< kencox design >

With the trails now tucked safely under 2 feet of snow, I decided to update the map to include two of the winter construction projects. There is now a new spectacular bridge crossing Middle Run Creek at the stepping stones. I believe it’s an 85 foot span, and there is plenty of decking beyond that to clear the flood plain. The bridge was assembled by a small army of volunteers during the chill between Christmas and New Years.

The other new addition to the trail system is a connector trail between Lenape and Paper Mill Park which was started near the end of the summer and saw a lot of work in the fall. There used to be a thin trail here which connected Middle Run Crossing development, but it overgrew and was never well engineered to begin with . The new trail begins at a spur off the jogging trail by the pond in Paper Mill Park. It then crosses the marshland into Middle Run Crossing on a long boardwalk, skirts a large pond and dam spillway, and follows the creek through the woods all the way to Lenape. I last walked it in the fall, and it was nearly completed, but there may still be some work to do in the spring before the trail is completely open.

It isn’t often that Delaware gets 2 feet of snow, but if you have a pair of cross country skis tucked in your garage, you’re in for a real winter treat. Many of the woodland trails have been packed by snowshoes and are a fine ski. Now that the fields have crusted over a bit, they are wonderful to ski, and there are numerous tracks to follow. Some trails, such as Judge Morris, have seen enough traffic that they are passable without snowshoes, but please try not to leave deep boot prints on trails which have only seen snowshoe and ski traffic. There is also a popular sledding spot in front of Pike Creek Church if that’s more your speed.

I came across this site called gpstrailsource.com which has used the familiar Google Maps engine to display trail information. Their map of White Clay / Middle Run is quite impressive and very accurate, and even includes technical trail features. If you pan the map a little to the West, you can see the spaghetti of the Fair Hill trail system, and if you slide over to the top of Delaware, you can see Brandywine / Woodlawn. Zooming way out, it looks like this site’s coverage extends from Virginia through Maryland and Delaware only (ok, there’s one listing in New Jersey too). Most of their trail listings are concentrated just west of Washington, DC.

I had considered doing something like this for my White Clay / Middle Run map, and I’m glad to see someone else did the work for me!

While out on a long ride today, I stopped to chat with Dave Bartoo (Park Head-Honcho), and he handed me a brand new official map of the park! It covers the trail systems of White Clay Creek S.P. AND Middle Run, and even the developing Redd Park. All trails are included, and the map is quite easy to read. The large printed map was produced by the White Clay Creek Watershed Management organization (www.whiteclay.org) and is printed on waterproof Yupo paper which can’t be torn. It also includes helpful information on park rules and etiquette, as well as history, directions, and which trails are open to which activities. The information covers the Pennsylvania side of the park as well, and there’s even some info on nearby Fair Hill. The cherry on top is beautiful photography, and top notch graphic design.

Finally, this beautiful park has a proper printed map! Visit the park office (750 Thompson Station Road, Newark, DE) today to pick up your copy.

There are plans to make this new map available online in the future. In the meantime, I’m going to keep my map posted, but this will likely be the final version. Once the official map is available online, I’ll divert traffic to the official map and take mine down.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me produce the Unofficial Trail Map. Your encouraging emails and often surprisingly generous donations really helped me justify the time and effort I spent on the project.

See you on the trails,
< ken >

The Unofficial White Clay Creek & Middle Run Trail Map now includes Redd Park, the City of Newark Property which connects the Newark Reservoir to Middle Run & White Clay. The trail system in Redd Park is still in its infancy so it isn’t buff engineered singletrack (yet), but it is rideable and a potential alternate to slogging up Paper Mill Road if you ride into the park from Newark. Just tread lightly for now and give these non-engineered trails a little extra time after it rains.