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Parks · New Castle County

Alapocas Run

Creek and woodland · 1914 West Park Drive, Wilmington, DE 19803 · Wilmington · 359 acres

Photographs

A paved trail curving through tall beech woods toward a wooden footbridge, with a post-and-rail fence alongside and low morning sun through the canopy.The paved Northern Delaware Greenway through the beech woods, heading for one of the footbridges over the run. Early morning, which is when it looks like this.
Looking along a rust-colored steel truss footbridge with a wet timber deck scattered with pale fallen leaves, the paved trail continuing into dense green woods beyond.One of the steel footbridges over the run, wet and leaf-covered. The paved trail carries straight on the other side.
A low stone slab set in mulch, carved and painted with the words Can-Do Playground in red, blue, yellow, green and pink letters, with play equipment behind it.The stone at the entrance. This is the Can-Do Playground, inside Alapocas Run — most people name it rather than the park.2026-08-07
A wide view of a large playground with brown ramps and railings leading up to elevated decks, a shade canopy over the center, wood-chip surfacing, concrete paths and benches.Ramps rather than steps to most of the upper decks, which is the whole point of the place. Concrete paths run right up to the equipment.2026-08-07
Playground swings in the foreground on dark poured-rubber surfacing, with a long ramped play structure, slides, shade sails and benches behind.Poured rubber under the swings, not mulch. Benches face the equipment from both sides.2026-08-07
A sand play area with two large raised green sand tables on legs, a domed shelter behind them, and plastic buckets and spades scattered in the sand.The sand area. The raised tables are high enough to pull a wheelchair under, and the sand itself is deep and clean.2026-08-07
Two children crouched in the playground's sand area, seen from behind and above, one filling a bucket and one turning out a red sandcastle mould, with plastic spades scattered around.The sand is the part that holds them longest. Buckets and moulds get left out here and stay out.2026-08-07
Two signs on a post: a white one reading No Pets Allowed In Playground Area with a crossed-out dog, a small black plaque reading Service Animals Welcome, and a brown one headed Welcome, Prohibited In Park: tobacco, glass containers, pets, bicycles, skateboards, rollerblades.The sign that decides whether the dog gets out of the car. Pets are barred, service animals are named as welcome, and the park office number is on it.2026-08-07
A green-roofed timber picnic pavilion with picnic tables under it, on grass beside a paved path, with the ninja course visible in the distance behind.The picnic pavilion between the Can-Do Playground and the Ninja Fit course. The dark line across the field behind it is the ninja run.2026-08-07
An open mown field with a paved path curving through it, picnic pavilions and a small building to the left, and play equipment in the distance.The day-use field. Paved path, pavilions, the athletic fields the park map marks, and the playground at the far end.2026-08-07
A sign reading NINJA FIT PLAY GROUND in white on black, with cartoon ninja characters, standing at the end of a curved black warped wall on mown grass.The sign at the end of the run. Built with Rotary and the Neighborhood Ninjas; the warped wall in front of it is the last obstacle.
A long outdoor ninja obstacle course on black rubber surfacing: balance beams, angled boards, hanging rings and climbing frames, with two children on it and open playing fields either side.The whole run, looking down it. Rubber underfoot the entire length, and benches along the edge for whoever isn't doing it.
Two tall angled climbing boards with green hand-holds in the foreground of a ninja obstacle course, with monkey bars and balance equipment behind and a child in the middle distance.The climbing boards, from inside the course. This end is the harder half — the balance and hanging obstacles are down the other.
A wide view across mown grass to a long ninja obstacle course silhouetted against a bright sky, with a small child walking towards it.How it sits in the field. It's a long walk across open grass from the parking, and there is no shade on the course itself.
Swipe for the rest.

A wooded gorge on the Brandywine with a blue rock quarry face used for climbing, plus the Blue Ball Barn. Sits on the Northern Delaware Greenway.

What's there

Facilities

13/22 confirmed
Beach
No
Guarded swimming
No
Surf fishing
No
Camping
No
Cabins
No
Trails
Yes
Boat launch
No
Boat rentals
No
Pier
No
Disc golf
No
Playground
Yes
Fishing
Not confirmed
Kayak or canoe
Not confirmed
Crabbing
Not confirmed
Water park
Not confirmed
Ropes course
Not confirmed
Climbing wall
Yes
Horse trails
Not confirmed
Tennis
Not confirmed
Golf
Not confirmed
Riding stables
Not confirmed
Restrooms
Yes

Where things are

Can-Do Playground
A large accessible playground: ramps to the elevated decks rather than steps only, poured rubber under the swings, shade sails over the main structure, benches, and a sand area with raised sand tables you can pull a wheelchair under. Photographed August 2026.
Ninja Fit course
A blue steel obstacle course on its own deck, in the same field as the Can-Do Playground with a timber picnic pavilion between them. Signposted "Ninja Fit Playground". Older children than the main structure suits.
Restrooms at the playground
Between the Can-Do Playground and the Ninja Fit course, and well kept. This is separate from the Blue Ball Barn, which is a walk away — you do not have to make that walk with a small child.
Parking
Park at the Blue Ball Barn. That's the lot.
Restrooms
Inside the Blue Ball Barn, along with the ranger station.
The paved trail
Starts across the street from the barn, not behind it.
Blue Ball Barn
The park office, and the number to ring: 302-577-1164. It's on the sign at the playground.
The trails, by name
Alapocas Woods 0.7 miles, Upper Reach 0.2, Pawpaw Loop 0.3, Copperhead Curve 0.3, Forgotten Trail 0.3. The Northern Delaware Greenway and the Bancroft Trail run through as shared-use, which is why bicycles are normal on the greenway and barred at the playground.

Getting in

Entry, 2026
$5 in-state · $10 out-of-stateCharged 1 March – 30 November. Free outside it.
Annual pass
$50 for a Delaware-registered vehicle, $100 out of state.Discounted passes are available for active-duty military and veterans; the discounted amounts are not confirmed. Deauville Beach has its own annual pass at $115.
Where to buy
Delaware State Parks — passes and permitsOnline at destateparks.com, which issues a virtual pass usable for 30 days from purchase, or at a park office.
Hours
8am – sunset, daily
Getting there
Open in Google Maps to Alapocas Run State Park (opens Google Maps)
Park office
302-577-1164

Dogs

Leashed on the trails and greenway — but NOT in the playground area, where the sign bars pets outright and welcomes service animals.

The full rule, with dates

Other parks in New Castle County

Where it is

Alapocas Run State Park, Wilmington, DEDirections →

Field notes

What I saw on the day. Not checked with anyone, and it can go out of date faster than the facts above.

  • Field note · 8 August 2026 · Site maintainer

    No boat launch, no boat rentals, no pier and no disc golf course. All four had been sitting at "Not confirmed" because DNREC's park finder only lists what a park HAS, so an absent facility and an unchecked one looked identical in this dataset. Alapocas Run is a wooded run and a greenway with no open water to launch anything into, which is exactly the kind of thing a visit settles and a roster never will.

  • Field note · 8 August 2026 · Site maintainer

    The Ninja Fit course has four photographs of its own now, including the sign. It had none — and worse, the file I had labeled `cando-ninja` and captioned as the course is a photograph of the picnic pavilion, with the course a thin dark line on the horizon behind it. I named it wrong and then wrote a caption that made the wrong name true. It's `cando-pavilion` now and says what it is.

  • Field note · 8 August 2026 · Site maintainer

    Hours are 8am to sunset, every day, and that's one answer for all three things here — the park, the Can-Do Playground and the Ninja Fit course. This record had three separate open questions about it: the park's daily hours, whether the playground kept its own, and the Blue Ball Barn's. The first two are answered; the barn is a building and still isn't.

  • Field note · 7 August 2026 · Site maintainer

    Alapocas Run has the Can-Do Playground and this dataset had no field for a playground at all — the state parks type was built from what DNREC lists, and DNREC doesn't list them. It has one now. The signage is the other find: pets are prohibited in the playground area outright, with service animals named as welcome. That sits alongside "leashed on the trails and greenway", because the same board bars bicycles, and the Northern Delaware Greenway through this park is a paved cycle route — so the board governs the Blue Ball Barn day-use area rather than every acre.

  • Field note · 7 August 2026 · Site maintainer

    The Ninja Fit obstacle course is in the same field as the Can-Do Playground, not a separate park — I had them down as two places until the maintainer said otherwise. Picnic pavilion between the two, athletic fields beyond, all off the same paved path.

  • Field note · 4 August 2026 · Site maintainer

    Restrooms, parking and the ranger station are all at the Blue Ball Barn. The paved trail is across the street from the barn.

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