DWG Closed

[Paul]

Just a reminder that the Delaware River and it surrounds is a national park and therefore closed due to government shutdown. Make your weekend plans accordingly.

[TJ Karakowski]

Would have never occurred to me - and I was headed to Raccoon Ridge and Millbrook Days this weekend. Do they literally shut down Old Mine Road for example?

[njHiking.com]

Good question... I just went to check the NPS page for DWG and it's just a shutdown page... so there isn't the usual page with closures. Have to see if there is another way to find out. I saw yesterday all the park's giving notice that their twitter/FB accounts are inactive as well.

We just got back from Acadia NP (just missing the closures...) and the info I saw on that was the visitor centers were closed, the Park Loop road closed, but there was access to trails at road side lots so some of the park was still accessible. My guess is that DWG would be like that - but whether they'd entirely close off Old Mine Rd - not sure.

And just to mention another NJ park affected by the gov shutdown... Jockey Hollow is part of Morristown NHP so those trails are closed as well.

--Dawn

[njHiking.com]

From the Trail Conf site:

"All trails in parks managed by the National Park Service are closed during the government shutdown. In our region, this includes the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DWG) as well as National Historic Sites.

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail is a unit of the National Park Service and is closed to hikers and volunteers in those areas where it is managed or crosses land managed by the NPS. In our area, this officially includes bits of the Trail in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

All other AT sections in New York and New Jersey remain open for hiking and  trail maintenance by Trail Conference volunteers."

And from the Home News Tribune this morn:

"New Jersey’s national parks, historical parks and wildlife refuges also are closed, as is the federal website that lists information about them.

At 9 a.m., two uniformed park rangers were seen reporting for work at Washington’s Headquarters Museum at Morristown National Historical Park. Soon after, the entrance gates were closed, as well as the gates at nearby Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, which borders Chatham , Harding and Bernards townships. "

[Paul]

The NJ Herald reports that Millbrook Days is (are?) cancelled. Old Mine Road is closed south of Millbrook. 

Full article here: http://www.njherald.com/story/23578779/federal-shutdown-closes-recr...

I would be reasonably sure that roadside parking and trail access are not blocked, and the loss of manpower would mean not too much patrolling...

And Stokes is a State Park.

[TJ Karakowski]

Dawn- Do you post your pics of Bar harbor anywhere ( like Flickr ex al)? I actually look through that sorta stuff. TJK

[njHiking.com]

TJ - I actually never got into posting on Flickr and whatnot. But once we sort thru and process our tons of pics (you know how it is), I intend on doing a post on njHiking.com with the best photos in it, as well as info about the hiking up there.

--Dawn

[Hank Hall]

I seriously doubt that Old Mine Road is closed at any point.  It's a public road most of the folks who live in the park use to get in and out.  Also, The Walpack Inn and Bear Creek Campground, two private enterprises with no affiliation to the park, are located on Old Mine Road.  They might gate Flatbrookville-Stillwater so that there's no access to Blue Mountain Lakes/Crater Lake though-that's a dead end that obviously isn't used as a thoroughfare. That said I suppose if you parked your vehicle on the shoulder of Old Mine Road you could be shooed away by a park ranger.  Of course they're working without pay right now so they might not be patrolling all that thoroughly. As a fed myself I can say that I'm not exactly at the height of productivity this week.  I'm headed up there this weekend and will probably stick mostly to Stokes, but I'll take a cruise around the Gap and see what's up.  Hopefully this nonsense will get solved soon, but now there's talk of rolling a funding deal with the debt ceiling which doesn't come up until the 17th, which gives them more time to bicker...

[Brom Vermeulen]

Old Mine Road was closed at Millbrook Tuesday AM. I don't know about the other end.

[njHiking.com]

From the NJ Herald article Paul posted yesterday it mentions the park roads:

• Millbrook Road and Old Mine Road north of Millbrook Village were to remain open to traffic, along with Route 209 on the Pennsylvania side of the river
• The short stretches of Route 206 and Interstate 80 that cross the park in New Jersey are not affected by the shutdown, nor are Sussex County Route 560 and Pennsylvania Route 739, leading to Dingmans Bridge. The bridge, which is privately owned, remains open.
• All other park roads, including River Road in Pennsylvania and Old Mine Road, south of Millbrook Village will be closed to traffic.

And I posted a summary of closure info I've found here: "New Jersey Parks and Trails Closed Due to Government Shutdown".

[Hank Hall]

D'oh!  Missed that.  Looks like they're basically trying to keep people of Millbrook.  This whole thing is silly...