Location
The Trails End Park is nestled towards the southern end of Wilmington at the end of a residential neighborhood. Literally at the trail’s end, the road dead ends at the park which sits on the Intracoastal Waterway. You can go north towards Masonboro Inlet and Wrightsville Beach or south towards Carolina Beach. The Masonboro Island Reserve is directly across the Intracoastal from the ramp. It offers camping and other opportunities.
The Ramp
The Trails End Park boat ramp is a single-lane concrete ramp. It has a grooved surface which provides good traction for the towing vehicle. In our experience, this is not one of those slippery ramps that require 4-wheel drive to get your boat back out.
Once you launch, there is no dock or pier to tie up to immediately next to the ramp. There are a couple of floating docks up the basin a little bit. It makes launching solo a bit of a challenge as you are left leaving your vehicle blocking the ramp as you motor to the floating dock. It is not far, but it is still not right there.
Parking and Facilities
If there is one downfall to the Trails End boat ramp (Aside from the single ramp and no pier), it is the parking situation. There are only a handful of trailer spots inside the loop and then parking around some of the perimeter, so on weekends or holidays, you better be one of the first people there. The amount of perimeter parking can also be subject to how good a job the people before you do because it is all a dirt lot with no stripes. Our drive-through was mid-week, and there was plenty of parking.
From a facility standpoint, there are none. No bathrooms, showers, ice, fuel, or anything else. This is a place to drop your boat in the water and not much else.
Conclusion
The Trails End Park boat ramp is a great little ramp in the Wilmington area with direct access to the Intracoastal Waterway. I’m not sure there is an official size cutoff, but I think navigating a boat much longer than 25′ through the parking lot might be tough. I’d say this ramp is oriented towards smaller boats. Parking during busy times can be a challenge, but if you are a mid-week boater or super-early riser, it is an awesome place to kick off your adventures.
