Pataspco Valley Riding and Camping??

[LKLRides]

Hey -
My friend and I are looking to spend a few days camping and riding - we're from the Western MA area and trails here and still muddy and icy! I'm not familiar at all with MD trails, but Patapsco Valley State Park keeps popping up in my research.

Wondering if it's a good place to camp and ride for a few days? Are there other trails within a short drive away as well?

Looking for some nice flowly singletrack and enough trails to keep us busy for 4 days of riding. Also, is it a place where newbies can easiy find their way around?

THANKS!!!

[trailbildr]

Limited camping, but plenty for two of you. Plenty of trails for four days. Bring a gps and download some tracks. There are SO many turns out there, it's ridiculous...

There is tons of riding in the MD/DC/NoVA area. Let us know when you are headed down. I can show you around for at least a few hours one day. Patapsco has about 60 miles of trails and a pump track/skills park right next to it as well. Look up Rockburn Skills Park.

I won't start suggesting Frederick Watershed and Gambrill state park to you yet...

mk

[riderx]

The Hilton area of Patapsco has a half dozen small cabins and a dozen or so tent sites and it is right in the middle of the primary trail system (Patapsco is a long narrow park with several distinct areas, but this area has the densest and most developed set of trails). 2 full days there would likely give you your fill.


1 hour west is Gambrill State Park and the Frederick Watershed. The trails are techinical and rocky. Super fun if that's your thing. Gambrill has camping and is well marked but only has about a days worth of riding . The Frederick Watershed is adjacent (hard to tell where the border is). It has no camping, very little in the way of trail markings but more trails than you can probably ride in 4 days. These trails sit just outside of Frederick which has plenty of food options and pubs for post ride hanging out.


IMBA Trail Care Crew gets a taste of Gambrill by sso, on Flickr

[eugalc]

Both Patapsco and Gambrill/Frederick Watershed offer fantastic riding. Neither are really great destinations for camping, but if your sole focus is riding you should be OK. I camped in Patapsco once, with my son's cub scout pack, and we were right under the flight path for BWI, which made for a noisy evening as big loud jets came over us about every couple minutes. If you go to Gambrill you can also ride Greenbriar, which is only about 15 minutes west of Gambrill. Greenbriar also has great camping and is situated right off of the Appalachian Trail.