Hike the High Ground - Woodstock - Howard County Side - Patapsco Valley State Park

It is hard to believe how much natural beauty can be found so close to home along the Patapsco Valley and how so many miss most of it because they never hike the trails up the slopes above the valley floor. Today I hiked for four hours, covered about 10 miles and never saw another person. Only the horse shoe tracks along the bridle paths indicated anyone else travels there. But I didn't see a single rider either. All the local horsewomen must have been on the other side of the river.

  The high ground fields in the photo above and below have been planted with hardwood, broad-leaf trees protected from foraging deer by plastic tubes.

     The barn below is one of several ruined outbuildings of the farm to which the fields above once belonged.

                                       Below is a pipeline right of way, looking north.

More photos from today's hike can be seen at this link.

Wreck in the Woods - Name that Car

This beauty was along the trail Chris and I took through the woods of Woodstock. I am old enough to have ridden in one when it was new. Find the answer at this link.

Woodstock Section - Patapsco Valley State Park

On Saturday July 5th I hiked a 9 mile loop of the Baltimore County side of the Patapsco Valley State Park Woodstock Section. From Old Court Road I followed the Patapsco River up to the confluence where the north and south branches form the main stream of the river. From there I circled to the right and back around to the my starting point. It was about a three and a half hour hike, mostly in the shade, over variable terrain on dirt trails that are also bridle paths. Very pretty and peaceful. Saw deer and an old granite quarry filled with water to form a lake, among other sights. The hike was so pleasant I did it again the following day with my brother Chris. The Woodstock Inn is nearby the trailhead and a great place for refreshments after a good stroll in the forest.

More photos can be seen at this link.

Woodstock to the Henryton Tunnel and Back

This morning I hiked the B&O Old Main Line from Woodstock to the Henryton tunnel, about three and half miles each way. It was a pretty stretch of track on a beautiful day. I saw two deer and a fox, which were too fast for me to get my camera ready.

The phrase "sylvan glades" captures the look of much of the track-side scenery, which included a fox's den.

The Henryton tunnel, built in 1903, is about a half mile west of Marriottsville Road and about a hundred yards past the 25 mile marker next to the track.          

There were no iron horses on rails today, probably because of tomorrow's holiday. However I did encounter some flesh and blood horses back at my starting point. It seems the "biker bar" at the Old Court / Woodstock Road rail crossing in Woodstock is as much a "horsewoman's bar" as it is a biker's. After I downed a brew with the boys, a few of the ladies let me photograph their rides.

This guy was the best looking of the herd and he just loved to pose.

All in all a very pleasant outing on a beautiful, sunny and cool day.

Reinforcement

There are many small stone arched bridges carrying the Old Main Line over tributaries of the Patapsco river. I have never seen one reinforced and stablilized in this manner. It is on the stretch of rails between the Davis tunnel and Woodstock.