Patapsco Valley State Park

Patapsco Valley State Park is in Central Maryland.

Understand

Patapsco Valley is easily the largest park (save the narrow Rock Creek National Park) in the densely populated section of the country between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. As such, it is quite popular with day-trippers and campers alike seeking to escape the suburban sprawl for a while, and to explore its natural and historic sights.

History

Landscape

Flora and fauna

Climate

Get in

The park is just west of the Baltimore Beltway, and the principal road in the area is US-40, the Baltimore National Pike, which cuts right through the park. The main visitor center is at 8020 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City.

Fees and permits

Day use during the main season is $2 for Maryland residents; $3 for out-of-staters.

Get around

See
  • Swinging Bridge (Orange Grove Area). A 300-foot suspension walkway over the Patapsco River. 
  • Thomas Viaduct (Avalon Area). The world's longest multiple-arched stone railroad bridge. Of course, it's not too hard to set a record when you set your sights on such a narrow category, but the bridge is in any rate quite pretty, and worth a visit. 
  • Tire Playground. A giant tire playground, which would bore only the most Nintendo DS-addicted kid. 

Do

Buy

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Call +1-888-432-2267 for reservations, which are often necessary in nice weather, given the lack of camping opportunities in this densely populated section of the state.

Camping

Tent and cabin camping are possible in designated campsites; the former costs $10/night and the latter $20. Separate from these campsites are sites for RV camping, with full hookups for $25.

Stay safe

Go next

The park is just north of Ellicott City—worth a visit for its old Main Street, with its historic attractions and fine dining.

gollark: > do people have these problems in other countries?In the UK, we have *different* problems.
gollark: Meh, I turn that off anyway because it seems to be more "Microsoft-approved boot" than *secure* boot. Unless you bother to set your own keys, I guess.
gollark: No, I did, several times.> The data/body can be large, contain arbitrary bytes, and is actually meant to store large amounts of data.> - servers may allocate limited-sized buffers for incoming request headers so you can't put too much in them (this is somewhat problematic for cookies)> request bodies can probably be handled more performantly because of stuff like the length field on them> - request bodies are generated by forms and all sane clients so stuff is mostly designed to deal with those
gollark: I did say multiple times why that's not really a good idea.
gollark: You can put large amounts of data in the body. That's what it's for. File uploads and stuff go in it.
This article is issued from Wikivoyage. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.