Woodbury Creek Paddle – Woodbury Creek Park, Woodbury, NJ to Riverwinds, Thorofare (West Deptford), NJ
Distance: 4.5 (including stop at Red Bank Battlefield in National Park, NJ)
Type: One way
Difficulty: 3 of 10.
Total score: 8 of 10.
Terrain – Wide, tidal river with marshes
Put ins – Woodbury Creek Park – 39°50’29.02″N, 75° 9’17.74″W (careful, slippery!)
Put in at Woodbury Creek.
Pull outs – Red Bank Battlefield – 39°52’4.67″N, 75°11’30.95″W
Riverwinds – 39°51’45.79″N, 75°12’28.11″W
Map –
Note – This creek is tidal, so make sure to check the tide tables. It was way easier paddling with the tide than against it!
Description – Last Saturday, Team Smith and I set out to conquer Woodbury Creek. We couldn’t find much info online about it, so we figured we’d just go for it and see what happened. This is always a good idea. *
Team Smith super excited at the launch.
This river is pretty straightforward. Get in your boat (careful, the bottom of the launch is slippery) and paddle downstream. When you put in, turn an admire the nice footbridge behind you. Heading downstream, after 1 1/2 miles, you’ll pass under Route 295.
On our way.
How canoeing looks.
Pretty happy.
Down the creek.
Under Route 295.
After this, you’ll come down through a marina, past some more marshland, and end up where Woodbury Creek meets the Delaware River. This is pretty much exactly three miles from where you put in. Be careful of motor boats! Everyone who went past us was really nice about it, but it’s good to stay alert.
Marsh.
This is the way to travel the river. Not canoes and kayaks.
Passing into the Delaware.
From here, turn RIGHT and paddle up the Delaware River! If you hug the coast, the current here is surprisingly not that bad. After about a half mile, you can pull up on the beach at Red Bank Battlefield Park and stretch your legs. You may remember this park from such hikes as Red Bank Battlefield Walkabout (go to the link for the background on this battle and more info about where to go).
Taking a break with a view of Philadelphia.
Looking down at the boats.
Bird watching.
After a quick tour, its back into our canoe and kayaks. It’s exactly a mile DOWNSTREAM on the Delaware, passing the entrance of Woodbury Creek (watch out for motorboats while crossing the mouth). You’ll pass the golf course, then see an opening on the left side, leading into a small harbor. Go into this harbor, around the small sand pit, and the pull out is where the concrete steps come down to the water.
Crossing the mouth of Woodbury Creek.
We made it! Also, reserved spots for kayakers.
This is how you transport a navy.
You come out by this fancy restaurant.
All done, hooray! Thanks to Ken for being the photographer on this trip! All good pictures on this trip belong to him!
* = this is not always a good idea.
Beautiful swamps, great views of Philly
Be careful of tides and power boats.
Great review, thanks! I’ve wanted to do this exact route for a few months but was curious…I have an inflatable kayak…is the stream deep enough through Woodbury to make the trip or are there a fair amount of sticks in the water that would make it difficult?
Hi Emily,
I was in a plastic canoe, so I was pretty well armored, but I didn’t notice any scraping at all once we cleared the boat launch. The creek is definitely not shallow (remember, ships used to sail up this creek this far) at any point we hit. The only remotely shallow part was cutting back across the mouth of the creek from Red Bank Battlefield toward the Riverwinds (meaning, we were in the Delaware), but even there we didn’t come close to scraping bottom, just were able to see the grass growing up.