Hike #678; White Clay Creek

 Hike #678; White Clay Creek

White Clay Creek Loop with Michele Valerio, Brandan Jermyn, Eric Pace, David "Captain Soup" Campbell, Jaque Melo, Bill Kuhfuss, Susan  Mary, Mary Toomey, Rob Creamer, John Bradford Ladutko, Terri Erbacher Alvarado, Oscar, Stephen Argentina, and Jillane Becker.

The group on the Mason Dixon Trail, formerly the Pomoroy Railraod at this point.

My next hike would be a point to point both in Pennsylvania and Delaware. I stayed in Newar, DE the night before to get to the hike. This was one of the furthest section hikes I'd done from home, but it was well worth it. The park was quite beautiful.

We met at 8:30 to begin our loop hike at the parking lot on Sharpless Road, PA's White Clay Creek Preserve, where we left off the previous time on the Mason Dixon Trail. My plan would be to make a loop with it and other trails all around the park. It was cool to see old friends I hadn't seen in some time, as well as new ones. The two newcomers, Oscar and Steve were really cool and handled the mileage with no problem.We began by following the Mason Dixon Trail south along White Clay Creek. It was beautiful from the start. The narrow foot path along the river weaved between giant Sycamore and Poplar trees, as well as the occasional White Oak. We could see across the creek the abandoned right of way of the railroad the trail followed for a short while the previous hike. I found out this time that it was the Pomoroy Railroad, or Pomoroy and Newark, which was abandoned back in 1929. It was abandoned any of it still existed. An interpretive sign read that the line was known locally as the "Pumpsie Doodle", much to our amusement.I was hoping to cross the creek at the end of the hike on Yeatman's Station Road, but the site is a ford crossing, with no bridge. The abutments only remained. I had to change the hike a bit at our next rest stop.

The foot path led us to a woods road, which led out to the right toward Sharpless Road again. The Mason Dixon Trail crossed foot bridges, then climbed steps to the old road, and followed it along the creek. We continued on the trail following the old road to the state line, where we entered Delaware's White Clay Creek State Park. Both properties were mostly donations from the Dupont Family, for whom much of Delaware's history is closely related. Actually named E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, it was founded in 1802 at a mill on the banks of the Brandywine Creek near Wilmington. One of the nations top chemical producers throughout history, the name has been associated with both environmental controversy as well as eco-friendly chemical substitudes.

After entering Delaware, we turned left on a foot path closer to the White Clay Creek, now in a deeper gorge. A short distance through, we reached a former railroad bridge site where the Pomoroy Railroad became the trail for a short distance. The bridges the line used to cross the creek, both up stream and down, were quite low. It must have been a nightmare during flood stages.

The trail turned left off of the rail bed, then followed the shore of the creek for a time. It eventually crosses or follows it again, but I can't remember seeing the next set of bridge abutments. We followed edges of fields as well, and came to Chambers Rock Road and a small parking lot. The trail followed the entrance lane, then followed a foot path into the woods close to the creek again. There were some nice huge trees, as well as some open areas along the creek. There was one giant root ball laying in the creek at one point. The trail skirted a field and followed the creek down stream and reached Creek Road, apparently drivable at this point where there is more parking and a couple buildings. We followed it down across Hopkins Road. I missed the guide where the Mason Dixon Trail turns left and crosses the creek on a new foot bridge, so we all continued on closed off Creek Road, which was nice enough. It was the former trail route anyway, and still bore some blue blazes.

We stayed on the old road, which was paved, down to a new foot bridge over the creek, built on the abutments of the Pomoroy Railroad bridge crossing. Piers in the river held no weight of the bridge, which was placed higher above flood level. This is where the Mason Dixon Trail returns to it's regular route. We turned left here and followed it back up stream across the bridge, and along the Pomoroy railroad bed.

We continued back to the bridge, and then reached Hopkins Road once more. We turned right and followed Hopkins up hill for a while. Mary and I laughed as I impersonated some of our friends with distinct voices, and talked about my expulsion from Appalachian Mountain Club in 2008.

When we reached Thompson Station Road, we crossed at an angle and bushwhacked up hill to the right, after crossing a fence. This led us shortly to the Whitely Farms Trail. We turned right on it and began the loop to the south. The trail had gradual ups and downs, with lots of turns. They have obviously been built and were maintained by mountain bikers. They were not happy looking when they saw us hiking, flying around the corners nearly to crash into us. We took a break at a log that had the top cut off for riding over.

We continued on, as the trail led out across fields, then to a parking area where we got some maps. We continued around the edge of the Whitely Farms Trail back to Pleasant Mill Road (which becomes Hopkins to the west), and paralleled it until a connector trail crossed the road to the right. This led us to the David English Trail. We followed it to the right.

This trail too looped around old farm lands and nice woods with some giant trees. There were really nice bridges as well. The trails were easy to follow and well groomed despite the fact that they do not use international standard blazes. The trail soon paralleled the upper, less used part of Thomson Station Road, just into the woods, and led us around to some interpretive center near the corner of Chambers Rock Road. We took a short break, then crossed the little old bridge over White Clay Creek to return to the Mason Dixon Trail, which we'd have to backtrack to the north. Jillane joined us for the last leg here.

We followed the trail to the parking lot and said our goodbyes. It was a long trip back for everyone. Jillane and I walked Sharpless Road and passed an abandoned house, then visited the London Tract Quaker Friends Meeting House and cemetery which had some enormous trees. We then walked the Mason Dixon Trail and one of the old roadways south back to the parking lot. We also headed south along the river for a bit and cut back through fields.I will definitely be revisiting this excellent park in the future. We found that it is quicker to drive to the southern end as well, so a future hike will be planned out of Newark, DE!