Dauset Trails

Absolutely amazing! The most well maintained place of its kind that I have ever seen and free. They should totally be charging admission so leave a donation! All of the animals are rescues that would have died without this place. They have a bald eagle with one wing and lots of other animals too. Hiking and biking trails all over.

Great place to take family. I brought my nieces and nephews here and they really enjoyed theirselves. We had a great adventurous time.

It’s free! What more can you say?
Actually plenty!
The trails are very well done and beautiful grounds.
Great for picnics there’s a lake and picnics tables. A reptile house as well as a gift shop info area.
They also have a nature center with birds if prey, otters, etc. This is where I take exception. The beautiful grounds and expanse they have yet they built tiny enclosures for the birds and animals. No room for the Birds to Fly. No room for the animals to really roam and run. Yes it probably met all requirements but it’s no way for animals to be kept! One bear looked like it was in distress.
Zoo’s and nature centers need to re-​evaluate the spaces for their animals & Birds! Some places due it extremely well— San Diego Safari, Disney Animal Kingdom
This however is not they have no excuse space wise not to give those creatures more living space! It would be better to charge a nominal fee and upgrade the spaces.
The spaces all had great natural habitat beginnings. That’s not enough though when you visit sites where animals have more space you can see the difference In How they act! They are more content for lack of a better word happier!
They animals except the otters were not!

You can’t really argue with free anything and this place is not only free but a great place to go walking with friends and especially with your kids! My friends and I took our little girls (all around 12 – 18 months old) and they loved running around and looking at all the animals and just being allowed to roam rather freely. As it is very family friendly you won’t get any nasty looks if you have your kids running around or being noisy. Also there is quite ample shade so even if you go during a sunny day, which we did, you don’t feel like you’re getting baked. The parking area is a little limited but even during spring break we were all able to find spots for our cars. There are clean public toilets as well (and changing tables for babies)! My daughter isn’t trained up for walking long distances so I had her in a stroller for a lot of the park and the paved walkways are super easy to navigate with a stroller. Totally worth the visit!

This is a great place and I am looking forward to visiting again soon. PS – you have to drive a little further down Mt. Vernon Rd than the googlemaps directions will give you.

Stopped for some biking en route to a work thing. They have several miles of trails and they’re well-​built and fun, for the most part. I didn’t have time for the whole system, but I managed maybe five miles or so. The first couple of miles were fun and flowy, but after that things got a little rough and ragged, with tons of roots and rocks. But that’s mountain biking (even 150 miles from mountains.)
I’d really love to come back later in the year when the humidity is somewhere below 95%.
There are port-​a-​potties at the trailhead along with a structure that seems be for changing clothes (with two separate halves for privacy.) At least that’s what I used it for. And by 8 a.m. there were already several cars in the parking lot, so it seems to be popular.
Use of the trails is free, but they do have a donation box. I’d recommend dropping a buck or two in there, because places like this are few and far between and immensely appreciated.

Dauset Trails is a wildlife preservation center for wounded animals. While it contains pavilions and picnic tables for you to enjoy, other than a coke machine, there is nothing you can buy there. You cannot camp there. They do have entensive hiking trails. Admission is free and donations are welcomed. Kids LOVE this place! I have been going for over 15 years and if you are in the area, you simply MUST go! You won, t regret it.