Brandywine Creek State Park

Delaware – Monday, October 22

4:00am came all too soon, but Taryn was packed up, and the train station was only about 10 minutes away, so she started her very long travel day without a hitch. I went back to sleep! It seemed to take me a while to get going – catching up with a few things after a busy weekend.

Since I was in the northern part of the state, I decided to head for the high point of Delaware (one of the things I wanted to do since it’s the “official” state for next year.) It was located right near the Pennsylvania border in New Castle County – not too far north of Wilmington. Delaware’s highest point is the second lowest “high point” in the country – only 448 feet. Only Florida’s high point is lower, and I was there back in 2004 back when I started my annual state trips.

I wanted to make a donation up there in northern Delaware, so I looked into some food pantry possibilities. There were several in the area, so I made a few phone calls and the first 2 just went to voicemail. The third phone call was to the New Knollwood Community Center which has a food closet, and this time I talked to a person who said they would be happy to get any non-perishable goods. So I found a grocery store, and got some stuff like cereal and oatmeal, tuna and peanut butter, and soup and canned veggies, and mac and cheese. Then I drove to Claymont, right at the northeast corner of the state, where the community center was located. The guy who met me there told me a little about the town – it’s a steel mill town and the community is basically housing for the steel mill workers. It sounds like the Knollwood Community Center is able to provide some services that are needed by the town’s residents. It’s always nice to hear a bit about the area that I’m in.

I hadn’t done much walking yet today, and both Tula and I were ready to cover some miles! I headed for Brandywine Creek State Park, which was still in northern Delaware, and we walked 4 miles on trails in the main part of the park. The soil there was very rocky (which probably accounted for all the old stone fences I saw!) and the trail was full of rocks and roots, so it was a bit of a slow go – I had to watch my step a bit. But it was a beautiful afternoon and good to be out in it. The guy at the entry booth told me there was another trail in a different part of the park down the road a few miles, and I drove past that, and we stopped and walked another 3 miles. This was part of a roughly 10 mile trail called the Northern Delaware Greenway, and it ran along a creek. It must be close to a high school because a lot of school kids were out jogging – I’m assuming they were on a track or cross-country team. And there were quite a few other walkers, joggers and bikers. This trail wasn’t nearly as rocky, and I enjoyed it more than the first one. Because of my slow start in the morning, I’m a mile short with my walking today, but don’t think I’ll have trouble making it up!

By this time, it was starting to get dark, and since the weather was nice, I was finally able to camp again! I drove a ways to Lum’s Pond State Park, and got set up, and was happy it was so nice out.