Ready for a bike ride on July 4! As a family, we always talk about taking a bike ride while vacationing at the beach, but we almost never do it. We are at the beach for the love of the beach, and most of what we do revolves around the ocean activities. In the hottest most humid summer months, straddling our bike seats with helmets strapped to our heads does not sound as good as splashing in the waves. But on July 4th 2015, the weather was perfect for a bike ride. It was a bit cloudy, in the 70s and the forecast called for rain later—not the best beach day.
Borrow a bike for free for up to 2 hours at the Nature Center at Cape Henlopen State Park.
We brought our bikes to Cape Henlopen State Park and set out from the Ocean Beach/Bathhouse parking lot with our red white and blue pinwheels attached to our handlebars. (If you don’t have bikes with you on vacation here, you can borrow bikes for FREE from the "Friends of Cape Henlopen State Park" Bike Barn in the Nature Center parking lot--first come first serve). Our family of 4 including our 12 & 14 year old headed out on the Bike Loop Trail, then picked up the Walking Dunes Trail, then the Gordon’s Pond Trail, and then the roadways of Rehoboth Beach to the Double Dippers Ice Cream Shop. Then we peddled the same route in reverse. The ride including stops took us about 3 hours and most of the terrain was flat. You can find trail maps here.
America, undefeated since 1776!
The great thing about this bike route is the variety of fun stops along the way. Our first stop was at Fort Miles where a sign beckoned us: “Program Today.” We had already missed the start of the tour, but for $5 each we could have taken a tour of Battery 519, the underground bunker that houses a Big Gun stationed here during WWII. We’ve already been on the bunker tour, but we made plans to go on the lantern tour later this summer to see how much progress the restorers are making. Fort Miles is an area tucked inside the seashores of Cape Henlopen State Park, but during WWII instead of sun worshippers the area was occupied by U.S. military protecting this strategic area from the enemy. We contemplated climbing to the top of the Observation Tower, but since it was kind of cloudy, we decided to just poke around the big guns a bit and then continue on our way.
The beginning of the Gordon's Pond Trail at Herring Point Beach in Cape Henlopen State Park.
Our next very brief stop was near Herring Point. A new parking lot has been built here and there are port-a-potties. We sometimes come to the beach here for picnics and to watch the surfers who gather on the north side of the jetty. Leashed dogs are allowed on this beach. This time we just stopped for the port-a-potties and a drink from our water bottles. I checked the weather on my smart phone—no rain on the radar—woohoo—we were going to go all the way to Rehoboth Beach. So we headed down the Gordon’s Pond Trail.
The wetlands along Gordon’s Pond Trail pulse with life. In recent years the trail was finished off with a boardwalk that leaves our footprints and bike tracks off the tender environment below. We stopped several times along this pathway to observe a bunny, a turtle, egrets, an osprey nest, and many other birds. I can’t seem to come up with the words to describe the vivid green of the marsh. We had begun to get SWEATY by now, and the ocean breezes felt wonderful. The views were stunning. The trail pops out onto Gordon’s Pond Beach, a local favorite.
Flags fly on the Fourth of July outside Double Dippers Ice Cream in Rehoboth Beach, DE.
Next we made our way past multi-million dollar homes, a lemonade stand, and people walking to the beach to our final stop on this ride: Double Dippers ice cream on First Street in Rehoboth. My favorite flavor this time was the moose tracks, but anything chocolate is fine with me. We sat outside on a white wooden bench and licked our cones while each of us picked out which M&M’s character in the window we were. I was the green one with eye lashes dancing to the juke box. Then we peddled back to the car at the Ocean Beach parking lot and vowed to do it again.
Cape Henlopen bike ride...what to bring:
bike, helmet, sunscreen, water bottle, cash for ice cream, park pass or $ for park entrance fee, camera, binoculars, pick up a trail map at the park entrance. Bring your swimsuit and bike lock if you want to stop along the way for a swim.
You could rent bikes in Rehoboth Beach and do this same ride beginning in town instead of the state park.
Cape Henlopen bike ride...what to bring:
bike, helmet, sunscreen, water bottle, cash for ice cream, park pass or $ for park entrance fee, camera, binoculars, pick up a trail map at the park entrance. Bring your swimsuit and bike lock if you want to stop along the way for a swim.
You could rent bikes in Rehoboth Beach and do this same ride beginning in town instead of the state park.
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