Delaware Water Gap river campsites getting new reservation system and fees

Beginning Friday, campers who need to use a few of the primitive river campsites within the Delaware Water Hole Nationwide Recreation Space might want to make a reservation and pay a payment.

The 62 primitive river campsites on the 40-mile Center Delaware Nationwide Scenic and Leisure River hall have traditionally been free and out there on a first-come, first-serve foundation for guests on long-distance river journeys.

Now, reservations will have to be made prematurely by zone at Recreation.gov and there shall be a $16 per website/per night time payment. Campers will select from a number of completely different websites inside the zone after they arrive.

The 5 zones are:

• Zone 1- North Park boundary to Milford Seaside
• Zone 2- Milford Seaside to Dingmans Boat Launch
• Zone 3- Dingmans Boat Launch to Bushkill Boat Launch
• Zone 4- Bushkill Boat Launch to Smithfield Seaside
• Zone 5-Smithfield Seaside to Kittatinny Level

It’s the identical payment and system piloted at six river campsites on the Pennsylvania facet of the park, generally known as Alosa, since 2015. This system is now being expanded to incorporate all river campsites within the practically 70,000-acre nationwide park, which sits in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, officers stated.

The river campsites are one of many park’s hottest and weak locations.

Flooding, useful resource safety considerations, and different operational constraints have diminished the variety of official river campsites over the previous twenty years, whereas demand for river tenting has elevated, stated Elizabeth Winslow, payment program supervisor.

“This has resulted in conflicts amongst guests, useful resource harm, and inappropriate disposal of trash and human waste, all of which is made worse by high-water occasions related to storms,” Winslow stated in a information launch.

Reservations can’t be made in individual and mobile phone reception within the space is poor, officers warned.

“Campers are suggested to decide on a website early of their journey within the occasion that websites additional downstream inside the zone for which they’ve a reservation are already occupied,” Winslow stated.

Reservations for particular person websites on the Alosa campsites in Pennsylvania will be made by the identical reservation system and on the identical value. For teams, Rivers Bend and Valley View group campsites will be reserved for $100 per website per night time.

The brand new system is a part of the concepts and proposals within the 146-page draft Customer Use Administration Plan for the water hole and Center Delaware Nationwide Scenic and Leisure River, issued in 2019.

The plan was developed partially as a result of the water hole, which sits in in Monroe, Northampton and Pike counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Sussex counties in New Jersey, is seeing extra guests. Massive teams are additionally going to areas of the park not designed for greater crowds, particularly in areas with delicate assets.

In 2015, “measurable harm was occurring at visitor-created campsites, notably at these close to the river,” the plan stated.

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Sarah Cassi could also be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com.