August 2014: New York, Delaware River Hike #6: Damascus Forest Trail

Damascus Forest Trail

The Damascus Forest Trail is just a few miles on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River, very close to the town of Narrowsburg, New York.  This was the last of the six hikes we needed to get the patch from the National Park Service.

The Damascus Forest Trail is a gentle, two mile loop trail through an old growth hemlock forest.  The trailguide suggests that this section of forest, managed by the Damascus Township gives one an idea of what the forests looked like before civilization.  For my part, it was a peaceful, two mile stroll through a shady glen.

This is not a destination hike, rather it is a journey hike.  There was no single thing to look at, rather it was a beautiful walk and a perfect hike to finish up with the six.  Throughout this hike and several of the others, we encountered abandoned stone walls, presumably placed here by the early colonists who lived here.  I wondered who the people were who attempted to tame this land and how successful they were and for how long.  I wondered why they abandoned this forest.  I wondered if the walls were thrown up as skirmish lines during the Revolutionary War or if they were built later for another purpose.  All questions were left unanswered but not in an unsatisfying way.

At the trailhead there were a couple of signs and a map, then the trail was blazed with yellow so we would know the way.  One of the signs was a posting of the rules.  Pay close attention to rule #17.

Trailmarker 

Rule #17:  Only quiet hunting allowed here

Trailmap

This hike had a few small hills and every so often a large rock protruded from the soil, only to be attacked and subdued by lichen and moss

The forests around this area are very wet and nature immediately begins returning the dead things to the earth

The trail through the Damascus Forest

The hemlocks

Deadfalls become a new place for life to exist

The little oak leaf on the moss was cool

Large boulder

lichen medallion interposed with moss

Halfway through the hike we encountered stone walls that had obviously been in place for a very long time

More of the same

And another

Still another

More

Tiny ferns subduing a fallen log

It was a very peaceful forest

and coloful

So many mushrooms, so many varieties

We don't have a great deal of mushrooms in Idaho

Moss covered boulder

Moss covered tree

Tiny orange mushrooms

The trail through the hemlocks

Patterns in nature fascinate me

The tree doesn't have a chance against nature's erasers

Rootball

Ferns

Cricket inside the loo

The Damascus Forest at the end of the trail

This was a very serene hike.  I was glad we decided to hike it last.  I had originally wanted to start either at the top of the map or at the bottom and hit the hikes as they came.  Someone who had lived there for many years suggested we approach the hikes in a different order, which was the order we ended up following.  It was a better way to do things in retrospect.

On the way out, we passed the National Park Service headquarters for this region.  We stopped in and got our patches.  There were six of us that hit all six hikes.  None of the hikes were as strenuous as the hikes I'm used to in the west, but I don't think anyone was trying to compete.  Each of the six hikes were there for a specific reason.  It is up to each individual hiker to determine what that reason is.  The Damascus Forest ended up being one of the hikes I liked a lot, even though there wasn't any one thing that was important to see.  Sometimes a journey hike is all you need.

The patch

August 2014: New York, Delaware River Hike #4: Mongaup River Trail

Knight Cemetery at the end of the Mongaup River Trail

The Trailguide suggested that the Mongaup River Trail would be a good place to view eagles and waterfowl. It was listed as a moderate hike.  The trail was two miles in length as an in and out hike.  There was very little elevation gain along the trail.  The first part of the trail was what appeared to be an old roadbed.  Eventually, the trail took off through the Eastern Hemlock forest along the Mongaup River.

We probably started out about an hour early because the bald eagles hadn't become active yet.  We had been hopeful to see eagles fishing.  We were to be disappointed along this trail.  I did hear an eagle cry, but we didn't see it.  This was a mostly level trail and serene.  At one point the trail navigated around streams and a pond and a massive beaver dam. Evidence of beavers was everywhere along this portion of the trail.

At the end of the trail, we came upon a rectangular stone wall which surrounded a very old cemetery.  I researched it a little after the fact and discovered it was a family plot of the Knight family.  Almost all of the headstones in this cemetery bore the surname "Knight."  There was one, though that stood out to me. Amron Vail, Born August 13, 1816.  Died February 17, 1847.  He's a relative.  Has to be.  I had Vail ancestors living in Onandoga County, New York at the same time as Amron Vail lived here, about two hundred miles away.  We'll have to hunt him down and see where he fits in the genealogy, but I'm certain he's a relative.

It was an easy hike and a short one.  I don't know why the trailguide considered it a moderate hike.

Roadkill at the trailhead.  As if I wouldn't take a photo of that...

The Mongaup River, a tributary to the Delaware River

What the trail looked like for the first bit

Random cemetery in the middle of nowhere

Stones

Nature taking control

Lonely stones in a lonely cemetery

Julia Vail is undoubtedly a relative

As is Amron Vail

Cool tree

Shot of the other side of the cemetery

The trail 

On the way back

Beaver evidence

Apparently he gave up

Many trees, standing and fallen had evidence of beaver activity

As you can see here

and here

and here

Pretty well built beaver dam

Downstream of the dam

Hiking on the way out

In honor of my sons, who like to pose in hollow trees

Rhododendrons were everywhere along the river here.  We missed the blooms by three or four weeks, sadly

Rhododendron lined trail.  Rhododendrons always remind me of the Hot Chick.  I was missing her greatly while I was in New York.  Thirty years  of marriage and we still dig each other.

Evidence of black bear activity

After we reached the parking lot, having not seen an eagle, we saw a National Park Ranger.  I approached him and asked where the best place to see an eagle was.  He said there was a mature bald eagle that hung out about two hundred yards from the parking area right where the Mongaup meets the Delaware.  We took that short walk and when we got to the river, there he (or she) was, hanging out in a tree.  Mission accomplished.

Tree roots at the confluence of the Mongaup and Delaware rivers

The bald Eagle

Too good to only show one picture

Local flora

More local flora.  Haven't even attempted to identify any of it yet

Mushrooms and fungus was everywhere 

Lichen too

This was not a taxing hike in any way, but because of the cemetery payoff, the beaver dam and damage, and the eagle at the end, it became one of my two favorites of the six hikes.  Finding a relative out in the middle of nowhere, even though he was dead, was really cool.