Trap Pond State Park

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Laurel DE

The Park

Trap Pond is a small portion of the Great Cypress Swamp and features one of the northernmost natural stands of baldcypress trees in North America. In the late 1700s a millpond was constructed to power a sawmill to harvest the valuable lumber. During the Depression in the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps of the federal government put men to work building diverse recreation facilities. In 1951, 14 years after the Delaware legislature authorized the development of the state park system, Trap Pond became the first state park to welcome visitors.

The Walks

The 5-mile long Boundary Trail completely circles both the 90-acre millpond and the baldcypress swamp. There is a mixture of natural and paved surfaces and the flat trail is very easy to walk. Note that to complete the loop requires a short walk on Little Hill Road. For canine hikers not interested in a complete circumnavigation of Trap Pond there are short one-mile trails on opposite shores. The Island Trail on the western shore visits the shoreline and actually onto one of the namesake islands in the pond before leading back into the forest. On the opposite shore the Cypress Point Trail meanders along the edge of the swamp.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Natural trails and dirt roads

Workout For Your Dog - Minimal elevation changes

Swimming - The best access is from a wooden dock on the south shore

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

Hiking through Trap Pond State Park is an experience like no other in Delaware - your walk in the atmospheric swamp could easily be in the Louisiana bayou. Marvel in the quiet beauty of the baldcypress - one of the few trees capable of living in the water. Each tree sends out small stumps known as “knees” in every direction to help keep from drowning. The boardwalks on the Cypress Point Trail enable you and your dog to get close up views.

Phone - (302) 875-5153

Website 

Admission Fee - Yes, May to October

Directions - Laurel, Sussex County; 5 miles east, off Route 24 between Route 13 and Route 113. The park is one mile south on Trap Pond Road (Road 449).

hikewithyourdog.com

The Hiking With Dogs group on Facebook is the place to post photos and info on your favorite canine hikes. Also get questions answered and find advice from members: join now

Fort DuPont State Park

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Delaware City DE

The Park

On the shore opposite Fort Delaware, Fort DuPont was actively garrisoned during the Civil War and the Spanish-American War; used as a training base in World War I; and detained German prisoners in World War II. It is named for Samuel Francis du Pont who, during the Civil War commanded a fleet of 77 vessels and 12,000 men to a critical Union victory in the Battle of Port Royal Sound. It was the largest United States naval expeditionary force ever assembled up to that time.

The Walks

The 1-mile River View Trail loop begins a gently sloping canine hike in the marshland along the Delaware River and finishes in shaded woodlands. If you walk it backwards you have longer sustained views of the river and Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island. The grass trail takes you past several ruins of the military installation, camoflaged to river traffic.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Paw-friendly grass

Workout For Your Dog - Easy canine hike in the old military base

Swimming - There is a small section of the park where a really water-starved dog can reach the Delaware River but it is not a beach.

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

The heronry on Pea Patch Island (the story goes that in colonial times a boat hauling peas ran aground on this 178-acre mud flat spilling its cargo and planting a pea patch) is the largest Atlantic Coast nesting ground north of Florida for wading birds. There is ample opportunity to watch ibis, egrets and herons - who live in pairs - go about their lives in the Delaware River.

Phone - (302) 834.7941

Website - http://www.destateparks.com/fdsp/fdpp.htm

Admission Fee - Yes, May to October

Directions - Delaware City, New Castle County; the main parking lot is in the back of the Governor Bacon Health Center. The entrance is off Route 9 on the south side of the Delaware City Branch Canal. The trailhead is directly behind the small parking lot.

hikewithyourdog.com

The Hiking With Dogs group on Facebook is the place to post photos and info on your favorite canine hikes. Also get questions answered and find advice from members: join now

James Farm Ecological Park

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Ocean View, DE

The Park

James Farm was created as an ecological preserve through a gift of 150 acres to Sussex County in 1992 from Mary Lighthipe in memory of her son Harold. Beginning in 1998, the Center for the Inland Bays has managed the property for the benefit of the public.

The Walks

A patchwork of color-coded trails explores this thumb of land that pokes into the Indian River Bay. You move your dog through an old horse pasture that has been reforested with a planting of 4000 young trees and then push into a maritime forest on the way to a small sandy beach on Pasture Point Cove. Dogs will love the silky soft sands and gentle waters of the bay. For an open field trot, don’t forget the Purple Trail across Cedar Neck Road. There is no better place to take your dog for a walk at the beach than James Farm.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Wide, paw-friendly trails

Workout For Your Dog - Level throughout

Swimming - No place better than Indian River Bay where the water is knee-deep for a quarter-mile out

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

Beginning in 2003, James Farm has been one of 14 locations in Delaware’s inland bays used for oyster gardening. More than one million oysters have been deployed to build reefs that will stabilize the bay floor and filter the waters for a more energized aquatic environment. It is estimated that a single oyster can filter 50 gallons of water and more than 100,000 oysters were introduced to the reef at Pasture Point Cove. The oysters attach themselves to a solid substrate - often another oyster - and begin building a reef habitat. Natural oysters have been gone from Delaware’s inland bays for over 30 years but someday the efforts of this oyster gardening may yield harvests once again.

Phone - (302) 645.7325

Website 

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Ocean View, Sussex County; traveling south on Delaware 1, make your first right after crossing Indian River Inlet onto Road 360. Continue to the end and make a right on Cedar Neck Road. The parking lot is on the left, just past the tennis club. Approaching on Route 26, make a left on Cedar Neck.

hikewithyourdog.com

The Hiking With Dogs group on Facebook is the place to post photos and info on your favorite canine hikes. Also get questions answered and find advice from members: join now

Woodlawn Trustees Property

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Talleyville DE

The Park

From 1850 until 1910, feldspar, used in porcelain dishes and false teeth, was mined here in the Woodlawn Quarry. You can still see the remains of these spar pits, with their scatterings of mica and other minerals. In 1910, as his campaign to preserve the Brandywine Valley intensified, William Poole Bancroft bought hundreds of pristine acres in the lush floodplain and rolling woodlands where the Brandywine Creek makes three wide, gentle turns. Bancroft formed the Woodlawn Company to manage these lands, harboring some of the oldest trees in Delaware. Today, more than 2,000 acres are open to the public for recreational use - one of the greatest private gifts to canine hikers to be found anywhere.

The Walks

Many miles and many hours of canine hiking through an enticing mix of open fields and mature forests. Can also continue into Pennsylvania through active farms and long-gone homesteads. Watch for horses and bikes. No maps or navigational aids so come with a mind to explore.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Mostly dirt; some old farm roads

Workout For Your Dog - Hilly terrain

Swimming - The Brandywine Creek is wonderful

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

Breaking out of the woods at several points on the hilltops you are greeted with splendid views of Granogue, one of the American castles dotting the Brandywine Valley’s chateau lands.

Phone - None

Website - None

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Talleyville, New Castle County; there are no highway signs to direct you here and the parking lots are not marked. The main parking lot is opposite Peters Rock along the Brandywine on Creek Road. Other gravel lots can be found on Ramsey Road, Beaver Valley Road and opposite Woodlawn Road on Thompson’s Bridge Road (Route 92). Parking also in Brandywine Commons on Route 202.

hikewithyourdog.com

The Hiking With Dogs group on Facebook is the place to post photos and info on your favorite canine hikes. Also get questions answered and find advice from members: join now

Trap Pond State Park

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Laurel DE

The Park

Trap Pond is a small portion of the Great Cypress Swamp and features one of the northernmost natural stands of baldcypress trees in North America. In the late 1700s a millpond was constructed to power a sawmill to harvest the valuable lumber. During the Depression in the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps of the federal government put men to work building diverse recreation facilities. In 1951, 14 years after the Delaware legislature authorized the development of the state park system, Trap Pond became the first state park to welcome visitors.

The Walks

The 5-mile long Boundary Trail completely circles both the 90-acre millpond and the baldcypress swamp. There is a mixture of natural

and paved surfaces and the flat trail is very easy to walk. Note that to complete the loop requires a short walk on Little Hill Road. For canine hikers not interested in a complete circumnavigation of Trap Pond there are short one-mile trails on opposite shores. The Island Trail on the western shore visits the shoreline and actually onto one of the namesake islands in the pond before leading back into the forest. On the opposite shore the Cypress Point Trail meanders along the edge of the swamp.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Natural trails and dirt roads

Workout For Your Dog - Minimal elevation changes

Swimming - The best access is from a wooden dock on the south shore

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

Hiking through Trap Pond State Park is an experience like no other in Delaware - your walk in the atmospheric swamp could easily be in the Louisiana bayou. Marvel in the quiet beauty of the baldcypress - one of the few trees capable of living in the water. Each tree sends out small stumps known as “knees” in every direction to help keep from drowning. The boardwalks on the Cypress Point Trail enable you and your dog to get close up views.

Phone - (302) 875-5153

Website 

Admission Fee - Yes, May to October

Directions - Laurel, Sussex County; 5 miles east, off Route 24 between Route 13 and Route 113. The park is one mile south on Trap Pond Road (Road 449).

hikewithyourdog.com

The Hiking With Dogs group on Facebook is the place to post photos and info on your favorite canine hikes. Also get questions answered and find advice from members: join now

Brandywine Creek State Park

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Wilmington DE

The Park

Once a du Pont family dairy farm, this spectacular swath of land became a State Park in 1965. Delaware’s first two nature preserves are located here: Tulip Tree Woods and Freshwater Marsh, at the edge of Brandywine Creek. The stone walls that criss-cross the 850-acre park are the legacy of skilled Italian masons who crafted the barriers from locally quarried Brandywine granite - the original “Wilmington Blue Rocks.”

The Walks

There are eight blazed trails totaling 14 miles on both sides of the Brandywine Creek. All are short, all are woodsy and if you can’t reach out and touch the water you are moving up or down a hill. The Hidden Pond Trail and the Indian Springs Trail each travel along the water and visit 200-year old tulip polars. The star walk at Thompson’s Bridge is the rugged, 1.9-mile Rocky Run Trail, winding aroundthe closest thing to a mountain stream in Delaware. Nearby, the Multi-Use Trail tags the stream for the better part of two miles.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth - Dirt and grass

Workout For Your Dog - Some good - but not lethal - climbs

Swimming - Yes, the namesake creek is superb

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

In the winter of 1802 a rudderless French immigrant living in New Jersey named Eleuthere Irenee du Pont was invited to the Brandywine Valley to hunt game. It was not a successful trip. The damp weather fouled his gunpowder so that his musket continually misfired. It was so bad du Pont decided to re-enter the industry he had turned his back on in France as a youth: black powder. When it came time to launch his new business he remembered what you see today in the park: the hardwood forests that would burn to charcoal, one of the ingredients he would need for powder; the abundant granite in the hills to build his mills; and the swift-flowing river to power the mills. And so he returned to Delaware to found a dynasty. Incidentally, the favorite breed of dog for the du Pont family when they lived here: the greyhound.

Phone - (302) 577.3534

Website 

Admission Fee - Yes, May to October

Directions - Talleyville, New Castle County; the main entrance is on Adams Dam Road, between Thompson’s Bridge Road (Route 92) and Rockland Road. Other parking areas are at Thompson’s Bridge and off Rockland Road, opposite Rockland Mills.