DE Trap Pond State Park - Bob Trail Loop

 2022 52-Hike Challenge #26 : Trap Pond State Park, Bob Trail Loop (Inner) 5.5 mi.

Laura and I have been hiking together since we were in high school, so, as sisters, we seem attuned to when its time for our next hike together and such was this past Labor Day Saturday. Laura had an urge and I had an urge so we decided to take our chances at a popular Delaware State Park and see what the hiking would be like on one of the most crowded weekends of the year. Besides cutting through a packed and noisy campground, the rest of our five-and-a-half mile walk on the Bob Trail, Connector, and Cypress Point Trails was blissfully uncrowded and beautiful.

Intersection points well marked

Low water on Trap Pond

There are no natural lakes in Delaware but the biggest ones are related to the thriving saw mill industry once found in the First State. Trap Pond once supplied water to a variety of mills that operated at the outflow from the mid-1700s. Surrounding the lake is a dense and beautiful cypress swamp with Bald Cypress being one of the most prized lumber types for those early mills. Nowadays the mills are gone but the Cypress forest continues its remarkable return. With the help of a new dam in the 1930s under the CCC and Rural Resettlement Program under FDR's administration, the area became Trap Pond State Park.

Ironwood, Ostrya virginiana

In addition to the Cypress, we noted American Holly, Loblolly Pine, Ironwood, Beech, Sweetgum, Swamp White Chestnut Oak, Laurel Oak, Tulip Poplar, and White Cedar. While the water is very low it was interesting to see how the Cypress knees formed their own forest in the leafy mud plains.  The sun was a little lower in the afternoon sky and lent a beautiful slanted yellow light to the forest. Walking on a carpet of Loblolly Pine needles we traveled almost silently through the woods.

Cypress "knees" in their own small forest 

The stars of our hike were the many Cypress trees with their feathery foliage, wide buttresses, and "knees" standing proud of the forest floor. The woody knees grow up from the roots in wet areas and help the tree stabilize in softer soils. When cypress grow on higher ground they do not send up these woody projections but down in the swamp were everywhere. We were hiking at the northern-most range limit of naturally growing Taxodium distichum and it is always a thrill to see such healthy, intact stand just a few hours from my home.  Bald Cypress are planted north of here as specimen trees in landscaping and parks, but to witness a naturally occurring, mature Cypress Swamp, you have come south.

Natural range of Bald Cypress

Unlike other trees that have needles instead of leaves, there are few coniferous species that shed their needles come autumn. Bald Cypress is one, however, and in more northerly regions the Larch or Tamarack is the other. In a few months time the grand Cypress swamp at Trap Pond will shed its canopy and grow a new one in the spring. We look forward to coming back and hiking here in late fall or winter and taking the longer outer loop on the Bob Trail to compare the summer swamp with the winter swamp. I sense a camping trip coming on.

Bethesda Church is getting a make-over!

A spur trail leads out of the woods to the cemetery and grounds of the Bethesda Church that faces out on to vast agricultural fields. Last time I was here a few years ago the church was in dire need of some attention. There were broken windows, a crumbling chimney, and a roof in need of repair. Happily we came out to quite a sight! A volunteer was painting the corner columns and was happy to tell us that things are moving ahead for this important community house of worship, still in use, and now part of the conserved lands and landmarks of Delaware State Parks. The newly installed historical panels shows a picture of the structure in 2000 and more recently while undergoing a complete restoration. What a treat to see this!

Photo credit: Laura Weldon

We were pleasantly surprised, too, by the community of skinks and lizards living in on the edge of the old graveyard and of course we had to stop and gawk at them. An Eastern Fence Lizard was posturing in front of a young Five-Lined Skink by poofing out its bright blue belly and throat pouch and bobbing its head. The Five-Lined Skink, sporting a bright blue break-way tail, seemed  bored with its challenger, giving it a skinky side-eye while continuing to enjoy its warm, sunny perch. 

Five-Lined Skink

I noted how different the Eastern Fence Lizard is from the Northern Fence Lizard (which is the species I am more familiar with up in PA). The Eastern is less sharp-scaled, almost smooth with pigmented scale patterns making up its excellent camouflage. The Northern Fence Lizard has an abundance of pointy-out/sticky-up scales that give it a rough appearance while its patterned scales are arranged in a double row of forward pointed Vs. 

Eastern Fence Lizard (DE)

Northern Fence Lizard (NJ)

Nearby on a gravestone was a tiny hatchling Eastern Fence Lizard baby maybe two inches long and I wondered if the adult Fence Lizard was warning the Five-Lined Skink away from its young? No idea, but it was a treat to meet a baby lizard up close - close enough to see the sparkle in his little eye, unsure what to make of this big lumbering creature cooing over it, "You're so cuuuuuuute!"

Hatchling Eastern Fence Lizard

Our hike continued from the church back to the main path and down into the heart of the swamp drainage basin crossing a dry forest floor on a high boardwalk that at other times of the year would have water flowing beneath it. Gone are the spectacular Prothonotary, Yellow, and Northern Parula Warblers of the spring. Now the woods are crackling dry and the stream a mere trickle. Fall is here and the great migrations of warblers south is underway. We heard a number of resident Pileated Woodpeckers, Carolina Wrens, and Titmouse but the spring riot of birdlife is now gone. 

Boardwalk over a dry swamp

Raccoon tracks and a trickle that is Thompson Branch

We soon came upon the cabins and campground, fully occupied for the last weekend of summer. The rustic cabins in the midst of cypress knees and loblolly glades were lovely but we hurried through the campground with its noise and big rigs and busy-ness. But - it wasn't long before I was looking into booking a quiet winter weekend in one of the older cabins - more on that in December! We crossed the dam walkway and were back at our start at the historic picnic grounds and gads of people laughing, singing, playing games, kayaking, and eating. And, wonder of wonders - a Rita's shaved ice truck!

Nice water bottle ya got there!

Notes:

Interpretive Ranger William Koth has a nice blog piece about the history of Trap Pond, here: https://destateparks.blog/2020/04/22/history-of-trap-pond-state-park/

Delaware State Parks, Trap Pond website: https://destateparks.com/TrapPond

Trails map for Trap Pond https://destateparks.com/wwwroot/maps/trap-pond/TrapPondMap.pdf