Coming from northwest of the park, the scenic route is Route 6, which stretches across the entire north of Pennsylvania (and indeed all the way from Cape Cod to California.) This region, notable for coal mines and railroads, nonetheless has plenty of rugged beauty, interesting towns, and recreational opportunities.

Information Sources

Pike Country Chamber of Commerce, Milford PA (north end of the park)

Lackawanna County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Scranton PA
Links to major attractions and festivals

National and State Parks and Historic Sites in this Area

Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River
(Information Center on Main Street in Narrowsburg NY)
The river IS the park -- 73 miles of it, bordered by private land in New York and Pennsylvania. There are both whitewater and calm stretches of the river, campgrounds on and near the river, a bridge by Roebling, and the home of Old West novelist Zane Grey.

Grey Towers National Historic Site, Milford PA
The home of Gifford Pinchot, Pennsylvania Governor in the 1920s and 1930s and moving force behind the creation of the U.S. Forest Service. Mansion designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Programs, house tours, and nature trails commemorate the life and times of this early champion of conservation.

Steamtown National Historic Site, Scranton PA
All aboard for the equipment, landscapes, and stories of the railroading era. "Live steam" programs and train excursions.

Natural Areas and Other Related Sites

Lake Wallenpaupack Preserve
A 12-mile lake. managed by PP&L (electric company), about 25 miles from most parts of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. (The proposed Tocks Island Dam would have created a 35-mile long lake within the recreation area.)
Nature trails of 1 to 3 miles, environmental education, boating, fishing, camping, and picnicking. Recreation at the lake has revitalized the nearby 19th-century town ofHawley PA.

French Azilum, between Towanda and Wyalusing PA (Bradford County)
Site of a planned settlement of French emigres; on the Pennsylvania Museum Commissions Trail of History. (Huguenot emigres were prominent early settlers of the Water Gap and among the first to develop the resort industry at the Water Gap.)

Marie Antoinette Overlook, about 6 miles southeast of Wysox PA
One of the state's best overlooks, with a view of French Azilum and a bend in the Susquehanna River Valley. Historical marker. (It was rumored that the Queen of France herself would flee to French Azilum.)

Tunkhannock Viaduct, near Nicholson PA and about 5 miles from Route 6
The railroads were instrumental in opening the Poconos to development. Built by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. this viaduct soars across the valley 240 above Tunkhannock Creek, yet nearly half of the structure's mass is underground. The viaduct is nearly 2,400 ft. long, and at the time of its completion in 1915 was the world's longest concrete bridge.