Wallkill River
The Winds Skunked Us Again
by Martin W.
April 27, 2025
Our intrepid group that day.. Joan B., Melody W., Robert Z., and myself.
What was to be a paddle trip on the mighty Wallkill River unexpectedly turned into a hiking trip instead. Why, may you ask? Cuz... the winds were howling at up to 40 mph gusts, that's why.
This is the second time this has happened with the scheduled paddling trips on the Wallkill River - dag-nabbit! Drats... The Gods Of Aeolian were against us again. It wouldn't be so bad for the first mile or two since it's mostly in somewhat protected woods but when the majority of the river is on the open savanna-type stretches with the obligatory head wind we'd still be there a week later.
So, when the four of us met in the Sussex Queen Diner parking lot, a unanimous decision was made to convert this paddle trip into a hiking trip on the Winding River Trail which does run alongside the river for half the trail's length.
But before embarking on our foot-powered expedition, we made a pilgrimage into the diner for a mass consumption of breakfast gluttony (with Joan partaking in her third breakfast there. Well done Joan for carrying on the HRCKC tradition).
After waddling out of the diner with full bellies, we drove up just over the NY border to the Oil City Road access (which was to be our take-out) and hit the trail. With a gusty wind and a bit of a sporadic drizzle, our fearless group of intrepid hikers braved the elements.
The river was running at a moderate flow making a nice bunch of small rapids. This area has plenty of signs of past glaciation on the bedrock for the science-minded folks among us. The Wallkill River is one of only two rivers in NJ that flows north - the other is the Millstone River and the ancestral Hudson River actually flowed through what is now the Wallkill Valley.
Not many signs of birds that day - I guess it was too windy for them too but we did come across something quite strange on the trail - what appeared to be a severed small bear paw. Strange indeed. We did meet a few other hikers with hounds near the end of our excursion exchanging a few words with one group as to the severed paw.
Alas... we then parted company to end the trip. Until next time we might have better luck with a paddle trip.
And again... no one died! (except that poor bear).
Martin