My wife and I did a day paddle in the Delaware Water Gap for my birthday this year. We’ve previously paddled lower sections of this river closer to where we live, but this was the first time we made the drive to this section. We were certainly not the only ones who thought a morning paddle was a good idea, but despite this we enjoyed the trip.
Our trip took us from the Bushkill access to Smithfield, a journey of about 10 miles. Water levels were right around 5.5 feet, right in the 5-8 ft recommended range. There were some shallow spots that were easy to avoid, so overall we did not have any trouble with the water level.
We started at Smithfield Beach to catch the River Runner. This is a shuttle service with a small bus and trailer for boats. We got there early, so we had plenty of time to load up. We wouldn’t have been able to do this trip without the shuttle, and was nice to just load up and go at the end of the trip without having to do the car shuttle dance. You do have to strap your boat in with ratchet straps, which I hate, but it was secure so I can’t complain. (I don’t like ratchet straps and primarily use cam straps. It’s a catch-22 situation. I’m not comfortable with them because I don’t used them, and I don’t use them because I’m not comfortable with them.) The River Runner could also only carry 6 boats, and even at 8:30 in the morning it was full. I could see that being a problem if would have brought anyone else with us.
Incidentally, the shuttle is technically free. But it's $10/car to park at the Smithfield launch so you can actually use the shuttle. I didn't mind paying, it was more than worth it.
Anyways, on to the paddle. My photographer/wife was a slacker, so we don’t have a ton of pictures, but I’ll share what we have. We launched from Bushkill at 9:15 am. The weather report was calling for a high around 87, but the morning was comfortable and slightly overcast.
Bushkill launch looking upriver and north.
The trip started right into some light riffles before settling into a stretching into a slow current. This characterized much of trip. Rapids were mostly riffles and easy to navigate, and water levels made it easy to avoid scraping. We had to be on watch for rocks, they were sneaky and often hid right below the surface, but overall they were easy to dodge.
Delware River just south of the Bushkill Launch.
The most interesting rapids of the trip was the Sambo and Mary Rift, rated at a Class 1+, which I think is pretty accurate. The chop was turbulent and higher than any others in the trip, and current was swift. The path through was pretty easy to pick out, but the ever-changing chop made picking out the rocks hiding below the surface a little tricky. I pulled an amateur trick. I was too busy watching my wife to mind my own path and managed to bounce off a rock. Got a nice new mark on my hull but managed to stay afloat, so I’m counting it as a win/learning experience.
We stopped on a campsite/beach area before the Sambo and Mary Rift. The beach was small and soft, we sunk over our water shoes in sandy mud. There was a rope to climb up the hill to get to the campsite. I would definitely pick somewhere else to camp. Sorry for the kayak, my canoe is off camera.
The rest of the trip was pretty easy-going. The pattern of easy rapids with stretches of slow current continued. The last two miles was a long stretch of open water and probably the most picturesque part of the trip with wonderful mountain views on the New Jersey side. Unfortunately we were also fighting a pretty significant headwind so we didn’t get any pictures. Weather reports were calling for a blustery afternoon and I’m glad we got off the water when we did. I looked back after we loaded our boats and saw small whitecaps pushing upstream.
As I said, we enjoyed the trip and I’m very glad we finally did it. It was fairly busy, particularly as we got towards the end, so you have to go in expecting that. It wasn’t crowded, but there always seem to be someone around and certainly detracted from the experience a little for me. But I’ll go back, which is probably the best review I can give.
Bonus picture. That’s me pretending like I know what I’m doing. I paddled switch style on the open stretches, with the Tahitian style paddling video elsewhere on this site as a guide. It’s getting better, or at least I’m moving faster with whatever self-taught mutant paddling style I’m developing.
Our trip took us from the Bushkill access to Smithfield, a journey of about 10 miles. Water levels were right around 5.5 feet, right in the 5-8 ft recommended range. There were some shallow spots that were easy to avoid, so overall we did not have any trouble with the water level.
We started at Smithfield Beach to catch the River Runner. This is a shuttle service with a small bus and trailer for boats. We got there early, so we had plenty of time to load up. We wouldn’t have been able to do this trip without the shuttle, and was nice to just load up and go at the end of the trip without having to do the car shuttle dance. You do have to strap your boat in with ratchet straps, which I hate, but it was secure so I can’t complain. (I don’t like ratchet straps and primarily use cam straps. It’s a catch-22 situation. I’m not comfortable with them because I don’t used them, and I don’t use them because I’m not comfortable with them.) The River Runner could also only carry 6 boats, and even at 8:30 in the morning it was full. I could see that being a problem if would have brought anyone else with us.
Incidentally, the shuttle is technically free. But it's $10/car to park at the Smithfield launch so you can actually use the shuttle. I didn't mind paying, it was more than worth it.
Anyways, on to the paddle. My photographer/wife was a slacker, so we don’t have a ton of pictures, but I’ll share what we have. We launched from Bushkill at 9:15 am. The weather report was calling for a high around 87, but the morning was comfortable and slightly overcast.
Bushkill launch looking upriver and north.
The trip started right into some light riffles before settling into a stretching into a slow current. This characterized much of trip. Rapids were mostly riffles and easy to navigate, and water levels made it easy to avoid scraping. We had to be on watch for rocks, they were sneaky and often hid right below the surface, but overall they were easy to dodge.
Delware River just south of the Bushkill Launch.
The most interesting rapids of the trip was the Sambo and Mary Rift, rated at a Class 1+, which I think is pretty accurate. The chop was turbulent and higher than any others in the trip, and current was swift. The path through was pretty easy to pick out, but the ever-changing chop made picking out the rocks hiding below the surface a little tricky. I pulled an amateur trick. I was too busy watching my wife to mind my own path and managed to bounce off a rock. Got a nice new mark on my hull but managed to stay afloat, so I’m counting it as a win/learning experience.
We stopped on a campsite/beach area before the Sambo and Mary Rift. The beach was small and soft, we sunk over our water shoes in sandy mud. There was a rope to climb up the hill to get to the campsite. I would definitely pick somewhere else to camp. Sorry for the kayak, my canoe is off camera.
The rest of the trip was pretty easy-going. The pattern of easy rapids with stretches of slow current continued. The last two miles was a long stretch of open water and probably the most picturesque part of the trip with wonderful mountain views on the New Jersey side. Unfortunately we were also fighting a pretty significant headwind so we didn’t get any pictures. Weather reports were calling for a blustery afternoon and I’m glad we got off the water when we did. I looked back after we loaded our boats and saw small whitecaps pushing upstream.
As I said, we enjoyed the trip and I’m very glad we finally did it. It was fairly busy, particularly as we got towards the end, so you have to go in expecting that. It wasn’t crowded, but there always seem to be someone around and certainly detracted from the experience a little for me. But I’ll go back, which is probably the best review I can give.
Bonus picture. That’s me pretending like I know what I’m doing. I paddled switch style on the open stretches, with the Tahitian style paddling video elsewhere on this site as a guide. It’s getting better, or at least I’m moving faster with whatever self-taught mutant paddling style I’m developing.
