Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach us more than we can ever learn from books.
- John Lubbock
August 3 - 8, 2025
Lums Pond State Park is located in Bear, Delaware, very close to the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. The park surrounds Delaware's largest freshwater pond. The area was once home to native American communities living along Georges Creek. The creek was dammed in the early 1700s to support local milling operations. In the early 1800s, while the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal was being built, the pond and surrounding area were bought by the canal company. In 1963 the land was purchased by the state to preserve the area for outdoor recreation.
Lums Pond is one of our favorite places to go camping. There is a lot to do within the park and the surrounding area.
The Campground
The campground is one of the nicest we've ever stayed in. At the time of our stay, there were only 73 full hookup sites and 10 tent sites. However construction was in progress to create more sites, and cabins are expected to be constructed by March of 2027. The current sites are widely spaced around two loops with open fields running behind the sites.
Amenities include a new playground and camp store/laundry room complex and a very nice/clean bath house with private shower rooms along one end of the building. The campground is one of the cleanest we've ever been to. That is thanks in no small part to the several campground hosts scattered around the grounds who do much of the maintenance in the park. Every time we used the bath house it looked like it had just been cleaned!
Warning: Lums Pond is a very popular campground. It can be difficult to get reservations. We were only able to get reservations during the week, which worked for us, but won't work for everyone. But, as mentioned previously, construction was underway to add some more sites to the campground. We're not sure that's a good thing because we like the quiet, small campground feel of the place. But on the other hand, it might make it easier to get a reservation.
As an added note, if you are using your GPS for directions, make sure you enter Lums Pond State Park Campground as the destination. Otherwise you'll be sent to the opposite side of the lake where the main entrance to the park is located.
For a video review of the campground at Lums Pond State Park, click here for our YouTube video.
The Park
There is a lot to keep visitors busy without having to leave the park. In addition to the usual picnicking areas, there's a nature center, a boat rental facility, hiking & biking trails, athletic fields, boat launches, a disk golf course, and an off-leash dog area.
Also located within the park is a Go Ape! Adventure Park with a ziplining and ropes course. They have a separate course just for kids. We did the course on a previous camping trip to the park (when we were a tad younger!) and had a great time, especially on the zip-lines. If you plan to do the course, you should bring along a pair of gloves to protect your hands. But if you forget, they do sell them on-site.
 |
| Summer 2018 |
There are 4 trails in the park. The two largest are the Little Jersey Trail at 7.9 miles, and the Swamp Forest Trail, at 6.9 miles. Both trails circle the lake, but the Little Jersey Trail is a good choice for mountain bikers. We rode it on a previous trip with our gravel bikes with no problem.
The Swamp Forest Trail
We chose to hike the Swamp Forest Trail during this trip, although we had to start our hike on a short stretch of the Little Jersey Trail where it merged with the Swamp Forest Trail due to part of the trail being closed. When the two trails split we headed off onto a narrow track through the forest. There are a lot of bridges and boardwalks to cross as you circle the lake, and there are some nice views of the lake. The trail also passes right under the ropes course for a short distance and takes you past the boat rental shed and a boat launch. After passing over a bridge across the far northwestern arm of the lake, the trail heads back in the direction of the campground's fishing pier and boat launch. It was a very nice hike with plenty of shade and was mostly quiet except for the occasional sound of voices from park visitors.
|
|
|
The Pond
Lums Pond is larger than some lakes we've paddled our kayaks on. The pond covers about 200 acres. So what is the difference between a pond and a lake? Nothing, really! Lakes tend to be larger and/or deeper than ponds, but there are plenty of examples of "ponds" that are larger and deeper than lakes. There aren't any specific rules on naming such bodies of waters, so the only difference between the two is the word you choose to describe them!
 |
| Kayaking route |
The roughly v-shaped Lums Pond stretches west to east and is the largest freshwater pond in the state of Delaware. You can't swim in the pond, but you can rent kayaks or paddle boats to explore the lake and all of its inlets and coves. The pond is also considered the best place for freshwater fishing in the state. Anglers can expect to find largemouth bass, bluegill, crappie, catfish and pickerel in its waters.
We didn't have a Delaware fishing license, but we did bring our own kayaks which we launched from a launching area a very short drive from the campground. We spent about 2.5 hours exploring the lake and watching people zip-line over its surface. We saw a lot of turtles and waterbirds as we made our way around the lake.
|
|
If you'd like to watch a video of our adventures in Lums Pond State Park, please click here for our YouTube Video of the highlights.
Area Attractions
One of the best things about Lums Pond State Park is that you can ride your bicycle from the campground to a trailhead for the Mike Castle Trail along the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. The C&D Canal, first completed in 1829 and widened in the early 1900s, is one of the busiest canals in the world. The waterway is 14 miles long and shortens the route for vessels wanting to travel between the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. The Mike Castle Trail is totally paved and travels through grasslands, forests, tidal marshes, past ponds, and an old burial ground. It's a very scenic trail.
 |
| Mike Castle Trail Map |
We rode our bikes out of the campground and along some quiet roads for about a mile before reaching the trailhead. We loved riding this trail. It's totally paved and stretches from Delaware City in the east to the Maryland border in the west, where the trail becomes the Ben Cardin Recreational Trail before ending in Maryland's Chesapeake City. We rode on both trails, covering just under 30 miles in 3 hours. If you'd like to see our YouTube video of our ride, click here.
|
|
|
We also drove to Elk Neck State Park near North East, Maryland, where we hiked out to the Turkey Point Lighthouse. This lighthouse is a favorite of ours and we try to visit it at least once a year.
|
|
Then we drove into the small bay town of North East where we explored the quaint shops, found some wall murals and had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants - Woody's Crab House. It's a "must stop" if you happen to be in the area.
|
|
   |
* All photos and videos are the property of the blog owners unless otherwise noted. *
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.