Pennington Park – Delanco, NJ

Pennington Park – Delanco, Burlington County, NJ
Distance – 3.8 miles of trails total
Type – Loops
Difficulty:  1 of 10

Website – Pennington Park (Burlington County Parks)
Open – Sunrise to Sunset.

Note: Click here to view the information for the Newton’s Landing Trail, which starts in Pennington Park and heads west along Rancocas Creek.

Terrain – grasslands, swamps, and woods
Surface – crushed gravel and pavement

Trailheads – Western parking lot (near playgrounds) –  40° 2’19.66″N,  74°56’0.00″W
Eastern parking lot near picnic tables –  40° 2’8.85″N,  74°55’46.06″W

Directions – 801 Creek Rd, Delanco, NJ 08075

Parking – Two good sized lots in the park

Dog friendly?: There are two dog runs located within the park
Stroller friendly? Very

Benches? Some scattered throughout the park

Facilities?: Bathrooms available by playground. port-a-potties available elsewhere in the park

Markings – No markers.
Map – Available at trailheads.

Description –

One day in late July, we headed back to Pennington Park along the Rancocas to explore the trails there.  We had previously explored the Newton’s Landing Trail, which runs through this park and out to the North.  We’d also come here a few times to play on the playground with friends, but now it was time to head off into the wilderness.*

Into the stroller went Kite Flyer, and Tree Rider and The Pres fought to take turns pushing the baby around (in no way encouraged by me what-so-ever).  We started from the parking lot by the dog runs, heading east.  We crossed the park road, then turned left to follow the trail along Creek Road.

Once we made the left, we followed along the road.  There are some really great plants along this stretch, including a paper birch.

We crossed the driveway for the park, then soon after turned left to head past the community gardens.

The trail ends at the parking lot, which we walked on the sidewalk around the edge of, passing the side paths for the bathrooms and the playgrounds, until we reached the trail access on the other side of the parking lot (white trails on the map).

When we reached a dead end, we turned right onto a new trail (Yellow Trail on the map).  We walked along the fence line, then made a quick left to stay on this loop (straight would take you to the Newton’s Landing Trail and out of the park), passing through a good sized field.  At the next intersection, we turned right to head in the general direction of the pavilion,

Kite Flyer loves being pushed.

Trail curves around to the right here.

Along the fence line.

Straight here takes you to the Newton Lake Trail. We turned left to loop back toward the river.

Here, we headed right, passed the pavilion.

After turning right, we passed the stairs to the pavilion, then turned right to head toward the water (this is the Green Trail on the map).  This is largely boardwalk, and we followed it around, taking time to walk out to the view point and the bird blind.

After the bird blind, we merged back in with the larger trail, then took the first right to curve back toward the river, walking down to the other view point.  We then backtracked to take the final possible loop (red on the map) to the second bird blind.

From here, it was just a short way to the parking lot.

*not really wilderness what-so-ever.

Nearby: TONS of great hiking along Rancocas Creek!  There’s the Newton’s Landing Trail right in this park.  Before the Rancocas splits into the North and South branches, there’s Amico Island, Willingboro Lakes Park, Boundary Creek, and Little Woods on the Rancocas, plus Rancocas State Park North/Rancocas Nature Center and Rancocas State Park South right at the split.