.

The Pennsylvania mountain is Mount Minsi, named after the Native American Tribe of the area. The summit of Tammany is 1,540 feet above sea level.

It has plenty of trails for hiking, fishing, hunting, camping and for adventure!

Appalachian Trail

Waterfalls

Beautiful Trails