Delaware

Small and low-lying, Delaware centers on Atlantic beaches, bay and marsh paddling, cycling flat rail-trails, and exceptional birding along the Delaware Bay shore. Cape Henlopen State Park, the boardwalk towns of Rehoboth and Bethany, Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, and the Brandywine woods anchor it.

Summer is prime beach season along the popular shore; spring and fall offer outstanding birding (especially the May horseshoe-crab and shorebird spectacle) and mild cycling weather.

Delaware Bay is a globally critical migratory stopover — hundreds of thousands of shorebirds, including the threatened red knot, feed on spawning horseshoe-crab eggs each spring. Snow geese, herons, and shorebirds fill the refuges.

Salt marsh, barrier beach, freshwater wetland, and coastal forest dominate, with the Delaware Bay one of the most important shorebird migration sites in the hemisphere.

Delaware lies almost entirely on the flat Atlantic coastal plain, with sandy barrier beaches, the broad Delaware Bay and its marshes, and a small slice of the rolling Piedmont in the north. Its high point, the Ebright Azimuth (448 ft), is among the lowest in the nation.

The Lenape (Delaware) people lived here before Dutch, Swedish, and English colonization. Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution in 1787, earning it 'The First State.'

Beach-town summer culture, a strong birding community, and bay fishing and crabbing define Delaware's outdoor life.

Protecting Delaware Bay's horseshoe-crab and shorebird link, conserving coastal marsh against sea-level rise, and preserving open space are central concerns.

The beaches are reached from Wilmington, Philadelphia, and Baltimore by car (Philadelphia is the closest major airport). Flat terrain makes cycling easy statewide.

Rip currents at the ocean beaches are the main hazard — swim near lifeguards. Summer heat, ticks, and marsh mosquitoes warrant standard precautions.

State parks charge a vehicle entrance fee, and Delaware DNREC administers licenses; Bombay Hook is a free national wildlife refuge.

Don't disturb spawning horseshoe crabs or feeding shorebirds in spring.

Visit Bombay Hook and the bay shore in May for the horseshoe-crab and shorebird spectacle, hit Cape Henlopen for beaches and history, and bring a bike for the flat, easy trails.

Delaware borders Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, linking the Atlantic beaches, the Chesapeake region, and the Brandywine Valley.