The Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area was created after the Tocks Island Dam Project was shut down.  The original 1950’s plans envisioned a hydro-electric dam on the Delaware river creating a 37 mile, 140 foot deep lake in the valley which is now the park. The dam would have been the largest largest east of the Mississippi.  The project was ultimately canceled as the bedrock was considered too unstable to support the dam and in 1978 the land was donated to the National Parks Service.

Today the park is home to a host of wildlife including at least one that had been on the endangered species list, the Bald Eagle.  In the course of the past several years my family and I have encountered many of these majestic birds all over the park.  This image is of a full grown eagle as it glides overhead was taken near the Rivers Bend campsite overlooking the Delaware River.

On another occasion while rafting the Delaware river in early spring we paddled past a mother eagle and a clearly much younger one snacking on a good sized fish on the river bank.  It was an amazing sight, one that I didn’t capture with my camera but one that I will never forget.

If you’re anywhere near this park I highly recommend you visit or even better spend a weekend and explore it’s trails, peaks, falls and creeks. You will want to get there soon though as this past October the National Parks Service approved a high capacity power line to cut through 4.3 miles of the park.  Suffice it to say, it’s not going to be pretty, the impact of this scale construction project could create significant damage to wildlife breeding grounds as well as a visible impact on the landscape.

There is a hint of irony here that the park was created in a misguided attempt to feed our energy needs ultimately falls victim to another power project 34 years later. Fast forward this photo two years and there will be power lines 200ft in the air running right across the river.