Lazy Days of Tubing

Thomas Monteleone | Delaware River, Delaware

Growing up in New Jersey was a great time, lots to do and enjoyed all 4 seasons. But, the best of times were when we would get a bunch of friends together and go tubing down the Delaware River. We would all meet up at a location along the river where we wanted to end our day of tubing. It was usually at the Free Bridge in Phillipsburg, NJ. We would then all pile in a few pickup trucks, loaded up with people, tubes and supplies for the day. We would drive across the bridge into Pennsylvania and drive up North Delaware Drive, a.k.a. PA-611. We would take that road for about 20 miles and wind up at our starting point, which was in Belvidere, NJ. There we would park the trucks and everyone will get situated to start tubing down the river. Everyone had their own tube and the coolers sat inside their own tube, which was tied by a rope to someones tube. The trip down the river took all day. The river has everything along the way, it has slow, relaxing spots, some fast spots and even some small white water rapids. It also had several spots along the way to stop, at little beaches, several rope swings, bridges to jump off and a bar, the spots to stop could be either the New Jersey side or the Pennsylvania side.. It was always a fun day to enjoy a hot summer day with friends just enjoying the river. And once a year they have a special event day called “Derriere in the Delaware”, when hundreds of people all tube down the river and end in Easton at Scott Park and enjoy the sun, drying off and listening to a live band.

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