Brandywine Creek Hikes

Saturday, we left to take Alex on another epic road trip.  We left super early Saturday morning and drove up north on I-95.  Our first stop was Alapocas Run State Park in Delaware north of Wilmington.  Parking at the ball field, we hiked the Alapocas Woods Trail through the woods.  Soon, we turned at the split onto Pawpaw Loop.  A side trail from here led down to the creek at Brandywine Falls.

It's a waterfall over an old dam, but very scenic.  Also a popular swimming spot, but arriving early, we were the only ones there.

After some pictures, we took the trail back to Pawpaw Trail.

At the end of the short loop, we got back on Alapocas Woods Trail.

Shortly, we took another side trail that led down to the creek at Bancroft Mills.  Most of the historical mill had been converted to apartments, but some of the old building remained.  There were nice views of the creek here.

Continuing along the creek, there was a cool pedestrian bridge over the creek and a very nice sheltered picnic area.  Here, the trail passed the Blue Wall made of the unusual Brandywine blue gneiss.

Where the trail crossed Alapocas Run, I scrambled down to see Alapocas Run Waterfall.

It's a small waterfall, but pretty nice for Delaware as it flows between stone walls.

The climbing area was just past here, the only natural rock climbing wall in the state.

From here, we got on Northern Delaware Greenway Trail and headed towards Blue Barn.  It was a really nice greenway trail through the woods with scenic old stone walls and bridges.

The trail opened up as we got to the Blue Barn.

Sandy used the facilities and then we hiked back.  We took Alapocas Woods Trail to return to the car.

We were getting hungry at this point and went to Catherine Russos for lunch.  We had cheesesteak egg rolls for an appetizer and split the Sheppards Pie and had some drinks.  Then we headed to the Ramsey Street Parking for First State National Historical Park.  Walking down the road we picked up the Brandywine Trail and started following the creek downstream.  Where the trails split, we went right for Creekside Trail.

This trail followed the creek closely with several spots to go out for a view.

The trail entered Brandywine Creek State Park, crossing under Thompsons Bridge.

We hiked as far as Rocky Run and then turned back, following Brandywine Creek Trail on the way back.

Soon we made it back to the car.

From here, we had another fairly long drive, about 2.5 hours up to Newton, New Jersey.  After checking into the hotel, we passed out soon after a very long day.