Hiking Trails and Trips
Trips
Appalachian Section: Gathland to Harpers Ferry
Jefferson, Maryland, United States
Hiking | 9.8 miles
Hiking | 9.8 miles
Me and the dynamic duo at it again, this time leaving a car parked next to the outhouse behind the AT conservancy office, then driving up to Gathland State Park, and hiking about 10 miles south along the spine of South Mountain to Weverton Cliffs, overlooking the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. There was a magificent, low foggy sky and we learned a new dance: The Menonite Twist. One last...
South shore trail, east from Sykesville Rd Bridge
Piney Valley Estates, Maryland, United States
Hiking | 2.7 miles
Hiking | 2.7 miles
Just had enough time for a quick exploratory hike to check out the trail along the southern shore going east from Sykesville Rd. The trailhead is about half a mile or so south of the bridge. Like the Morgan Run system on the west side, this trail is also well maintained and offers a decent footing.
Liberty Reservoir West of Sykesvlle Rd
Cherry Tree Hills, Maryland, United States
Hiking | 6.8 miles
Hiking | 6.8 miles
Complete counter-clockwise loop around the portion of Liberty Reservoir west of Sykesville Rd (Rt 32) beginning at the north end of the bridge and proceeding approx 10 miles* and exiting the woods just south of the bridge. This is one of the most diverse and beautiful areas of trail at Liberty Reservoir and I can see now why it gets somuch praise in the guides. Lots of evidence of horse and mountain...
Now that I've completed the hole section east of Rt 32 to Bollinger Mill and Deer Park Rd, time to start the next leg. The other day I spotted a trail parking area on the west side. Today I had just enough time to do a quick exploration with Linnie. Truns out, it's probably the smoothest and one of the most scenic sections of trail I've encountered anywhere along the Liberty trail...
Although parts of Soldier's Delight look sort of torn up, it's still a good workout. And besides, anytime you can get up and be on the trail before sunrise, get in a really brisk 5 + miles, work up a nice schvitz and still be ready for work by 9am - that's going to be a good day.
I finally made the connection between the Bollinger Mill Rd trailhead and the trailhead at Sykesville Rd and the reservoir. I passed a lot of side-trails which is what made exploring this route so challenging - easy to take a wrong turn, but now ready to take on the next segment. I need to choose a date to finish these section hikes so I can do the entire 81-mile route over a...
I've been exploring more of the western side of the reservoir over the last month. I've made the hike from Deer Park Rd and from Bollinger Mill Rd down to the tip of the peninsula and have also hiked part-way in from where 32 crosses the reservoir. Most trails are unmarked around the reservoir, but the west side has so many spurs and intersections that it is tougher to "guess" your way...
On a family vacation to Old Forge, a great little mountain town in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, our favorite vacation spot. Bald mountain is a popular hike since it's reasonably short and not very tough. You essentially follow a ridge line to the summit! A bald knob - hence the name - which has a fire tower. From the top you have sweeping panoramic views of the area.Old forge...
OK, so I cheated… I
was fiddling with the EveryTrail settings and when I did this hike on 5/16 it did
not upload properly. So, I re-hiked it on 5/18 but used the photos from 5/16. Confession
is good for the soul.
This next area of the southbound reservoir trail involves a
fairly long, probably two-hour slog between the two legal parking places. So,
since I just had time for another quick out-and-back, I decided to hike down...
(Note: the app was acting up today and the photos did not properly tag to their actual locations.) The next leg of the east side route involves a short walk from the Nicodemus bridge, up to Ivy Mill, right turn to Content Lane, and another right turn down to the next trailhead. There may be a way to cut through and avoid the roads, but at best it would involve a really steep...
Picking up where I left off 2 days ago, I did an out-and-back form the Ivy Mill powerlines down to the Nicodemus Rd bridge. Except for the first and last short sections, this trail is almost all single-track, up and down some hills, crossing various tributary creeks, and ends at the Nicodemus bridge abutment. You only get a few quick water views until the end but you have several stream crossings. My...
Last Sunday I did the first
segment of the eastern shore of Liberty Reservoir from Rt 140 down to Cockeys
Mill Rd. Today I took on the next and by far the hardest segment of any part of
the reservoir system that I’ve attempted to date. The reservoir is surrounded
by buffer forest and easily hiked fire roads. In a few areas where there are no
fire roads, there are simple single-track trails, some of which are...
DID YOU EVER FEEL YOU WERE BEING WATCHED?
I actually made it to the trailhead today at first light. First light is
about half an hour before sunrise and there’s a reason they call it ‘first
light’ and not ‘real good light’: you can start to see the sky lighting up but the
woods are still bit dark. It's kind of a face-your-fear thing and an adrenaline
rush to go down a dark trail.
I was going to...
Segment #1: Keyser Run Trail, North to South
Reisterstown, Maryland, United States
Hiking | 3.7 miles
Hiking | 3.7 miles
So, this is the first leg of the big round-trip hike. Sunday morning about 6 am, it was super foggy and in the 30's. It warmed up fast and you can see in the first half of the pictures that the fog was hanging really low. I actually 'heard' the sunrise before I saw it- the sun was behind me, so as it poked through the fog, it caused the dew to...
This was my first serious attmpt to use the EveryTrail app. I'd hiked most of this route before but only to the dam - this time I made my way down to the river below the dam and found a great crossing which I'll be hitting again soon from the east side.
