Best Green Getaway: White Clay Creek State Park

by James Adams Smith

Issue date: 5/20/08 Section: Mosaic

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Media Credit: Justin Bleiler

Between the students rushing across campus and local residents fighting for parking spaces downtown, Newark is far from a "sleepy college town." For those in need of a little fresh air, an escape to nature lies right beyond Laird campus, up North College Avenue.

Since its founding in 1968, White Clay Creek State Park has grown from its original 24 acres to a sweeping 3,384 acres of natural beauty. Hikers, fishers and mountain bikers visit the park regularly to escape the hustle and bustle of urban sprawl.

Rich Hartz, a massage therapist from Wilmington, prepares his Trek mountain bike for morning rides on the park's trails.

"It's a little mix of everything, as far as scenery goes," he says. "On a dry day, this trail would be packed with bikers and hikers. There are two ponds out this way. In some parts you can get lost. It's pretty phenomenal."

Hartz says the trails are well kept. He comes out to the park every two weeks and sometimes once a week.

According to the park's Web site, it has a partnership among the state government and private groups to conserve the natural environment and keep it clean.

A group of six, all wearing yellow reflective vests, walk one of the park's highways picking up trash. Karl Kaminski, with his group from Newark Lions Club, volunteers three times a year through the Department of Transportation's Adopt-a-Highway.

"Everybody gets about a two-mile stretch," Kiminski says. "Our group is a little bit older, so we don't want to be doing something like 295. Working in this park is safer. We want to make the parks clean."

The park has 37 miles of trails, such as the Twin Valley Trail, which leads to the Arc Corner Monument - one end of the curved boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Other recreational activities in the park include camping, disc golf, geocaching, horseback riding, bird watching, hunting, swimming and surf fishing. Winter activities include sledding and cross-country skiing.

Local sheet metal mechanic Lance Sentman says he often escapes from work to go fishing in the park with friends.

"I come fishing here from April until October," he says. "It starts out with the trout season and as it starts getting sunny, you start getting bass."

To these visitors of the park, White Clay Creek State Park is an obvious getaway.

"It's well taken care of," Sentman says. "It's a beautiful park."

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