The Upper Delaware River: from Port Jervis to Barryville
The Upper Delaware River drains the western Catskill Mountains, the northeastern part of the Pocono plateau, and the rolling upland in between. It forms the border between New York and Pennsylvania for about 60 miles. These regions, part of the Allegheny Plateau, are underlain by thick, flat-lying Devonian strata of shale, sandstone and some conglomerate. Very generally, the bedrock here grades from shale to sandstone to conglomerate to the northeast and up slope, but with much alternation of layers. The glaciated upland region surrounding the Upper Delaware between Port Jervis and the Catskills is of low relief but somewhat rugged and rocky, ranging consistently from about 1100 to 1300 feet in elevation. The Delaware and its tributaries are deeply incised into the bedrock, with the valley floor level ranging from 600 feet at Barrryville to to 400 feet at Port Jervis. In many places, the river has carved out a sheer cliff several hundred feet tall along one of its banks, such as Hawk