Mitchell Tract – Delran, Burlington County, NJ
Distance – 0.75 of a mile total
Type – lolipop with a spur on one end
Difficulty: 2 of 10
Website – https://www.delrantownship.org/parks-and-recreation/
Open – Sunrise to Sunset.
Terrain – Woods and wetlands
Surface – Dirt
Trailheads – N 40° 01.613 W 074° 55.768
Directions – End of Clay Street in Delran, NJ
Parking – Spot for 2 or 3 cars at the end of the street next to the fenced in township equipment.
Dog friendly? Unsure
Stroller friendly? No
Benches? None
Facilities?: None
Rules –
Markings – None, but very easy to follow path of an old road.
Map –
Boundaries a little a unclear, but this kept me on the town property. Also, MY DUMB TRACK DIDN’T TRACK, but using the magic of Microsoft Paint, I put about where my track was. Marked trails across the creek are Rainbow Meadows Park.Description –
A day of elementary students going crazy with the holidays coming up, right into Christmas shopping? Also, the shortest day of the year? Ugh! Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh! So I decided to give myself a little break in between. Where to stop between work and the store?
And that’s show I stumbled onto the Mitchell Tract in Delran (okay, that’s only half true. A geocache is also how I stumbled onto it.). There are few things in life as wonderful as stumbling into a new trail that you didn’t know about.
Parked next to the local township equipment and set off to explore.
Almost immediately, the trail splits. I opted to go right. Because geocache.
After making the find, I continued down the trail. It split just past a small pond. I opted to head left on the trail, which took me close to the creek.
Headed left at the split.
Little pond.
This loop never led to any clear views from the trail, but a few steps off of it gave a better look at Rancocas Creek, or at least the mudflats.
Think anyone wants that boat for the holidays?Continuing onward from the boat, I could see a clearing up ahead, which turned out to be Rainbow Meadows Park. Sadly, there’s a creek in the way of connecting them. Would be great if a bridge connected the two parks one day.
Rainbow Meadows through the trees. Can’t access it from here though.The trail hooked around to follow the little creek and head away from Rancocas Creek. In a short while, it hooked back toward the way we’d started near the edge of the township property and headed back toward the lake. In parts, the land dropped down into a basin to the left, which made for some little (wet looking with all the rain) views.
The trail completed the loop part of the lollipop by the small pond, and I retraced my steps back to the first split near the car. This stretch had some views through the trees of the old factory complex that is on the adjacent property.
Probably couldn’t see this with the leaves.At the original junction, I took the other split. this turned out to be SUPER short. A little walkway cleared a large downed tree, but then the trail abruptly ended in mud near Rancocas Creek.
Up!
View near the creek.By this point, I’d completely lost the light (darn shortest day of the year!) and couldn’t procrastinate on shopping anymore. But a lovely, unexpected adventure!
Nearby:
Rainbow Meadows Park is next door (but requires a good bit of driving to get there). Lots of other nearby trails, including Pennington Park, Willingboro Lakes Park, and Mill Creek Park on the opposite side of Rancocas Creek and Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area, Farrago Farm, Little Woods on the Rancocas, and Amico Island on this side of Rancocas Creek.
