Western Maryland
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Road Biking
Mountain Maryland promises grand vistas and challenges for all, yet several rail trails provide easier grades for beginner and intermediate cyclists and hikers. In this intensely beautiful rugged countryside, you’ll visit winding streams, Amish farms and misty river valleys. See a blazing sunset amid lush green mountaintops
on one of
Maryland’s scenic byways
. You can also tour the back roads of Washington County’s ridge and valley region using a bike map available from the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau. Visit
www.marylandmemories.org
for more information.
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Off-Road Biking and Hiking Trails
The Allegheny Highlands Trail of Maryland has a crushed stone surface. It follows the route of the Western Maryland Railroad for 21 miles from Cumberland to the Pennsylvania line, and then continues to Pittsburgh. In Cumberland the trail links to the 185-mile C&O Canal Towpath Trail at the C&O Canal National Historic Park Visitor Center at Canal Place. Here cyclists can continue to Georgetown, MD along the Towpath Trail. Together these connected trails comprise the spine of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail. More info...
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The Western Maryland Rail Trail is a paved surface trail that begins west of Fort Frederick State Park and follows an easy grade for 25 miles along the Potomac River. Riders can make a circuit with the C&O Canal Towpath Trail. The off-road Western Maryland Rail Trail and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath Trail are the only bicycle connections between Big Pool and Hancock. More info...
Potomac River |
You can also tour the back roads of Washington County’s ridge and valley region using a bike map available from the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau. More info...
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It would likely take several months to hike the 2,168-mile Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia. But along Maryland’s 40-mile portion, you can day hike or backpack to the historic sites of South Mountain, Gathland and Washington Monument state parks. Part of the passage at Annapolis Rock has earned recognition as “Baltimore’s Best Trail.”
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Maryland’s 44,000-acre mecca for off-road bikers is Green Ridge State Forest. East of Cumberland in the Allegheny Mountains, “The Ridge” features nearly 100 miles of dirt roads and a challenging 11.6-mile wilderness loop with stream crossings, sustained climbs, and steep turns. Several “easy-out” routes are available. Green Ridge also offers 30 miles of scenic hiking trails for day hikers and backpackers in an undeveloped, wild setting.
A refreshing lake plunge can follow some moderately difficult single-track and dirt-road riding around Herrington Manor State Park and Garrett State Forest. Nearby, Swallow Falls State Park,home of the 53-foot-high Muddy Creek Falls, is linked to Herrington Manor by a six-mile trail, and both parks feature abundant circuit day hikes.
Day hike or backpack in the Potomac State Forest’s Lostland Run Area. Follow a scenic stream with cascading waterfalls and draping rhododendrons to an overlook beside the Potomac River.
Click here to link to a matrix of family friendly trails in Western Maryland
.
