First Day Hike 2017
Happy New Year! We celebrated by visiting Brandywine Creek State Park with friends. I was pleased to see that the parking lot was packed and we passed many other families enjoying nature too!
We met at the nature center and headed out on the Indian Springs loop for a nearly 2 mile hike, which turned out to be a bit of a workout toward the end. The terrain in northern DE is quite different than where we live and although the majority of the trail was flat, we did end up hiking up (and down) a fairly steep hill which reminded me just how out of shape I am. Most of the trail was stroller friendly if your kid is okay with a bumpy ride, but that section was definitely not so if you can avoid bringing a stroller, that would be best. Of course, D is a bit lazy so I doubt he would gave made it the whole 1.8 miles without needing to rest or ride so I was glad we had it.
I was so excited when one of my mom friends reached out to me to see if we wanted to do a first day hike together, so she, her hubby, and 3 out of 5 of her boys came along. Her sweet guys have limitless energy combined with an adventurous spirit and took full advantage of Mother Nature’s playground.
Her kids are pro log-flippers as well and they made sure to check them all along the way, when they weren’t balancing on them, that is. The boys loved coming up to the creek and tossing stuff in (just like us!) and in the Summer, I could see them taking their shoes off and wading in to the clear, shallow water to cool off.
It took us about an hour and a half to hike the trail, which was just the right amount of time. Some practical notes… there are NO bathrooms open at the nature center on the weekend. Make sure you go before you come. There is no address for the nature center (that I could find.) If you’re not familiar with the area, getting there can be kind of tricky. The address on Brandywine Creek State Park’s website is 41 Adams Dam Rd. however, that is not where you want to go to get to the nature center. If you are turning on to Adams Dam Rd. from either 100 or 92 and going towards Rockland, the entrance will be on your left. If you follow the GPS it will take you past there for some reason. The blue dot on the map below is where you need to go:
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| Where the GPS will take you (left) and where you need to go (right) |
Despite the navigation and bathroom issues, we had a great time and will have to visit when the nature center is open sometime!
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| Can you tell which kids are mine?? LOL |
We will definitely have to do this again! It was so great to enjoy one of our favorite things with another adventurous family!