Find the top rated hiking trails in Delaware, whether you're looking for an easy short hiking trail or a long hiking trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a hiking trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
This trail is wonderful in fall, beautiful foliage.
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.
It was called industrial trail and that’s a good name. You go behind manufacturing plants, landfills, and swamps full off tall grass. Not pretty. They spent a bazillion dollars on a crappy “boardwalk “ over some swamp. Lock your bike SECURLY if you leave it for only a few minutes. It WILL disappear....
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.
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.
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”.
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.
This is one of my favorite trails so far here in Delaware. I appreciated being able to go pretty continuously without stopping at a light except for one. The signage was a bit confusing as there were multiple locations with trail intersections that were not the Greenway Trail. Also, there is a 2.5 mile marker at Ge intersection with the Cauffield House but the bike Raül ends abruptly. Whether this is due to trail erosion or unclear signage, I was frustrated that there are apparently 2 miles of trail that does not exist. For that reason I am marking g down to a 4, otherwise the varied landscape and hills intermixed with flat areas and thick trees was fantastic.
Eager to finish the route once it goes through to Wilmington!
I've never walked this end to end but have walked the various sections many times over. My favorites are Alapocas and Rockwood. Great scenery along the way. Can't wait til the expansion to New Castle opens!
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