Segment One: Delaware

Redden State Forest

I have completed the first segment of the American Discovery Trail, walking all the way through Delaware to the Maryland state line, covering 44.6 miles in nine days of walking. One segment down, 67 to go.

I took my first day off during this segment. On July 8th, we drove to Portland, and I did not count any steps I took that day. The way I look at it, if I were actually walking across the country, I might take a break one day and stay with a friend or just take a day of rest. Or I might catch a bus home one day, spend a couple of winter months staying warm, then catch a bus back to where I left off and start walking again. On those off days, I would obviously take some steps, but I would not make any progress across the country, and I would not be thinking about how far I was going to walk each day. Saturday was one of those off days, so the first segment actually took ten calendar days, but nine walking days. 

The trail starts at Cape Henlopen State Park on the Atlantic Coast, then within a couple of miles hits the town of Lewes, still on the coast. Delaware calls itself the first state, because it was the first to ratify the Constitution, and Lewes is billed as the First Town in the First State; it was founded way back in 1631.

Next is the town of Milton, an inland port only a few miles from the coast, with access to the ocean via the Broadkill River. Milton was once the shipbuilding center of Delaware.

Only a few miles down the road, but already halfway across the state, is Redden State Forest, which looks pretty enough and has a place to camp. This part of the trail feels like one could walk it without being a big-time trail hiker, because it passes through at least marginally civilized areas every few miles. When the trail gets to the western states, parts of it will get quite a bit more primitive.

From Redden Forest, the trail goes through small towns - like Cocked Hat, Delaware - on the way to the Maryland border.

Each state breaks the trail into different segments, and Delaware is the only state that contains just a single segment. So we are already moving on to Maryland and the District of Columbia, which combine for 270 miles broken into four segments. The first of those segments is 42 miles long, so the next post should come in about another nine days.

At 4.8 miles per day - approximately 11,000 steps according to my new app - it will take me just over 1,000 days, or two years and ten months, to walk the trail. Taking time off for vacations, illnesses, and possibly being hit by traffic again, figure sometime in the second half of 2026 I will finish. No rush, exactly, this time. I try to walk diligently, but I have no specific end date in mind, just a desire to get all the way to the Pacific Ocean one day.