Learn About the Park

Scenic Mountain View Upper Delaware River Valley

David Soete Photo

For over forty years Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River has been providing superior recreational access to hundreds of thousands of people in one of America's most densely populated regions. Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River is the dividing boundary between Pennsylvania and New York along portions of 5 counties and 15 towns/townships. This National Park Service unit is a working partnership dedicated to preserving the “outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural … and other similar resource values that qualified Upper Delaware for inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.” (Upper Delaware Act P.L. 95-625 November 10, 1978)

The river valley is also home to quaint villages, numerous historic buildings, various remnants of the once bustling Delaware & Hudson Canal, the nation's oldest existing wire cable suspension bridge built in 1848 by John A. Roebling, and the home of famed western author Zane Grey, best known for writing Riders of the Purple Sage in 1912 while living in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania.

Clean water, ample food, and stands of tall trees along the river make the Upper Delaware an ideal habitat for the bald eagle. Plentiful other wildlife call the river valley home as well, including muskrat, mink, raccoon, beaver, black bear, and white-tailed deer. The river's waters are home to brown and rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, walleye, white suckers, and American eels.

The significant natural and cultural resources of Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational river can serve as the basis for classroom or field trip learning for local and surrounding school children as well as summer camps, outdoor clubs, and scouting groups. View the Virtual Tour to learn even more about the park and its abundance of rich resources.