A couple of years back while on our way to East Burke, Vermont to mountain bike at Kingdom Trails (which you should check out.) we saw several signs for the McDade Trail we thought nothing of it and continued on. Little to our awareness we were in the Delaware Water Gap and just a few miles away from an awesome trail!

After finishing The Boulder Field Trail we decided to head out to a different area, the trail was called Hackers Falls Trail And Raymondskill Falls Trail. This trail is located in the aforementioned Delaware Water Gap, which contains a plethora of trails!

The Trail head offers two parking areas and NO roadside parking. There is a gate which will lead you to a neat area called Hackers Falls, while on your way on the 2.3 mile loop you will see a few ponds which are worth checking out. The trail is relatively fine gravel and small stone which is easy for all ages. The elevation gain is roughly in the two hundreds. Eventually following the yellow markings on the brown signs you will reach Hackers Falls.

Hackers Falls is a really neat location that requires a little bit of grit to get to. None of that park and walk a hundred feet business. But when you get there you’ll be greeted by a watering hole fed by a waterfall! Be sure to bring your swim suit because we didn’t and regretted not taking a swim in the water. If you up to it you can even sit behind the waterfall, we witnessed a few fellow hikers successfully attempting that.

After spending sometime there we continued on the trail and found more scenic areas and another pond that had a large amount of frogs that jumped back in the water when you approached the pond. We made our way back to the trail head where Raymondskill Falls is located.

Raymondskill is another waterfall which is a sight to behold, at the time we went they had a fence the followed the trail to help regrow the vegetation and keep deer and other wildlife out. The trail features wooden guardrails and several platforms to watch the falls. There is also a lower trail you can use to get to the bottom of the falls where you can swim and jump in!

There is plenty more that the Delaware Water Gap has to offer and I definitely recommend this trail to you and I am looking forward to doing more in this area!

safe travels,

mike