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We parked at the New Castle Battery Park, since that's where traillink says the trail starts. There are, however, no signs that we could find that gave any direction to take the trail. Confusingly, there is a 2 mile trail along the river, starting in the park, that is NOT the Jack Markell trail. After a lot of head scratching and inquiring, we realized that the trail starts northwest on South Street about 5 blocks from the park, at the intersection with 8th Street. And, even there, it's not called the Jack Markell Trail, but The Heritage Greenway Trail. After a couple of intersections, the Jack Markell signs started. This is NOT how to mark a trail!
The trail itself traverses some aesthetically tedious areas, including going under US 13, I-295, and I-495, all extremely busy highways. Much of the trail is through industrial areas, a former landfill, and large marshes before arriving at the Wilmington River Walk.
We were glad to ride the trail to support it, but it does need some additional signing and guidance in New Castle.
We camped at Lums Pond State Park and biked to the trail, but it was a challenge to find. Here are the directions.
Make a right out of the campground entrance. Ride a short distance to Old Summit Rd. Make a left onto Old Summit Rd. follow the road until you get to a circle clearing. There are three dirt roads that go into the circle. Take the middle dirt road. It is not signed. The trail is at the bottom of a long down hill. When you see the asphalt path take that right to go to Chesapeake City (which turns into the Ben Cardin Trail) or left to go to Delaware City. There is no signage.
We had a wonderful fall weekend at Lums Pond. The Saturday ride was fantastic. We are planning to return so we can ride the other half of the trail o Delaware City.
Enjoy!
We walked most of this trail November 3, 2018. It is in need of repair/maintenance. Large stretches are very muddy with a lot of standing water. You have to go off the trail to get around it. It needs gravel and drainage.
I work at Chase in Wilmington and I just started using this trail to commute home from work. I take the trail on the riverfront and exit at Chelsea Estates neighborhood. Then the rest of my commute goes through Corp Commons, Churchmans rd. to Harmony rd. This trail helps me cut out most of the areas in Wilmington that are "If'y" and high traffic. Very scenic and quiet. I would like to take this trail in the mornings into work but not sure if the trail is open all the time or certain sections close dusk to dawn. The only part that i would question would be the tunnel by Baylor prison near Chelsea Estates. I may take a dry run one weekend to see. I would be traveling around 6 am. So far i love my commute. Hopefully one day we could connect newark to wilm the same way. Even though there are bike lanes on Kirkwood Hwy, there are still some sketchy areas along that route coming into elsmere and wilm near and on 4th st. Ride safe!!
I have ridden parts of this trail twice... from St Georges to Delaware City and from St Georges to the Summit West Marina.
Both sections and directions were very enjoyable and an easy pedal on my Catrike.
While staying at Lums Pond State Park I will ride this trail many times, as it is easily accessible at St Georges, only about 5 miles from Lums Pond.
Update.....trail west of Quarryville to the Pequea Creek just west of Rte 324 is crushed cinder (with good scenery, some open, some in a hollow ditch with several good, safe parking areas). However, the beautiful trestle bridge at Martic Forge was victim of arson in early 2018, so trail does not cross the creek at this time, though repair is hopeful.
Closest parking west of the closed bridge is at Colemanville Church Rd. From there, it's crushed cinder (improved in 2017-18) for 2 miles to a spur (hiking) trail to Shenks Ferry Wildflower Preserve, and another 1 mile improved rail trail to the Conestoga River. There, the Safe Harbor trestle bridge is currently closed but another hopeful for repair. This stretch has designated climbing areas.
West beyond the Safe Harbor bridge is the great, improved, five mile section of the Enola LG that is located in Manor Twp, also with climbing areas, and a nice parking lot at Turkey Hill Point.
For points east of Quarryville- a new parking lot was installed in early -mid 2018 along Rt 372 just east of Q-ville. Not sure of the current surface of trail east of Q-ville, but it was unimproved but manageable with wider tires up to Hollow Rd, then there's a stretch that's not fun, with difficult sand and mud, up to the access at Rte 896.
Following up on our last comment, rode again yesterday afternoon (Sunday 9/30) from New Castle to the Riverfront. In the 1 3/4 mile stretch from Rt. 273 to Boulden Blvd. we passed 45 bikers. From there to the new bridge another 50. From there to beginning of the River Walk another 36. Stopped counting then because of the numbers. Too hard to count walkers, joggers, and roller blades, but must have been at least another 100 - 130. Fast becoming our favorite trail in Delaware.
Very level well kept and scenic, be prepared to see wildlife. My last trip I even saw a gardener snake.
Rode the new section of the trail for the second time yesterday (9/26) at mid-day. Don’t know what numbers the traffic counters will show but happily surprised how busy our ride was. While others have talked about the beauty, one should also mention usage. During a 30 minute ride north we passed 12 hikers and 14 others on bikes. This was on a Wednesday. Later in the afternoon - 6 PM - we returned to New Castle and again experienced an equal amount of trail users. Wonderful example of “Build it and they will come”.
If in the area and want to get a run in, this 4 mile loop around the river is nice. A chance to see some rowing teams is cool. The view of Philly is a pleasant sight when crossing over the bridges at either end.
Rode on the boardwalk through the marsh and over the Christiana bridge today. Very well done! If you start at the beginning of the Rivertrail in Wilmington and go to the turnaround point along the river south of New Castle, it's just shy of 10 miles. My only concern is that the one tunnel is very dark, could be hazardous if there is an object on the trail and you can't see it. Does anyone know if there is a plan to continue south and connect with the canal trail in Delaware City? On the northern side, a bike lane going through downtown Wilmington to the Greenway on the north side of downtown would also be worthy of consideration.
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