Coxing
Kill trout: The Shawangunk Mountains---
or Gunks are they are known--- run from Kingston south to Port Jervis, the
eastern ridge of the Appalachian Mountains.
While this name has a Dutch derivative, Native Americans referred to the
Gunks as “smoky air.”
In
Edward G. Henry’s handbook--- Gunks Trails--- the author wrote, “If the
Shawangunks were said to have a heart, it would be the Trapps and Sky Top. …
The Trapps titled, hard strata boldly rise from the small, glacier-enhanced
gap. The Delaware Indians used this
mountain pass as a major war trail. The
Trapps is Dutch name meaning ‘staircase’, but the name was actually applied to
a small settlement below the cliffs.”
Coxing
Clove is centered by the Trapps and Sky Top; it was first settled in the late 1700s
primarily by inhabitants of Dutch descent.
Lake Minnewaska is also found here, out of which drains a branch of the
upper Coxing Kill flowing downstream through the glacier gap. This lake was once known as Coxing Pond.
The
Delaware Indians and Dutch are long since gone, as is the Trapps hamlet. Perhaps today this area is best known for its
world-class rock climbing, but brook trout are still to be found.
No comments:
Post a Comment