The Paintworks Walking Trail – Silver Lake, Gibbsboro, NJ

The Paintworks Walking Trail – Silver Lake, Gibbsboro, Camden County, NJ
Distance: 0.75 miles
Type: Loop with connections to other greenway trails
Difficulty: 1 of 10
Total score: 6 of 10

Website – The Gibbsboro Greenway and Bikeway page
Open – Sunrise to Sunset.

Terrain – lakeside

Trailheads –  39°50’23.58″N,  74°57’36.04″W

Directions – Located on Lakeview Drive South (also known as Haddonfield-Berlin Road or Route 561) in Gibbsboro, NJ

Parking – MOST PARKING AROUND THE LAKE IS ILLEGAL!  Do not park in business lots!  They have signs that say they will tow you, and I don’t doubt it.  I parked in the lot just before United States Avenue (which is not marked) where they just tore the office building down.

Markings – None, just follow the paved path around the lake.

Map – The Gibbsboro Greenway and Bikeway page

Description – We’ve been hiking every day since July 4th, with the goal to hike thirty days in a row.  At some point, we know we’ll (or more likely, I’ll) have to hike in bad weather to meet the goal.  Luckily, this morning’s heavy rain came and went.  Hooray!

I knew most trails would be pretty mucky, so we headed out to do a paved trail I’d been keeping in my back pocket for just such an occasion – The Paintworks Walking Trail.  This trail circles Silver Lake, weaving through the site of an old paint factory, now a series of office buildings, a wedding reception location, and a restaurant-that-I-wouldn’t-take-the-kids-to.

Lead in boardwalk from parking lot.

Our hiking partners.

Watch out, we’re being followed.

This has been a very popular walk for a very long time, long before they began to clean out the lake from the chemicals the paint company put in there over the decades.  This wasn’t my first time walking this path, but I hadn’t walked it in years.

Persistent.

Very persistent.

I grew up around the corner from here, played GVAA baseball in the fields around the corner (Cricket Field!), and gotten about three thousand pizzas from Massos, so this is a familiar territory.  Regardless, this is one of the nicest of the around-the-lake walks that we’ve reviewed for the website.

Back of the Lucas home, the family that originally owned the paintworks.

Someone getting mad at the ducks for following him.

Toward the back end of the lake, the trail switches from concrete to boardwalk.  When you reach the pavilion, you can keep going around the lake, or cut across the parking lot, cross the street to the police station, and report those darn ducks that are following you.  haha, just kidding.  You can pick up another of the greenway hiking/biking trails there!

This trail (Officially “The Green Trail”) will go down Foster Ave, hang a right onto United States Ave onto an old railroad right-of-way.  It travels a total of 1.1 miles to Lindenwold, where it ends right next to Lindenwold Park.  I’ve hiked it once before, but never taken pictures, so I’ll have to go back and do it right.  After half a mile, the Green Trail also connects in with the Red Trail, better known as part of Blueberry Hill Trails.

We, however are sticking to just the lakeside today.

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On the final side of the lake, you’ll pass the old factory towers, which were left standing when the factory was taken down.  In front of the stacks is a facility used largely for weddings.  Why wouldn’t you want to hike in a place pretty enough to have expensive wedding receptions at?

At this point, a few dirt trails will head out to the right.  We walked down a few to help us make our mile for the day, but they just lead out to United States Ave.

Still, I do love a dirt trail.

Also, I now feel insecure that I only had five little flags and one big flag out for 4th of July. Time to up my game.

Once again, back to the lake.  The Pres had some rocks to throw in the water.  This was a huge mistake, because ever waterfowl on the pond thought he was throwing bread and made a beeline for us.

It’s like that Hitchcock movie.

The last picture taken of us before they got us.

Nooooooooooo!

A fairly cute way to die.

Miraculously, we made it away and finished the last little bit back to the parking lot.  Right before you head back to the lot, you’ll cross a bridge that couples have attached hearts and circles with their names on it.  I suspect these are not the names of the ducks.  But I could be wrong.

Steps? This was a little weird.

Last bridge!

Awwwwwwww

Nearby – the always popular Blueberry Hill Trails (officially the Red Trail), also part of the Gibbsboro Greenways System), where you can climb a hill and see all the way to Philadelphia.  You can extend your hike here to get there, or drive down Lakeside about 3/4 of a mile and park  in the cul-de-sac parking area there.

Want to learn more?
Yummygal’s South Jersey History & Adventures – “Painting the Town Red in Gibbsboro”
Gibbsboro Town History