The Lenape34 is a one-day 34-mile walk scheduled for Columbus Day, Monday, October 11, along the Lenape Trail in Essex County, NJ.
The FreeWalkers are organizing this walk to help support the 130-mile Liberty Water Gap Trail (LWGT) across the state, of which the Lenape Trail is a major segment.
I have written here before about the Lenape Trail which was part of the original home of the Lenni-Lenape Indians. They developed extensive trails in parts of today's Essex
in what are now Brookdale, Yantecaw and Branch Brook Parks.
Luckily, as urban as the county as become, it is also home to America's first park system which was established in 1895. There are still 17 parks and 5 reservations that cover more than 6,000 acres.
The Lenape Trail is 40 miles of walking and bike trails that links nineteen of Essex County's parklands. Those areas include a surprising diversity of terrains and includes mountain vistas, rivers and waterfalls, as well as manmade points of interest like museums, gardens, a cathedral, an environmental center, a zoo, a dog run, an archery course and a dinosaur fossil site.
The walk on October 11th is a total of 34 miles starting at the train station in Millburn, NJ and going across the marked trail into the South Mountain, Eagle Rock and Mills Reservations. It includes suburban towns such as Montclair, West Orange, Nutley, and Belleville, and ends in urban Newark.
There are alternatives for shorter segments, so you don't have to do the entire trail. A 34 mile "walk" is not something to take on lightly. The group has been taking practice walks along sections of the trail to prepare participants. There are also two train lines and several bus routes for mass transportation both to and from several points along the way.
As with all the walks by the group, this walk is free and everyone is invited.
Most of this trail is a major segment of the 130 mile Liberty Water Gap Trail, the 130-mile east-to-west trail across the entire state of New Jersey. The LWGT is sometimes called "the nation's most unique greenway."
LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read About The Lenni-Lenape Indians
The Down River People of the Lenni-Lenape Indians
William Penn's Own Account of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians
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