Bee Travel
Poconos worth the trip
CHRISTINE HICKS- USTA Travel
You'll recall that I left you last week on absolute tenterhooks, wondering what constitutes a water gap. Unsure myself, after looking up "tenterhooks" (a state of uneasy suspense), I looked up the genesis of the geological term.

A water gap describes a break or pass through the mountains through which passes a river. The Delaware River runs through the Appalachian Mountains at this gap along the border between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Anyway, it's not the geology we came to watch, but rather the scenic beauty and water-cooled air that drew 19th-century visitors from the stifling summer heat in the city to hotels along its banks. The resorts are gone, but the wonder of the Delaware Water Gap remains.

Starting in cute Milford, coast down U.S. Route 6, a two-lane highway cutting through forests of eastern hemlock pine and naturally occurring rhododendron. Driving southwest, you'll notice cornfields on the west river bank. In short order, you'll come upon Raymondskill Falls. The paths to the three falls are punishing and uneven - not at all accessible if you're handicapped or unsteady. This is just a primer, though. See it if you can, but if not, don't fret. Continue to Dingman Falls.

Dingman Falls has a visitor center. The, uh, neophyte park rangers hand out literature and sell an odd assortment of gifts (Monopoly games?), but the real gift here is the walk to the falls. You'll follow a well-cleared path to the boardwalk, a sturdy, broad avenue under a canopy of virgin forest. You'll pass an 80-foot-thin string of water called Silver Thread Falls. Here, as at Raymondskill Falls, the spray creates a microclimate that sustains a unique, fragile and diverse ecosystem.

Continue along the easy path and inhale the extraordinary beauty in the undercanopy of the stands of eastern hemlock. At a distance, their fir sprays appear to smudge the air, as if painted, like fuzzy mini-clouds. At the bridge crossing, pause long enough to look downriver. This natural scene inspires awe; no rookie photographer can do it justice. The juxtaposition of this wide, shallow stream, tumbling over water-worn rocks, sun peeking through high trees, and a cacophony of birds and waterfall conspire in chronic beauty and serenity best captured by committing to memory. While surely similar spots dot the Pocono forest (such as the park behind the Holley Ross Pottery Store in LaAnna), I'll recall Dingman Falls as most memorable. My imagination conjured Paupack, Lenape or Minisink Indians making settlement here, tending daily chores on the banks. Though tempting, I couldn't imagine scarring the spot with so much as a fishing net.

Perhaps their heart-shaped bath reputation has stricken the Poconos off your prospective list for summer vacationing. If so, think again. A five-hour investment in road time pays huge dividends in scenery. Rent a lake cottage for a week. Trailer into the National Park at Delaware Water Gap. There's a world of romance in the Poconos - indoors and out.

(Christine Hicks-Usta has enjoyed more than 30 years of globe-trotting as a member of the travel industry. Direct questions to her at Bee Group Newspapers, P.O. Box 150, Buffalo, NY 14231-0150.)