Reader's Digest called this the best RV park in Delaware

We have a special affinity for the little state of Delaware. In fact, it's become a road trip tradition to snap a photo every time we go over the Delaware Memorial Bridge. One of these photos was even featured on our home page on this very website back when we were using it to document our road trips!

Despite this fun Delaware tradition, in all our travels in 2022, we only drove through Delaware without stopping, and so we didn't check it off our list. That didn't mean I never researched campgrounds there, though. When I came across Lums Pond, a state park between Philadelphia and Baltimore not far from the interstate, I made a special note of it. Not only did it have some very interesting accolades, but it seemed like a park that was our speed. We love state park campgrounds, and if there is a water feature, even better. So I put Lums Pond on our campground list for 2023 and we thought there was no better time to stop by than on our way south right after launching. The best part about that was, Lums Pond is open year-round, and winter typically yields several open sites. I chose a site in the back of the park, near the nature trail. I thought that if we were blessed with nice weather, we could have easy access to some hiking. Turns out, Lums Pond offers a lot more than that.

Lums Pond is one of those parks that oozes tranquility as soon as you drive in - or at least it did for us in the quiet winter. We felt a wonderful sense of relief as soon as we arrived to our campsite. Perhaps that's due to the nightmarish drive we had to get there, but I like to think it's because of the park. Winter granted us another advantage when we discovered that our site had water views, thanks to the leaves being off the trees. Unlike lots of state parks, the sites aren't wooded, but there is still plenty of space. Some campgrounds in the north shut off water in the wintertime, but these sites are full hookups year-round.

The access path leading to the hiking trail was two sites away. I chose this on purpose because sometimes there is no boundary between site and access path, and I'd prefer to not have people walking right next to my RV. However, this access path was far away and had a fence. Either way, we loved our site and actually had direct access via a narrow path, right from the back of our site, through the woods, and down to the Swamp Forest Trail. I did some observing and noticed that most, if not all, of the sites in this section have little access paths straight from their sites. Are these legitimate, or have the trails been formed by use? I'm not sure, but since so many sites had them, I deemed them safe to use, but I still sometimes chose the access path when my environmentally conscious mind got the better of me.

The paths in the state park are everything we could want at a campground. There is so much ground to cover that we barely did half of it during our stay, despite some wonderfully warm weather that invited us outside most days. The Swamp Forest Trail runs along the pond and intersects with the Little Jersey Trail, which is the main trail that goes around the park. The trails run through woods, over wetlands, and alongside fields. They are open to bicycles and hikers, and select portions are also open to horses. The part of the Swamp Forest Trail near the campground is set up as a discovery trail, with signs along the way describing the different wildlife you can spot in the area.

Other amenities at the campground include a playground, camp store, and great bathroom and laundry facilities. One day we ventured around the pond to see what was offered on the day-use side of the park. In season there is an adventure course with ziplining, basketball courts, tennis courts, beach volleyball, a huge picnic pavilion, disc golf, and a nature program. Clearly there is no shortage of fun activities in the warm weather, but upon closer look, some of the amenities are a bit worn down, particularly the tennis courts. It would be nice if the state government could fund some rehabilitation projects, because with those this park would be exceptional.

Despite being a hands-off campground (you don't even need to check in if you have a reservation), the campground was clean. There are dumpsters located at the exit, including a recycling receptacle, which is always a plus. The campground is reasonably small, so these dumpsters were more than enough, even if every site was filled. We also noticed in the day-use area a sign that reminded people that the park is "carry in, carry out," but what we hadn't seen before was a dispenser for trash bags so that people could gather their garbage and haul it out of the park. Really nice touch.

We have very few negatives to note except for the run-down activities across the pond. At our site the biggest annoyance was the half-sand/half-pebble ground that caused even more tracking into our rig than when we stayed in the sand in Florida. It was impossible to keep the trailer clean. But that's the ground that forms close to the pond, and what a pond it was!

I'll take tracking in dirt any day when it means I can walk a short distance from my site and see views like this:

Given that we have no comparison points, we can't say that we agree with Reader's Digest that this is the best RV park in the state, but compared to all the other parks we've stayed anywhere, we really like this campground. We hope to experience a stay there someday in a warmer season because we know how much the vibe can change once peak hits. That said, having our gateway to the Mid-Atlantic be this peaceful was exactly what we needed. Lums Pond is where we first truly felt like we were back on the road, living life on our terms, and that only builds our affinity for this little state even more.

Campground:

• Lums Pond State Park, Bear, DE (*note that the campground entrance is on Red Lion Road, not Howell School Road)
• Site #35, 50 amp FHU, back-in, firepit, picnic table, peeps of water views in winter, direct access to nature trail
• Campground recommended? Yes
• Site recommended? Yes