To continue my journey through the pages of my Silver Lake books, the first Saturday I was in Rehoboth Beach, I decided to go for a trail walk and to explore the Gordon’s Pond area. Gordon’s Pond is mentioned in the books and geographically, its situated slightly inland from the two WW II fire towers. Its part of Cape Henlopen State Park and there is an official trail there for walking and biking.
Armed with some Goldfish crackers, water and Gatorade, I set off. I took my smaller beach towel too just in case. (To be honest, I took way too much stuff with me, but I wanted to be prepared for all eventualities.)
I headed north out of Rehoboth Beach along Ocean Drive, towards the state park entrance. It was about three miles to the state park or thereabouts. There are some stunning mansions on Ocean Drive! (I may have taken photos of a few as inspiration for future “book houses”.) I was surprised to see several deer at the side of the road who barely flinched as I walked by.
When I reached the state park, I followed the road until I reached the start of the Gordon’s Pond trail. There was also a sign in the car park saying that it was also an access point to Whiskey Beach. I filed that thought away for the return journey.
The Gordon’s Pond trail itself is 3.5 miles long. I had thought that it was a lap around the pond itself. It’s not. It runs along one side of the pond and is an out-and-back trail. It’s a lovely walk with lots of dragonflies flitting about. (They are nigh on impossible to photograph) I saw a few wading birds in the pond but not as many as I’d expected to see. I overheard a man commenting that there’s usually flocks of them but that they haven’t arrived yet this year. Parts of the pond looked quite dried up too.
When I got to the end of the trail, I’d walked 7 miles. Clouds had gathered and it looked as if a storm was rolling in. It was hot and sticky.
Dilemma…. should I walk back the way I came? Should I walk back to the start of the trail then go onto Whiskey Beach and walk back from there? Or should I find a way onto the beach from where I was and walk all the way back to Rehoboth Beach on the sand?
Decisions…decisions… I decided that the shortest route was probably back along the beach.
After a few minutes I found a sign saying Navy Crossing, a surf-fishing vehicle access road, and set off down it. Quite quickly I was in deep powdery sand, so the Converse and socks had to come off.
In my bare feet, with the Converse tied onto my bag, I kept going down road to the beach. I love these beaches!
For those who don’t know, surf-fishing beaches are where the folk take their 4x4s and trucks right down onto the sand. They let out a lot of the air from their tyres to allow them to drive on the sand without sinking in. (There’s an airline at the end of the access road for pumping them back up when you leave) If you drive down onto the beach though you need to have a fishing line in the water. Folk then set up for the day with their chairs, their coolers, their flags flying high, music playing, kids and dogs playing…you can picture the scene, right?
Watching for holes in the sand where the kids had been digging, loose dogs, rogue waves and fishing lines, I set off down the beach, keeping the ocean on my left.
The trucks thinned out and I reached Herring Point, a surf beach. The surf crowd were all out too. Most of them were sitting about chatting, listening to music with their boards beside them as there weren’t that many big waves around. I stopped for a rest for a few minutes then kept going.
More trucks and fishing lines followed as I walked through another surf fishing spot but at least I could now see the two WW II fire towers. They were a welcome sight!
The main beach in front of Rehoboth’s boardwalk was crowded when I finally got there. My legs felt like jelly by this point.
When I stopped my tracker on my watch once I stepped back onto the boardwalk, it informed me I’d walked 11 miles. The last 4 of those had been barefoot on the sand. I was exhausted! If you’ve ever walked any distance in sand, you’ll get it.
It had been a great hike though and I’d happily do it another time.
Trust me, I slept well that night!
If you’ve missed the Silver Lake series, you’ll find it available worldwide via Amazon
Amazon.com links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RR1FGLG
Amazon.co.uk links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RR1FGLG
Coral McCallum 