How long is the Gordons Pond Trail?

Delaware State Parks gives about 2.65 miles for the full trail from the Gordons Pond parking area to Herring Point. The park Trail Plan counts 2.2 miles, because it measures only the section inside the park boundary. Both figures are official.

Can you cycle on the trails at Cape Henlopen?

Bikes are allowed on the Bike Loop, Gordons Pond, Junction and Breakwater, Walking Dunes, the eastern part of the Salt Marsh Spur and the Georgetown-Lewes Trail. The Pinelands and Seaside Nature trails are for walkers only.

Is there a Dune Overlook Trail?

No. There is no trail of that name in the official park inventory. The Great Dune Overlook is a viewing deck at the end of the Walking Dunes Trail, and the Bike Loop has a side trail to an ocean overlook built on top of a former military bunker.

Cape Henlopen State Park

The Trails

Q: Is there a bike rental at Cape Henlopen State Park?

There is no paid rental in the park. The Seaside Nature Center lends bikes free of charge, courtesy of the Friends of Cape Henlopen.

Eight named trails, about sixteen miles of them, running from packed crushed stone you could push a stroller along to loose sand that will have you working for it. Two of them leave the park entirely and connect Lewes to Rehoboth Beach.

Every trail, and how long it actually is

There is a wrinkle here worth explaining, because it is the reason you will see two different numbers for the same trail. Delaware State Parks publishes a length on each trail's own page, and a different length in the park's Trail Plan. Neither is wrong. The trail pages give the full length end to end; the Trail Plan counts only the part inside the park boundary. Both are in the table.

Gordons Pond	About 2.65 miles end to end (2.2 inside the park). Packed crushed stone and elevated boardwalk. Bikes yes. Gordons Pond lot to Herring Point.
Junction & Breakwater	About 5 miles (3.3 inside the park). Crushed stone. Bikes yes. Runs Lewes to Rehoboth on a former Penn Central rail bed.
Walking Dunes	1.6 miles (2.6 by the Trail Plan). Sand, crushed shell and some pavement. Bikes yes. Ends at the Great Dune.
Salt Marsh Spur	0.6 miles (1.2 by the Trail Plan). Packed and loose sand. Bikes on the eastern section only; west of the Walking Dunes Trail is on foot.
Pinelands	2 miles (1.5 by the Trail Plan), a loop. Packed and loose sand. Walkers only.
Seaside Nature	0.7 miles. Loose sand. Walkers only. Bayside, by the nature centre.
Bike Loop	3.3 miles, paved, a loop. Bikes yes. The spine that links almost everything else.
Georgetown–Lewes	1 mile inside the park, about five more outside it. Hardened surface. Bikes yes. Starts at the park entrance and heads inland.

The one that is not a trail

You will find a "Dune Overlook Trail" on plenty of third-party hiking sites. It does not exist in the official park inventory, and Delaware State Parks has no page for it. What does exist is the Great Dune Overlook, a viewing deck the Walking Dunes Trail terminates at, and a separate short side trail off the Bike Loop that climbs to an ocean overlook built on the roof of a wartime bunker. If someone has sent you looking for the Dune Overlook Trail, one of those two is what they meant.

Which one you want

If you have a stroller, a wheelchair or an hour. The paved Bike Loop, or the crushed-stone section of Gordons Pond. Both are firm, both are level, and the Gordons Pond boardwalk over the marsh is the best half mile of scenery in the park.

If you want to get between towns without a car. Junction & Breakwater from Lewes to Rehoboth, or the pair of them together — Junction & Breakwater out and Gordons Pond back — which forms the regional loop. Note that Delaware State Parks says plainly that there is no parking at the Junction & Breakwater access points, which catches people out.

If you want sand and quiet. Pinelands, which is a loop and closed to bikes, or the Salt Marsh Spur west of the junction. These are the ones where you will hear more birds than people.

If you want the view. Walking Dunes to the Great Dune. It is the highest ground on this coast, which is exactly why the Army built the towers where it did.

Bikes

There is no paid bike rental inside the park. There is something better: the Seaside Nature Center lends bikes free of charge, courtesy of the Friends of Cape Henlopen, during the centre's opening hours. The paved Bike Loop is 3.3 miles and connects the park office, the nature centre, the campground, the beach bathhouse, the observation tower and the Fort Miles historic area, with side trails to the fishing pier and the bunker overlook.

Cycling into the park is free. You pay the gate fee for a car, not for a bicycle.

Recent work. Sections of both Junction & Breakwater and Gordons Pond were closed on weekdays during March 2026 for resurfacing and repair of tidal damage. That work should be finished, but surfaces and edges may not match older descriptions or trail apps.

Trail distances, surfaces and bike rules on this page come from the individual Delaware State Parks trail pages and the Cape Henlopen State Park Trail Plan 2022–2032, checked on 28 August 2026.