The Riverfront in Wilmington has a beautiful walkway along the Christina River. What a lot of people don’t know is that on the southern end, it keeps on going. All the way through historic New Castle to New Castle’s Battery Park.
Similar to the C&D Canal Trail, the Newark Pomeroy – Landenberg, PA Trail, and the Pomeroy South – James F. Hall Trail, this is a dedicated trail with very few spots that have vehicular traffic.
The bike trail
The north terminus of the Jack A. Markell Trail begins at the intersection of South Market Street / Water Street / Rosa Parks Avenue near the Baltimore and Ohio Train Station in Wilmington. We started at Banks because we were eating there after cycling.
From there the trail and the Wilmington Riverwalk are the same until just after a circular portion of the sidewalk, where there’s a gate.
The trail starts rising significantly, becoming a raised bridge to get over the railroad tracks. At the top of the bridge, there is access to the DuPont Environmental Education Center of Delaware Nature Society. With COVID the nature center has limited hours but there a lot of boardwalk type trails that offer a unique perspective of the Russell Peterson Wildlife Refuge surrounding the center.
At the top, the trail makes a turn to the west, where the boardwalk trail then follows the railroad track that the raised bridge went over.
Following the railroad tracks
After the westbound boardwalk trail ends, there’s a left bend the turns the trail from west to south. This part of the trail is an abandoned rail.
Once back on the paved path, there is a bridge over the Christina River. The views are surprising beautiful, and there are turn offs to enjoy the view.
The trail traverses to-through a state complex which includes a Potter’s Field and prison on the right.
After the prison you cross the prison entrance road and go through a small wooded section.
The Tunnel Section
Wait, there are tunnels? Considering the path of the trail, this should not be surprising. Three tunnels to be exact.
The first is a short one underneath New Sweden Street.
The short wooded section leads you to the tunnel under I-295. There’s a 90 degree left turn at the end of the tunnel, so keep an eye out for others when traveling in either direction. From there the trail is bounded by the retaining wall for I-295 and the Chelsea Estates subdivision.
After a short uphill ride, there’s a tunnel under State Route 13. Shortly after that tunnel, there’s a pretty large parking area that hikers/bikers can take advantage of.
The Industrial Section
At the end of the second tunnel is the industrial area. Shortly you’ll come across a couple of major road crossings. But don’t fret. They are well marked and each comes with a button to push that alerts oncoming traffic that someone is crossing.
Despite it being industrial, it’s actually pretty quiet through this section, even during the week.
The Residential Section
Nothing much going on here except the rider or hiker is in back of a lot of houses. The trail is connected to the neighborhoods but only in a couple of places due to the differences of elevation between the rail trail and the subdivisions.
The Nature Section
Here’s where the trail traverses some wetlands. There’s also a small bridge over the Broad Dyke Canal. There’s even a bench to sit on and enjoy the view.
New Castle – Battery Park
After crossing Delaware Street, you’ll travel through a small neighborhood.
Ultimately you end up going through the historic section of the City of New Castle, DE. There’s a lot of history to take in and if you are inclined to take the time it’s well worth it.
There’s even a bike station and public bathroom facilities (bathrooms are at the end of the brick walk in the second picture).
At the end is Battery Park on the water of the Delaware River. The view of the river is extraordinary river. The Kalmar Nyckel was even there.
Practical stuff
Parking on either end is plentiful and free during the day. On the Riverfront, there’s dedicated trail parking and if that’s full, the shopping center and stadium nearby that have plenty of parking, except when there’s an event occurring.
In New Castle, there’s a decent sized parking area that allows walking and biking access to both the trail and the city center. On the weekends it will most likely fill up at Battery Park since there are less spaces there.
There’s a small section of the trail where bikers are required to share the road with motor vehicles. In some places there’s kind of a bike lane, others not. Having done this trail a couple times, the traffic isn’t too bad and cars/trucks have been politely sharing so far.
Courtesy rule – whether you’re cycling or hiking there’s a fair amount of people to look out for in both directions. Keep your eye out and yield as required. This trail in particular, we’ve noticed a large number of folks who take up the entire path requiring some special maneuvering.