4/21/13 Newark Delaware Loop with Conrad Blease, Teresa Montes, Brandan Jermyn, Amanda Murphy, Jason Kumpas, Guiseppe Di Caro, Julie Valasquez, Terri Erbacher, Oscar Alvaredo, Stephen Argentina, Krisanne Pederson, Bill Kuhfuss, Daniel Yu, Robert Blaine McDowell Jr., Gary Kiefer, Dani-Ella Betz, Bob W?, Rudrakiha Pattan?
group shot at University of DE.
Our next tour would be of the area around Newark, Delaware, and the next in the southbound series to cover the entire Mason Dixon Trail and it's surroundings. The route ended up being quite scenic, relaxing, and beautiful beyond what I thought it would be.
Our day started at the Newark Shopping Center. We all gathered by the Good Will store, with hopes that it would be open. I thought maybe everyone would be able to get some leisure suits, the posted theme for this one, but I ended up being the only one to show up in one unfortunately.
We had a group of twenty, which was again surprising for being so far south compared to our normal jaunts. It was also cool to have Conrad and Teresa back out with us after so long.
From the parking lot, we were able to walk directly to the rail trail, the Pomeroy Newark Rail Trail. This rail line was constructed in the 1850s to connect Pomeroy, Pennsylvania, on the Pennsylvania Railroad's main line with Newark, and east to Delaware City. It was reorganized several times during it's existence, but passenger service ended in 1928, and abandonment of the line altogether began in 1936. Sections of it at the north and south ends remained open for many years, some until as late as 1976 and 1980, and the part in the city of Newark itself until 1999, after which it was converted to rail trail.
The trail was paved and had historic markers along the way, complete with nice lights. It also didn't appear to close at night as per the signage. Newark is actually a very pedestrian friendly city. Murals were panted on the walls as we went by, with one of a guy and a boom box being watched by a cat, and another strange one that looked like a creeper Chuck Norris taking a picture of some guy from behind a tree, which Oscar and I laughed about.
We followed the rail trail south out of town to where it used to join with the main rail line, now Amtrack, which I think was associated originally with Pennsylvania Railroad and/or Baltimore and Ohio. We could see where the junction would have been, where now the Pomeroy Rail Trail joins with the James F. Hall Trail, another multi use trail that connects three city parks: Phillips, Lewis, and Kells. It was named for the late former Newark Parks Director, and travels parallel with the active tracks.
We passed through a park and everyone played on equipment and such, and we visited the old Newark train station, now the home to an historic society. I was surprised also to see that this was the route of the East Coast Greenway Trail, which we'd been on many other times and in many other locations. It really brought it home even more.
We turned off at College Ave, and climbed steps to follow that road to the south. We then cut to the left on some paths into University of Delaware Property, where Amanda went to school. There were some nice big trees here, Willow Oaks as I recall. We followed a couple of paths, crossed parking lots, and headed out across their fields to an access road south. We then followed the berm to a retention pond and a gravel road through a swath of woods parallel with Rt 4. We took a group photo on the bleachers, then took a path out of a field area to cross Rt 4, and enter the Robscott Manor development via their access road. Directly across their entrance was Robscott Manor Park, a greenway route we would follow further south.
A small tributary and a couple of foot bridges were in the area, as well as a neat rope swing I had to try out. The creek was tiny, but made for a nice greenway buffer. We crossed on one foot bridge from what was pretty much a wide open grassy park to a foot path, which led us to one of the development roads. We turned right, heading west here. We got talking about how I always see four leaf clovers, and how I'd found at least one every day that week so far except this day. I then felt under the gun to find one, and of course when I'm looking I can never find them. I looked for a while here.
We made our way out to College Ave again, and crossed to a gas station where we could get some snacks. We then headed south along the edge of the highway, which had a narrow shoulder. We headed south to cross I-95 on the road overpass. The original road route, Old Cooches Bridge Road, was just to the east of us. The area we entered was a famous spot in Delaware history; the only battle of the American Revolution fought in the state of Delaware was the Battle of Cooches Bridge.
On the other side of 95, we cut up hill steeply off trail into the woods off of the exit ramp, near the no pedestrians sign, and made our way to an abandoned older road route. We turned right on the road route and entered Iron Hill Park.
Iron Hill, while not the highest point in Delaware (the highest point is the piedmont location in New Castle County next to the PA boundary, called
During the Battle of Cooch's Bridge in September 1777, General George Washington ascended the hill, which at the time was denuded of trees, to observe the enemy. The hill is named for it's iron deposits. Although low quality, the hill was mined for nearly 200 years, and ore was smelted at somewhat nearby Principio Furnace. The hill shows up on maps as early as the 1600s. It is a piedmont outcropping igneus intrusion on the edge of the inner coastal plane.
The trail led us down hill through some nice woods. The trees were gaining leaves much more than the ones back home. There was also a great underlying layer of Skunk Cabbage, which Stephen saw fit to pick and smell (ewwww). The trail led back down to a power line clearing near I-95, turned left, then right to cross the bridge to the left.
On the other side, just a little beyond was the entrance to Folk Memorial Park. We took a break at the entrance. Mason Dixon Trail continues through the park following paved paths. I looked around for Four Leaf Clovers since we had a minute and found one. Everybody seemed to be looking for them at this point. Oscars girlfriend Jio wanted one, so I gave it to him to give to her. After finding the one, I gave up looking.
We continued around the west side of the park, and Mason Dixon Trail turned left on a narrower path to Cobblefield Court, a development road. There were no good blazes from here. We could see blue paint on the curbs, so we followed them up hill to the left to a cul de sac, but saw nothing. We ended up having to turn back, and then followed Cobblefield Drive out to Chestnut Hill Road where we realized the trail turned right. We followed the route down hill along the road, and then turned left into Rittenhouse Park along the Christina River, also known as Christiana Creek on some sites.
The section of Mason Dixon Trail from here for the next several miles was outstanding, with fine views of the creek and woodland around. At times, homes were close to the creek, but never encroached too much. We continued along the route on the very pleasant foot paths with some board walks and bridges along the way, and eventually passed beneath the railroad tracks. Some of the group went up and over, apparently not knowing that the trail did not do so. Blazing wasn't always the best in this area, but it was somewhat obvious the route along the creek. I ended up carrying Terri and Krisanne over the creek while others mostly waded through.
There was a giant pipe across the creek, which Oscar, Stephen, and Jason all went to explore. I wish I'd gone with them, it looked cool in pictures.
There was one point where the trail came out to a busted chain link fence and followed a seldom used gravel roadway, and Jason Kumpas and I went ahead to make sure it was the correct route. The others opted to make this the lunch break in our absence, and it ended up being quite the perfect little spot. No bugs, newly green leaves and the sound of birds everywhere. I arrived to find the group sipping red wine out of nice glasses courtesy of Bill, and sharing cheeses and trail mixes. Despite the lack of leisure suits, Bill made up for it by adding some class! I must say that the Christina River stretch was one of the most relaxing stretches of trail I'd been on. In fact, the Mason Dixon Trail as a whole, with every stretch I'd been on has been quite relaxing. I'm hoping my upcoming backpack with Jillanes proves to be so as well.
We continued along the trail following the creek a few miles, crossing a few roads and under more railroad tracks until we reached Nottingham Road. I think then we crossed and followed Delrem Drive to Windsor Drive to Country Club Drive out to New London Road. We stopped at a Rite Aid I think it was on the corner for a break and restrooms. The road walking on this was not bad at all. It was very short and went by quite fast.
After Rite Aid, we crossed to Fremont Road, and soon turned right off of it to an access road to some sort of power thing, then turned left on a foot path to descend into the valley of White Clay Creek.
The trail emerged on Creek Road, which is seasonally open to traffic. We did see a few cars this time. We turned left and followed the trail north on Creek Road, which is built on the right of way of the old Pomeroy Railroad here, and when the rail bed turned right to cross the creek where we were on the last visit, we continued on Creek Road out to the next foot bridge up.
We crossed on the foot bridge, and Conrad and I opted to run the entire distance, 0.8 mile, back to the previous foot bridge, on the old Pomeroy Rail bed. We actually both handled it quite well, considering neither of us had been seriously running for quite some time. I even continued from the bridge to run out a boardwalk to the left to see where the trail went, so I ended up covering a mile, much to my satisfaction. Conrad could have done it.
When I returned to the bridge, I stripped down to my boxers and took a dip in the White Clay Creek, which was quite inviting, and refreshing.
From here, we crossed the bridge, and we turned off official trail to follow the unmarked foot paths closer to the creek. We came out to a scenic dam, which appeared to be quite old for a break. I walked across the crest of the dam to take some pictures.
We made our way from here back to the old Creek Road, and when the Pomeroy Rail Trail turned away from it, we followed. The trail exited White Clay Creek State Park and entered University of Delaware land, and became paved. We followed it easily through a nice cut and then on into town, beneath the railroad tracks. Some headed back to their cars, but the rest of us went to a Mediterranean eatery for some food. I was rather happy with the stuff. Hiking 15+ miles always tends to work up a king's hunger.
We wandered back over to the cars feeling quite satisfied.
The route was lovelier than I though it would be, and the group was excellent. Everyone handled it with no complaints, and Oscar's friend Rob didn't even realize we were going for a hike until he got out of the car!
What a great feeling it is to know I can travel so far and still have so many show up, and have a great time.
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