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The Walkill River National Wildlife Refuge protects a ten mile stretch of the Walkill River. This river flows north from Sussex County, New Jersey, up into New York State and into a tributary of the Hudson River.

The Lenape called the river Twischsawkin, or ‘the land of plentiful plums.’ As European settlers moved into the fertile valley, they lowered the water levels by constructing a canal. When the area became a wildlife refuge in 1990, much of the natural area was reclaimed from farmlands.

The Winding Waters Trail follows an old farm road up the river and through fields in a 2.1 mile loop. It begins at one of the refuge’s canoe launches, just down the road from the Liberty Loop Parking Lot, and is entirely on the New York side of the border.

Walkill River NWR posts:

• Liberty Loop Trail in Autumn
• Liberty Loop Trail Revisited
• Winding Waters Trail

Location: Oil City Rd, Pine Island, NY

Designation: National Wildlife Refuge

Date designated or established: 1990

Date of my visit: 3/9/2019