After 4 years of bike commuting from Elkridge to UMBC, you’d think I’d have found all of the possible routes, but I’m still finding more. I consider that a good thing, because it keeps me from getting bored with any one particular route. Also, these days I’m finding myself less willing to ride regularly on Montgomery Rd in Elkridge, because of the traffic. That cuts down on my route options, so new routes that avoid Montgomery Rd are always welcome. Today’s route was 14 miles and change, and moderately hilly. I liked it, and will likely ride it again:
- Take Lawyer’s Hill Rd to River Rd
- Enter Patapsco State Park via access road, take River Rd out to swinging bridge
- Cross swinging bridge, left onto Grist Mill Trail
- At trail end, turn right onto Ilchester Rd
- Go ½ mile, turn right onto Thistle Rd
- Follow Thistle Rd to end, turn right onto Frederick
- Go 1 mile, turn right onto Seminole Ave
- Follow Seminole to a connector street (there are a couple), turn left and go 2 blocks to Hilton Ave
- Turn right onto Hilton Ave
- Follow Hilton Ave about ½ mile, turn left onto McCurley
- Follow McCurley to end. Take trail onto CCBC campus. Turn right onto Campus Dr.
- Follow Campus Dr awhile and turn right onto Collegiate Dr.
- Follow Collegiate 2 blocks and turn right onto Foxhall Manor Dr.
- Follow Foxhall Manor to end and turn left onto Vineyard Hill Rd.
- Follow Vineyard Hill to end and turn left onto Foxhall Farm Rd.
- Follow Foxhall Farm until it ends at Rolling Rd.
- Proceed to UMBC via either Wilkens Ave or Sulphur Spring/Shelbourne Rd.
This was the first time I had ridden on Foxhall Farm Rd since the 1990s. It’s a nice, secluded road with no traffic. The CCBC cut-through is a great way to get through that area of Catonsville, as it avoids an extremely congested stretch of Rolling Rd.
Google Maps is becoming a very valuable tool for plotting bike routes. It now includes a lot of trails. Interestingly, it’s showing an access trail between Foxhall Farm Rd and Glen Artney Rd in the park. I’m not familiar with this trail as I never ride on that part of Glen Artney Rd (you get to it by riding through the viaduct under the train tracks near the Grist Mill trailhead), but I’m going to have to check it out. If it’s passable by road bike, it could be a very useful route (although it looks like it could be a steep climb).