I’ll return to the waterfalls later—I always do. But first, a brief chronological account. We took scenic route NJ 23, and found the Franklin Mineral Museum where among 300 different minerals displayed are many fluorescent ones. You can go prospecting there and collect your own minerals. New Jersey’s highest point is in appropriately named High Point Park, where an observation tower offers good views of the area. More exciting to me was a swamp we found off the road, at the northern end of the park, an odd landscape of cut down tree trunks with elaborate roots showing in the water, covered with green slime, like miniature mangroves.

The Comfort Inn in Port Jervis, NY, was our base for explorations. NY Route 97 west has panoramic views of the Delaware river, snaking along it, sometime high above, and sometimes level with it.

Bushkill Falls, on PA Route 209, south of Dingman’s Ferry, is advertised and slightly exaggerated as the "Niagara of Pennsylvania." We saw eight waterfalls during a two-hour walk. The first one, one of the Main Falls, was perfect for bracketing water for those photographers who can’t decide whether to aim for sharpness of droplets or for a softer cotton candy effect.

You can get close to the water; there’s a fence to keep you from falling in, and you have room enough for a tripod. I prefer a waterfall with a more irregular outline; the Main Fall fills up the riverbed it has carved. It’s so wild that it rushes by you, with white and brownish water, but doesn’t fall from a great height. Yet I would give it 3 out of 4 stars for energy and color. After looking at the gorge where the Main Falls continue, we walked up a steep hill to the Bridal Veil Falls, so named for their narrow top and spreading-wide lower third. Pretty. Two-and-a-half stars. Huffing and puffing on our climb to the Bridesmaid’s Falls, we met members of our group, mostly from the Staten Island Camera Club, whose superior intelligence led them to discover that you don’t have to walk uphill, going from start to finish, but can more easily begin at the end and walk downhill. Pennell Falls is a smaller fall, two-and-a-half points. In all, however, Bushkill Falls rates four-stars as a park.

Next we stopped for excellent coffee in nearby Milford and inquired about further tourist attractions. Here we were told about Grey Towers, for me the highlight of the trip. It’s a national historic site, was the home of Gifford Pinchot, former Governor of Pennsylvania and an early conservationist. The house has been renovated and, together with the grounds, is open to the public. A short walk leads to an exquisite waterfall, in four separate flows, from a high ridge, surrounded by ferns, oak and other kinds of trees, and calling for a rating of four stars. It was a peak experience as measured by the number of rolls of film shot by us. We didn’t see enough of the town of Milford, but I know that I will return to see its historic houses and again drink coffee at the Seventh Street Cafe in the Old Lumberyard complex.

We all ate dinner together at Flo-Jean’s Restaurant, which was originally a tollhouse at the river long, long ago. Next day we saw the restored 19th century grist mill in Milford and had lunch at the adjoining cafe. Another highlight of our trip were the Shohola Falls, along PA Rte. 6 West. River water flows over a dam which eventually becomes a low and noisy waterfall consisting of many levels, very wide at first, then flowing into a gorge and disappearing from sight. I rated it three stars for its beauty and unusual and asymmetrical levels. Next we drove to the Roebling Bridge across the Delaware, one of the first suspension bridges in the US, and back to Port Jervis by Rte. 97.

On our last day, we visited Peters Valley Craft Center exhibits and found the Stokes State Forest waterfall described at the beginning of this account.

In all, four stars for the trip: for Chuck and Helen’s excellent planning and arrangements, my car mates Evelyne Appel, Susan Hoehn, and Gladys Hopkowitz, the other congenial photographers and non-photographers participating, the free sharing of information, and the camaraderie that Park West Camera Club is famous for.