Trap Pond State Park

Since we’ve had some adventures in Northern and Central DE, I figured it was time to take a ride a little farther south and check out Trap Pond State Park. Yet another place I (or my husband) had never been to, and he’s lived in DE his entire life!

The woods in Southern DE are very different from Northern DE, in fact Trap Pond is “famous” for having the Nothernmost stand of bald cypress trees. Before you read this blog, you may have just walked through the park and not even noticed these trees but I am going to tell you why they are super cool and why you should check them out.

1) They can live, and thrive, in water! It is so bizarre to see a tree growing in the middle of a body of water.

2) They produce “knees” which are root structures that stick up out of the ground and water surrounding the tree. 

3) They are a deciduous conifer. This means that they produce cones like pine trees, and other evergreens, but they lose all their leaves in the winter.

This time of year, most of the trees in the forest are bare and much of the wildlife has migrated or gone in to hibernation so you may wonder what is left to see on your late fall/winter outdoor adventures. There is still lots to discover and learn! 

One of my favorites to find are berries. They are an essential food source for birds in particular, but other animals as well during the colder months. It can be fun to see how many different colors of berries you can find on your hike. Red, blue, yellow, purple, orange and even white berries can be found in the Delmarva area, but I mostly see red in DE. This is a great opportunity to teach your kids NEVER to eat berries they find in the wild. They can be very appealing to tiny eyes and also very dangerous, even deadly. Here are a few of the most common poisonous berries in our area: 

Pokeweed:               

Holly:

 Bittersweet:

 

These 3 things are EVERYWHERE! I’m sure you’ve had pokeweeds come up in your flowerbeds, they are quite a nuisance to gardeners. Aside from drilling it in to your kids’ brains that they are to never eat berries, it is a good idea to make sure these plants are removed from your yard entirely. Many of the plants that are toxic to humans are also toxic to pets, although pets are less likely to ingest them than curious kiddos. 

At Trap Pond, we found a particularly cool kind of plant with a red berry called wintergreen. You have to look down to see this one because it is an evergreen ground cover that may not be noticeable until it’s bright berries appear. They really stand out against the drab brown leaves that covered the forest floor. 

Speaking of evergreen plants, another cool teachable moment during a late fall hike is on that exact topic! For very little ones, you can begin by explaining that some trees lose their leaves in the colder months and these trees are called deciduous. Trees that retain their leaves throughout winter are called evergreen. For older kids, it could be fun to try to find all the evergreen plants in the forest. See how many different types you can find! They may not be as easy to spot when the deciduous trees are leafed out so this is the perfect time to do this activity. They may find it interesting that there are so many different sizes and shapes of evergreen leaves, and that the “needles” on conifers are actually leaves too! Trees like holly and rhododendrons (and plants like wintergreen) are called broadleaf evergreens. Once your kids are experienced naturalists, challenge them to begin to identify each type of evergreen plant by their foliage. This means you need to learn too parents! 😉 

At trap pond, we located the wintergreen on the Island Trail. On that side of the pond, there is also a nice playground (don’t forget your towels for slide wipe down!) and the nature center. It wasn’t open when we visited on black Friday, but all state parks waived the entrance fee on that day so that was a bonus! 

On the other side of the pond near the camping area, we were attempting to hike the Cypress Point trail but we got lost… It even happens to experienced hikers! The pathways were completely covered with leaves and needles and the trail wasn’t well marked so it wasn’t apparent where we were supposed to go. We ended up wandering around the disc golf course instead of walking close to the water like I planned on. This area was totally different than any parks up North in that there was virtually no underbrush in the woods so you could see straight through and it really made the tall, straight loblolly pines stand out. It was really kind of beautiful! We will have to make a trip back to actually hike the Cypress Point trail and to check out the nature center.