Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

White Clay Creek (Delaware)....Frickin Sweet!

1K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  God of Everything 
#1 ·
I took a ride down to Newark, DE today to hit up White Clay Creek. I had visited this park only once before (last year), and I had a blast, so I figured I would give it another shot. Honestly, today was probably one of the best rides I have ever had in my 13 years of riding. The weather was beautiful, the trails were in pefect condition and everything just went right.

I parked at the lot off of Possum Hollow Rd and jumped onto the Lenape Trail. I followed that and eventually dismounted to cross over Rt. 72, where I jumped onto Bryan's Field Trail. I took a quick spin through the Skills Trail, and then Whitely Connector, which eventually lead me to the Whitely Fields Trail. I followed the Whitely Fields Trail for some time, and eventually took the Bryan's Connector Trail, which dumped me back onto Bryan's Field Trail. From there, I took the Post Mark Cutoff Trail (went around the Mason Dixon Memorial), back to Bryan's Field Trail, back to Lenape and then eventually, back to the parking lot.

What an incredible ride. During my first visit/ride at this park, I didn't do the Whitely Farms Trail, and now, I am sorry that I didn't. Wow! What an awesome ride. I can honestly say, I think Whitely Farms Trail may be my favorite trail in the greater Mid-Atlantic Region (and I've been to a lot!). This trail is absolutely perfect! It's got great flow that I can't describe in words. Passing through the rolling meadows, riding by the farmhouse, going deep into the woods, etc. It's just the perfect trail. In fact, this entire loop today was a perfect ride. I would guess that my entire ride today was in the neighborhood of 4-5 miles, which is rather short, but everything came together today and it was just "one of those rides."

The Delaware Trailspinners (and others) do an amazing job at this park. The trails are without a doubt, some of the best around. Congrats to them! Also, I used Ken Cox' map, which I found to be very helpful and extremely detailed! Thanks Ken!

Next time, I would like to enter the David English area of the park as well, to see what it offers.

Surprisingly, the trails were fairly quiet today. Despite the fact that there were several cars in several of the lots I passed and despite the beautiful weather, I ran into only 2 other riders.

I live about 45 miles away (South Jersey), but in my opinion, it was well worth the 45 minute trip. Anyone within an hour or so of this park that has not yet been, needs to go.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Hey the secret is out! I live right off the boundry line trail (connector to english) and can tell you if you did 5 miles you experienced just the tip of the iceberg.....between judge morris to the boundry there is more than 30 miles of trails, all of it sweet flowing singletrack...yes the delaware trailspinners do a great job...how lucky I am to be so close...and dont forget fair hill right down the road......hands down one of the best riding areas
 
#3 ·
cdale1963 said:
Hey the secret is out! I live right off the boundry line trail (connector to english) and can tell you if you did 5 miles you experienced just the tip of the iceberg.....between judge morris to the boundry there is more than 30 miles of trails, all of it sweet flowing singletrack...yes the delaware trailspinners do a great job...how lucky I am to be so close...and dont forget fair hill right down the road......hands down one of the best riding areas
4-5 miles was a rough guess....no computer on board today and I didn't want to over-estimate. I'll have to try a few additional trails next time I go....

I would love to live so close to such awesomeness! I did Fair Hill once about 4-5 years ago, but comparing the two, I would say the flow of White Clay Creek gives it the extra point. Just my opinion though....

What a great ride.
 
#4 ·
You should get back down to Fair Hill. I love White Clay and all the systems there, but its not as nice as FH if you ask me. The Trail Spinners have done so much in both areas that what you saw 4 years ago will look like new development!!
Dont get my wrong, WC has some twisty stuff that makes you LOL, but you can get all that at FH too.
 
#5 ·
rutkiller,
You are right about Middle Run. I live near you but I work in Delaware and try to bring my bike with me when I can so I can try and grab a quick ride after work. There is nothing by us that compares to MR. I've recently discovered Ceres Park which I really like, but I like MR much better. The other person was right, you only touched a little bit of White Clay. There are alot more fun trails for you to ride. There is Iron Hill Park too which I can't wait to ride.

I've seen you post on here and on other forums, where do you mostly ride? I usually ride at GCC or CCC with my two buddies.
 
#6 ·
Sachem6 said:
rutkiller,
You are right about Middle Run. I live near you but I work in Delaware and try to bring my bike with me when I can so I can try and grab a quick ride after work. There is nothing by us that compares to MR. I've recently discovered Ceres Park which I really like, but I like MR much better. The other person was right, you only touched a little bit of White Clay. There are alot more fun trails for you to ride. There is Iron Hill Park too which I can't wait to ride.

I've seen you post on here and on other forums, where do you mostly ride? I usually ride at GCC or CCC with my two buddies.
I'm in Cherry Hill, so I don't have a ton of options immediatley within my area. I've been to CCC, Cere's Park, Allaire, Clayton, White Clay Creek, etc... CCC is good for a local spin, but I'm not crazy about it. With traffic, it takes me nearly 25 mins to get down there. Another 20 mins and I can ride at White Clay Creek.

I just rode Allaire for the first time about 2 weeks ago...and I wasn't overly impressed. I got lost, it was very sandy, and it was just an all around bad experience.

Although I haven't been this year, I did Cere's park a handful of times last summer and it was nice. I know I didn't see everything, but it was a nice place to ride... I'm sure I will be back before summer is over.

Honestly, if I am going to spend any time traveling in a car to bike, I might as well just go to White Clay Creek. It takes me 25+ mins to get to any of the places I've talked about, so like I said, for an extra 20 mins, I might as well just go to White Clay Creek.

You ride anywhere else?
 
#7 ·
Rutkiller,
If you havent been to Middle Run...do yourself a favor and go....Its pretty sweet....It has a little bit of everything...fast downhills...steep uphills...stream & log crossings...small jumps & corkscrews...much better then White Clay plus more of it !!
 
#8 ·
rutkiller,
I don't really ride too many other places. With a wife and two little boys it's hard to sneek off to new places. Alot of times I ride at night around the streets just to get out and ride which is not real easy to do on a freeride bike. But I guess it's better than sitting around.

I did bring my bike to work today to try and take a quick ride at Iron Hill Park. I'll let you know what it's like.
 
#9 ·
vyper005 said:
Rutkiller,
If you havent been to Middle Run...do yourself a favor and go....Its pretty sweet....It has a little bit of everything...fast downhills...steep uphills...stream & log crossings...small jumps & corkscrews...much better then White Clay plus more of it !!
I hope this doesn't come off as an ignorant question, but isn't Middle Run part of White Clay Creek? I thought they were one in the same? Or did you mean to just hit that part of the trail system? Like I said...only 2 visits there and I'm still trying to get my bearings....

What trail(s) would you recommend at Middle Run?
 
#10 ·
Sachem6 said:
rutkiller,
I don't really ride too many other places. With a wife and two little boys it's hard to sneek off to new places. Alot of times I ride at night around the streets just to get out and ride which is not real easy to do on a freeride bike. But I guess it's better than sitting around.

I did bring my bike to work today to try and take a quick ride at Iron Hill Park. I'll let you know what it's like.
Yeah, I hear ya. I've got a wife and two yellow labs (just like kids) and a full-time job, so it's difficult for me as well. Like you, I will sometimes take a quick spin around the block at night, but it doesn't always fulfill my appetite for riding.

What part of south Jersey are you from?
 
#11 ·
rutkiller said:
I hope this doesn't come off as an ignorant question, but isn't Middle Run part of White Clay Creek? I thought they were one in the same? Or did you mean to just hit that part of the trail system? Like I said...only 2 visits there and I'm still trying to get my bearings....

What trail(s) would you recommend at Middle Run?
Nah, not a bad question. White Clay, Middle Run and Judge Morris Estate are all connected. i live locally and consider then all as one large group - Middle Run is the more "technical" of the group. You can checkout the delawaretrailspinners website for a link to a local map - i dont really have a recommended route however you will want to start off Possum Hollow Rd because its a county parking lot and you wont have to pay.

https://www.bikekinetix.com/images/de/de_maps/middle-run-na.gif

find this map - should give you a decent idea where to go
 
#12 ·
rutkiller,

I live near you. I'm in Haddon Heights. I usually ride around Heights and into Haddonfield just to get out and ride.

The other person is right, Middle Run is a group of trails in White Clay. Those are the trails I like to ride most when I'm able to ride there. If you get the map from the Trailspinners website it shows them on there. It's a great map and very helpful. Like I said, I like the Middle Run trails the best and usually head over to the Bryan's Field trail to ride the skills trail. There are alot more trails all over White Clay I just haven't had the time to ride them all.

I road Iron Hill Park yesterday. It's a pretty cool place to ride, not too many big hills which is good for me due to my 40+ pound bike. Where there are hills they are gradual uphill with some nice downhill runs with mostly rocks and some roots. It's not a very big place only about 5 miles. It's not the kind of place you could spend much time at, not like White Clay. It's a good place for a quick fix.

Maybe I'll see you out on thr trail sometime!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top