Will be in Delaware (Glasgow/Newark) for work the first week in March. Where to run?

Traveling for Work wrote:

I will be there 3-5 March for work. Any good places to run? Does it typically snow there this time of year for Delaware?

Thanks.

It depends. It's been awfully snowy this year but you never know. White Clay Creek park is a great place to run. You can easily run 20+ miles on trails there.

Although it has been about 7 years since I have been there, I loved running in Iron Hill Park. They have great trails. I don't recall how I got there, but it is off Whitaker Road (always remembered that because of Forest Whitaker). I recall taking that road all the way to the top, where you can park.It was worth the drive there.

Traveling for Work wrote:

I will be there 3-5 March for work. Any good places to run? Does it typically snow there this time of year for Delaware?

Thanks.

Go up from North College Avenue at Main St in Newark, across railroad tracks and then across Cleveland Avenue. You will enter the White Clay Creek Preserve which will take you up into Pennsylvania. As long as you stay on the west side of the White Clay Creek you can't get lost. Very, very nice place to run, I've run there hundreds of times.

WCC SP is definitely the pace to go in Newark. If you follow the above directions you'll end up on the far left side of the linked map hugging the WCC. The park connects to adjacent parks as shown. I'd ignore the above advice and get lost. The only tricky part that confuses people is that the creek splits into 2 branches. And sometimes people cross one branch and when they encounter the other branch they convince themselves that they need to cross it to return to the original side. Just pay attention to upstream/downstream and it really doesn't matter which side or branch you're on you'll eventually find your way back. There are bridges every mile or two.

http://www.kencox.net/map.html

For non-trail running, there is either Delcastle Park (off McKennan's Church Rd) with a paved loop ~1.75 mi or there is a park in Glasgow off of Rt 40 between 72 and 896 -- I am not sure how long that path is, as I have never actually run there, but what I have heard is that it's maybe 2-2.5 mi around? Another park, non-paved, where you are not likely to get lost is Carousel Farm Park, parking areas off Limestone Rd. or Skyline Dr. are easy to access, loop around the outside is a little short of 3 mi I think but there are a couple routes through it to make it a little more interesting (and if you want something hilly).

My favorite place to run is where others have suggested -- White Clay Creek State Park / Middle Run natural area. You will probably encounter the occasional walker/runner/birder and mountainbikers (even now) but often I feel like I am in my own personal woods especially if the weather isn't nice. Many trails, opportunity for however many miles you want to do without much looping, can be quite hilly in parts. It is snowy there right now but I'm hoping that before the time the OP is in the area, it will have warmed up and the snow will have melted. Of course it will probably then be a sloppy mess but that's part of the fun sometimes.

Been there too wrote:

WCC SP is definitely the pace to go in Newark. If you follow the above directions you'll end up on the far left side of the linked map hugging the WCC. The park connects to adjacent parks as shown. I'd ignore the above advice and get lost. The only tricky part that confuses people is that the creek splits into 2 branches. And sometimes people cross one branch and when they encounter the other branch they convince themselves that they need to cross it to return to the original side. Just pay attention to upstream/downstream and it really doesn't matter which side or branch you're on you'll eventually find your way back. There are bridges every mile or two.

http://www.kencox.net/map.html

There are only two bridges across the White Clay Creek proper above Newark in Delaware, one at Hopkins Road and the other at Chambers Rock. It is a lengthy circuitous route on the east side of the creek to the next bridge which crosses the EAST branch that ends above the Chambers Rock bridge (at Broad Run Road).

Avoid running on Thompson Station Road - it has a lot of blind hills and no shoulders.

Nope. There's one at Sharpless road to get you over one of the branches (as you mentioned). Then a new footbridge (opened at least a year ago) about another half mile further up that will cut you over to the area adjacent to Yeatman's mill rd. If you keep going north, there's another at Broad Run rd, but you don't want to cross this as there's no entrance back into the park on the other side without going up Watkins Mill road, then back down Yeatman's mill.

On the Newark side of Hopkins, there are two foot bridges. There are plenty of opportunities to cross sides.

Been there too wrote:

Nope. There's one at Sharpless road to get you over one of the branches (as you mentioned). Then a new footbridge (opened at least a year ago) about another half mile further up that will cut you over to the area adjacent to Yeatman's mill rd. If you keep going north, there's another at Broad Run rd, but you don't want to cross this as there's no entrance back into the park on the other side without going up Watkins Mill road, then back down Yeatman's mill.

On the Newark side of Hopkins, there are two foot bridges. There are plenty of opportunities to cross sides.

Oh yes, that new bridge is by Yeatmann's Station solves that gap doesn't it?

I can remember biking (before it was prohibited) and other times hiking the east trail along the White Clay Creek many years ago and cursing that I had to go all the way up to Yeatmann's and Watson Mill to Broad Run to Sharpless to get to London Tract.