Need a good weekend bike trip near Baltimore.

June 25, 2009 11:18 AM

Are there any good overnight/weekend camping/other trips in and around Baltimore for two cyclists staying on the pavement? No car. Trying to make my honey's graduation & birthday a good one.

I'm seeing camping or bike trails, but not both. Taking the train to a trail works... I see the Baltimore/Annapolis trail. Is Annapolis & environs charming at all? The Maryland parks department has cabins at some parks, but it looks to me like they're too far out for us.

We're on old 3 speed Raleighs, and we're pretty new cyclists. We don't have a lot of camping gear with us, certainly not bicycle-light stuff. I guess we'll stick to B&Bs?

Traveling the end of July - might have the whole weekend, might just have Saturday and Sunday.

posted by SirNovember to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total)

Best answer: The B&A trail is not very nice. The NCR trail that ends in Hunt Valley (you can take Light Rail) is very nice. It's packed gravel, not paved, but very easy to bike on. It runs up to York PA. I've run up it about 25 miles from Hunt Valley and it's nice the whole way, getting nicer the further up you go. I have never gone as far as PA. I don't know if you can camp on the trail or not, or what York is like, but I can vouch for the trail part itself.
posted by OmieWise at 1:20 PM on June 25, 2009

If you can get down to the DC area , the C&O canal towpath is pretty good. Here's where you can camp.
posted by electroboy at 1:30 PM on June 25, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks to you both for the first hand trail information, it’s just what I was looking for.

electroboy, I’d be a little concerned about finding an available camp site, since they aren’t reservable. I don’t want us to have to keep pushing ourselves, if they’re busy!

Google says no camping on the Northern Central Railroad Trail – so B&B it is. If we'll just be overnight, Slade’s Inn is a short enough ride that we’ll still have time to play. It’s a touch expensive, but I can swing one night. If we have more time I think we’ll go just across the Pennsylvania line to The Jackson House.
posted by SirNovember at 6:38 AM on June 26, 2009

Response by poster: We ended up doing the two nights at the Jackson House. It was really lovely. The trail was practically flat, which made for a relaxing ride, despite the length. Cheers!
posted by SirNovember at 2:44 PM on August 8, 2009