Hidden Pond Trail (Brandywine Creek State Park) Hiking Guide

The Hidden Pond Trail starts right behind the Brandywine Creek Nature Center, slips through a gap in a stone wall into the Tulip Tree Woods Nature Preserve, and drops to the bank of Brandywine Creek before climbing back past the old estate fields. The nature center's parking lot and restrooms are at the start.

permit requireddog-friendly
Difficulty
moderate
Distance
2 mi
Elevation gain
282 ft
Trailhead
Wilmington
start through a stone wall into Tulip Tree Woods Nature Preserveearly-1900s stone walls from the du Pont estatea descent to the banks of Brandywine Creekdeep forest canopy along the creek that feeds Hidden Pond
fallspringwinter

Permit: A daily vehicle fee applies at Brandywine Creek State Park March 1 through November 30 ($5 Delaware plates, $10 other plates); free for walkers and cyclists and free for everyone December through February. Annual passes: $50 / $100.

Length and Grade

Delaware State Parks lists the loop at 2.0 miles of packed earth and rates it easy to moderate. The Outbound maps it at 2.15 miles with about 282 feet of elevation gain, and that climbing figure is used here. Most of the grade is gradual, but the park warns of steep changes where the trail approaches and leaves the creek bank.

Walking the Loop

Enter through the rock wall beside the nature center and you are in Tulip Tree Woods. To the south, open fields sit beyond carefully built stone walls that masons laid in the early 1900s to mark fields on the du Pont estate. The trail descends to Brandywine Creek, crosses a creek that flows to Hidden Pond, and follows Route 92 under deep forest canopy. It then climbs gradually to a stone wall at the edge of a field north of the nature center, where the loop closes.

Estate Land and Old Woods

Quaker farmers worked this land from the late 17th century. Beginning in the late 1800s, Henry Algernon du Pont and his son Henry Francis du Pont bought much of the park's western side to expand the Winterthur estate, and the gneiss stone walls you pass date from that era. The park also oversees four nature preserves, including Delaware's first recognized old-growth forest, and Hawk Watch hill is the local sledding spot after a rare snow.

Fees, Hours and Rules

The nature center lot sits inside the fee area: vehicles pay $5 with Delaware tags or $10 with out-of-state tags each day from March through November, with no fee in winter or for anyone on foot. Visiting hours run 8 a.m. to sunset; the office keeps weekday hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., from November through March. Dogs must stay leashed at 6 feet or less; cyclists need to use other routes, since Hidden Pond is closed to bikes. Archery deer hunting runs September 1 through January 30 from designated stands, but there are no gun seasons or gun-season trail closures here.

Hiking tips for Hidden Pond Trail (Brandywine Creek State Park)

  • Park at the nature center and enter through the stone wall beside the building.
  • Take the creek-bank descents slowly; they are the steepest part.
  • Look south across the fields for the early-1900s estate walls.
  • Pair it with the Rocky Run Trail across the creek for a longer day.
  • Visit on a weekday in fall for color with fewer people.

Nearby trails to explore

  • Rocky Run Trail (Brandywine Creek State Park)
  • Bryan's Field Trail (White Clay Creek State Park)
  • Tri-State Marker Trail (White Clay Creek State Park)

Hike this trail with TrailMates

Hidden Pond is a relaxed two-miler with a nature center at the start, good for a first group hike. Post it on TrailMates, use the event's group chat to set a time at the nature center lot, and add Rocky Run if the group wants more. Download TrailMates on the App Store or Google Play.