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June 13 - 20

Cool Stuff!

If you want to stay cool this summer, the Delaware River is the place to do it! 331 miles from Hancock, NY, to its mouth at Cape May Point, NJ, it is the longest free-flowing river in Eastern United States. Floating on this river is lots of fun!!! Knowing the river - its beauty, history, and its hazards- can provide you and your family with many days of enjoyment this summer. The water is high, the flow is brisk, and the summer crowds have not yet arrived. Paddle the Upper Delaware with Indian Head Canoes! With locations in Barryville, NY and Matamoros, PA your river adventure can include a variety of deluxe overnight accommodations. In the Delaware Water Gap area, Adventure Sports is the perfect choice for a canoe, kayak or raft trip. (Click for a discount here.) The river becomes more tranquil as it continues south. Just south of Frenchtown, Bucks County River Country has provided family fun for more than forty years -- kayaking, canoeing, and rafting and tubing!
Or, for a wonderful introduction to the Delaware, and paddling, take the Delaware River Sojourn, beginning June 20.

Rose Day

Part of the garden is framed by a trellis, which supports a variety of climbing roses.
The Rudolf W. van der Goot Rose Garden is an acre stuffed with those famous flowers -- more than 3,000 of them in 325 varieties. The garden was named in honor of the first horticulturist with the Somerset County Park Commission, as a tribute to his efforts in designing and developing the garden. Visitors can view popular modern hybrids, species, and various classes of Old Garden Roses. The Rose Garden and surrounding Arboretum were part of the original Mettler Estate, which was once a working farm. During this Saturday's 40th Annual Rose Day, you can enjoy lectures and demonstrations, while the the horticulture staff will be available to answer questions, all while the roses are in peak bloom. 10am - 3pm. 156 Mettlers Rd, Somerset, NJ, 732/873-2459.

Beach front

Tomahawk Lake
For 63 years, an immaculate sand bottom sloping gently out to floating rafts has attracted visitors to Tomahawk Lake Waterpark in Sparta. The park has since added a mountain of water slides including the “The Apache Plunge”, a 610 foot mammoth flume raft ride for four people along with “Sitting Bull“, a serpentine double flume body slide and “Crazy Horse” racing slide. Back ashore you can visit a large refreshment stand, outdoor beer garden (with live weekend entertainment), an ice cream trailer, a novelty trailer, an arcade, an 18 hole miniature golf course, a putting green and a ball field. For information call the lake office at (973) 398-7777 or check their website.

Horseplay

Heading onto the field at the Bonnie Brae Polo Classic.
Divided into four to six chukkers (or sets) that last seven and a half minutes each, polo requires extraordinary athleticism. The players on each team gallop, spin, pivot and block their way down a 300-yard field in an attempt to drive a 3" ball between goal posts at either end. More...
You can get a taste of polo and have a nice day this Saturday, June 13, at the annual Bonnie Brae Polo Classic (which benefits the Bonnie Brae School) at Fieldview Farm, 342 Quakertown Road in Pittstown. There's all kinds of great entertainment, parades, food & drink, lots of tailgating, and polo!

Summer scenery

Boat launch near the spillway dam at Echo Lake
The Pequannock Watershed, which weaves through and around Newfoundland and West Milford, has been called one of the New Jersey’s last wilderness areas. To call it wild might seem exaggeration, and yet, with an extraordinary amount of land undeveloped and restricted, the word applies. A swath of forest crisscrossed by trails, some rough or unpaved roads, occasionally punctuated by development, the territory is familiar in places; rugged in others. There are miles of trails up, down, and around a mini-range of mountains, through woods, past rocky streams, still lakes and reservoirs, with glimpses of the ruins of a stone castle and abandoned iron mines, all framed by harsh glacier shears, sliced by the Wisconsin Glacier ages ago. Wet and Wild!

Mark your calendars

Get your crayons out and start drawing circles around big summer events.
Kutztown Folk Festival, June 27 - July 5.
Revolutionary Times, July 3-5.

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Sign up to receive your copy of the summer Skylands Visitor magazine here.
While you wait for the mailman, tap our calendar for the best events for you and your family, or check our current stories. Stay tuned to our Day Trip Map for good ideas for a scenic drive! Or use the Outdoor Map for links to all sorts of hikes and outdoor fun! Northwest New Jersey and destinations just beyond those borders, in Pennsylvania and New York, offer brilliant ways to get out and enjoy the pleasures of the season.

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