Happy Sunday, Bear Country. And with it being Sunday, had to get my trail fix. The Little Jersey Trail is the longer of the two major trails at Lums Pond State Park in Bear, Delaware. For those outside the state of Delaware, which I imagine is almost everyone, Bear has no bears, it is an amorphous bunch of land that happens to have a post office. So don’t get too excited when you hear “bear” haha. I have been to Lums Pond a bunch of times, but usually stuck to the Swamp Forest Trail. Despite this being a solo outing for me, I decided this was the day to try out Little Jersey. My adventure buddies have lives and wives, so they do occasionally have to sit some of these out. Which is fair, I guess.
Before I forget to mention this important detail, always make sure to check ahead of time with park offices if you are planning a hike around this time, especially in November in the North East. Since we drove off all the natural predators of the White Tailed Deer around here, hunting is a vital management strategy for the their exploding and otherwise unchecked population. At Lums Pond the shotgun hunting season is active, so I needed to make sure that this trip happened on Sunday when there is not hunting. Even so, I double checked that it was Sunday when I reached this sign… I like to not be shot.
Like the other major trail in Lums Pond State Park, the Little Jersey trail is very well defined, marked, and easy to follow. It, like the Swamp Forest, is also a loop, so you can be sure that you will make it back to start by staying on the trail. This makes it an easy go from the navigational point of view. That being said, it also has the same problem most loop trails have- once you are on the trail, you are on the trail until you reach the place you started. For this trail, that meant about a 9 mile loop. While I knew this starting out, you forget how far 9 miles is until you are about 5 miles in.
Unlike the Swamp Forest Trail, this trail does not hug tight to Lums Pond, and instead creates a much larger circle through the variety of landscapes this State Park has to offer. At different points you walk through fields, forest, and near the pond. It was a very peaceful hike. Now part of that has to do with the fact that I was alone and it was 8am on a Sunday in November, but some of it has to do with just the distance from things you are at various points in the hike. It was definitely good for the brain to take a break. Except for one part where you hike on a road that seemed it could be a set of “The Last of Us”, that was a little unnerving to walk alone.
Overall Rating of the trail is pretty good.
Best Part: Wide variety of landscapes to see with this trail Good view of the pond, fields, forests, and a nature preserve.
Worst Park: Length of commitment- 9 miles takes some time. Not one you can do quickly. Then again, I was probably missing my adventure buddies too. So take a friend!
Views: Good
Difficulty: Moderate (Due to length not terrain.
Overall Rating: Good
UnBEARable Adventures 
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