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.

Brice Run

On July 4th I hiked the Alberton Road section of the Patapsco, then up past the Daniels dam on the Baltimore County side of the river. About a mile above the dam Brice Run feeds into the Patapsco as it passes under the railroad tracks. I hiked along Brice Run to Wrights Mill Road and back again. There is a small falls on the stream. On my way to Brice Run I saw people tubing below the dam, some funky fungi on a fallen rotting tree branch, and I observed what appeared to be a mother and daughter pair paddleboarding above the dam. About a five mile hike, round trip.

                                         More photos can be found at this link.

Big Bromo - Bigger Than Big Ben

Its clockface dial diameters are twenty four feet,  a foot wider than Big Ben in London. Meet Big Bromo, the Emerson Tower, built in Baltimore by Isaac Emerson, the inventor of Bromo Seltzer.

                             The clockwork gears and brass pendulum shaft going through the floor.

Terrapin Park, Kent Island, Maryland

Terrapin Park is a small wetlands, meadow and beach front park on the shore of Kent Island, directly across Chesapeake Bay from Sandy Point State Park. It is operated by Queen Anne County. There is a parking permit fee, and big fines for violation, but it is nice. The shot of the Bay Bridge was taken in the afternoon when a storm was on the western shore and moving across the bay. The other shots were taken in the early morning and are just a few examples of the wildlife I saw.

                                                  Bay Bridge, looking southwest..

                                     Horsehoe crabs spawning on the bay shoreline.

 

                                                                    Blue Heron

                  Deer in the meadow. We stared at each other for several minutes from about ten yards.

Liberty Reservoir - Morgan Run Section

Today I hiked ten miles around this arm of Liberty Reservoir, west of Rt. 32. I didn't intend it to be ten miles, but it turned out that way. I took a few unintended detours. The trail is not poorly marked. It isn't marked at all, and a lot of forks in the trail, often a fire road, can send you on a loop, or down a dead end.
So, if you do hike there, get a good map with detailed directions. GPS wouldn't hurt either. That said, the weather was good and the scenery pleasant and shady. There was one ford across a stream that required wading shin deep. If you hike in boots, carry hiking sandals for that passage. You'll be glad you did.

This view came near the start of the hike.

                   This view of the Rt. 32 bridge, looking east, came near the end of the hike.
                                  More photos from the trail can be seen at this link.