A nice easy out-and-back 4 mile ride starts from the Dixon Observation Park, following the BWI trail (S then E) for 1.25 miles, where it reaches a branching off of the BWI trail (to the left) and the B&A Trail (sharp right onto a bridge over I-97). If you follow the B&A Trail you come out behind the baseball fields at Sawmill Creek Park at the 2.04 mile mark. The only real hills are a very short one as you approach that 1.25 mile branching point and a relatively short one returning from Sawmill Creek Park as you climb to the middle of the bridge over I-97. Other than those hills there are some graded areas where you can get used to switching gears if you're new to biking and where, on non-peak periods, there are enough to straightaways to get used to traveling relatively fast.

My hubby and I did the BWI trail on a Sunday morning in June around 0900 AM. We parked our car on the side rode of Elkridge Landing where other cars were parked. We are recreational bikers just now getting into biking about a month ago. he drove a hybrid bike while I have a simple mountain type bike.

We had great fun, we only did the BWI loop, and that was enough for a hot day. If you start at Elkridge Landing, there is a park at almost exactly the mid way point, where you can take a rest and go to the restroom. There were some joggers and other bikers, but nothing overly packed at all. I really love riding where I didn't have to worrry about dodging cars. There were only a few cross overs of streets, that had little traffic. If you start the by heading northeast, you don't hit the long hill until the end, it was rough for us, but probably much simple for more experienced bikers. I hope we did this again next weekend, and we'll how it work going the oppposite way. I do suggest you bring you own water to cool down and take breaks. it only took us about 1.5 hours with water breaks, what was funning is seeing the same bikers passing us a couple of times...now they were experienced!

I have run the B&A only a handful of times and most recently for the upcoming 2009 marathon. I have a blog post that details my most recent run: http://nataliefriton.com/batrail and also shares an idea about ways in which the conditions of the trail could be reported for trail users to check before heading out.

I am not aware of any existing services that update trail conditions on a daily or regular basis and think this could be a huge advantage for trail users. The majority of the trail I used on Feb. 1 was fine but because of recent weather conditions there were still stretches that were icy and slippery that might have been good to know about ahead of time.

I'm grateful for the trash cans along the trail and wonder if there has ever been discussion about including a port-a-pot or two along the route.

Natalie Friton
Arnold, MD
@NatalieFriton

This trail is usually noted to be 11 miles, but a piece of that is a short 0.4 mile dogleg to the terminal. So, if you do this trail, you are either going to do the main loop at 10.6 miles, or include the terminal and complete 11.4 miles. There are two nice overlooks. One is the Dixon Observation area with the crowds, playground, and parking, where you can watch the planes fly in. The other is at the northern piece of the trail, to the east of Elkridge Landing Road (another decent parking area, on street). This overlook includes benches and trashcans, and is a nice hill that overlooks that airport, where you can have a nice general view of the whole airport. In addition, as you leave this area heading towards Elkridge Landing Road, watch for the Emu farm on the right, in the woods.

This trail has lots of neat wooden bridges, some very long. In addition, to the east of the Dixon Observation area, it's shaded, and very pretty. It's a great area to take kids on short rides. You can ride from the parking lot, out to the shaded area in maybe .75 miles, and have the planes fly right overtop of you.

There is a 7-11 on the trip, but it's across a busy road. That is on Aviation Boulevard.

Lastly, they like to close the Dixon parking lot at sunset, and the trail itself closes at dusk. But, if you are on a long run or bike ride, and you are at risk of getting back late, I recommend parking in an area other than Dixon. If you go further west down Dorsey, there is a Burger King on the left in a shopping center, which is nice to park in just in case you hit sunlight issues.

"this trail is great for inermediate bikers.
starting at the BWI trail and taking the trail through Glen Burnie and onto Annapolis. it's about 22 Miles to Annapolis from BWI.
Excellent scenery and great for excercise !!!!"

"Nice trail! Good workout! Very little traffic to deal with. Take water and a snack, not much along the way. Check out the B&A Trail connection. "

A nice ride! Tends to get a little crowed on the weekends though. But a good trail overall!