Find the top rated mountain biking trails in Maryland, whether you're looking for an easy short mountain biking trail or a long mountain biking trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a mountain biking trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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Checked it out while we were in the area, and it was nice! Wide/paved walkway. Wasn’t crowded or desolate. Decent amount of activity. Beautiful streams and scenery. Highly recommend!
Officially, this Maryland trail is only 1.8 miles, perfect for the fine folks of Chesapeake City or tourists to take a stroll out to the state line with Delaware and back. In fact, as I sat on the deck of the Ship Watch Inn across the canal from the path's trailhead the evening before I rode it, I saw so many people doing just that.
The 3.6 miles round trip is perfect for walkers since it is flat, quiet, and picturesque. When I started my bike ride the next morning at sunrise, all I encountered were runners and friendly dog walkers.
However, those of us on bikes aren't going to stop after two miles, so be sure to combine this with the Delaware portion of the canal trail for an additional twelve miles.
AND . . . don't stop after those twelve miles. Since you've already gone that far, continue across 5th Street in Delaware City into the park and then bear right toward Canal Street to travel another mile or so to historical Delaware City, Battery Park, and Delaware Bay! Total round trip of thirty miles.
WARNING: If you decide to continue on to Delaware City, there are three hills on Delaware's Ben Cardin Trail. Thank goodness for my Swytch pedal assist!
We found this trail to be one of the worst trails...simply because once you're off the established paved biking/walking trail (which isn't very long), there's absolutely NO SIGNAGE where the next leg of the trail is. For that matter, there's no signage ANYWHERE that the trail even exists. Finally, the trail starts then has a break, then starts again, another break...etc. I've been riding the W&OD trail for years and that, my friends, is a great cycling trail. The ICC Trail should be revisited by planners.
Day1: DC to Williamsport. Day 2: Williamsport to Cumberland. This was an amazing ride with beautiful fall scenery. Trail was well maintained and easy to navigate. It was mostly hard parked gravel with lots of historical sites and great views. Paw Paw tunnel was open. The trail thru tunnel is uneven and wet. Met some great people along the trail. I’ll definitely ride the trail again in the summer.
We took the Amtrak bike train to DC. Had to switch trains in Philly. Between Harrisburg and Philly we had to remove the front wheel and hang the bike. From Philly to DC they were stored in the baggage car and didn't require tire removal. The ride through DC was fantastic and much easier than we expected. The trail got a little confusing to get out of town but once we did we found the trail in much better condition then we expected. We stayed along the way in a hotel and a lock house. My favorite part was the area around the pawpaw tunnel but the trail was in very poor condition in spots. At one point when I tried to go my rear wheel would just spin and the bike wouldn't move. Very mucky and muddy. I'm sure it all depends on the amount of rain they had recently. It completed the ride from Pittsburgh to DC for me. I had ridden the GAP trail about 6 years prior. The only reason I didn't give it a five star rating is because of the mud in some areas. Overall it was great.
I was on this trail for the first and last time yesterday. My wife and I did a 21 mile round trip from the south end on a gorgeous day in October. This might be the prettiest trail I have ever seen. But the trail surface was a mixture of smooth, hardbacked dirt (nice) to something like a washboard. My wife sprained a muscle in her hand just holding on to the handlebars. I usually like to go back and finish a trail that I have only partially completed, but we won't be going back to this one.
I had never been on the Heritage Trail but I wanted to get a least 50 total miles in so I started at the parking lot near MM 16 and rode south. I crossed the border into MD and what a difference a State Line can make! I was not impressed at all with the ride on the Heritage but The Torrey was much more rural, did not have near the road crossings and you are for the most part riding beside a beautiful creek in a serene wooded environment instead of beside RR tracks in an environment that felt more industrial. I'll be back to complete the Southern end, for sure.
Because of the rainy weather before we arrived, we decided to do this trail instead of the muddy C and O Towpath. There were some tree roots riding from New Orleans to Hancock, but the vistas and beauty of the fall ride made up for it. We are leisurely cyclists with hybrid tires.
This is a well-paved, short trail. Nice for a quick outing.
Great trail, no complaints there, but the tree roots are indeed a real problem. Crushed limestone would be far safer. As an experienced long distance traveler with roughly 50 years of experience since my first 100 mile ride, I blithely dismissed reviews citing tree root issues. However, to my great surprise, the vertical 6" tree root bumps in the trail (and yes, I'm talking about passing through Hancock) are so severe that they will...
a) bump my wife completely out of her seat on a recumbent trike, and we kept slowing down further and further, to roughly 8 mph or less.
b) throw my monster battery off the bike despite it being locked down.
c) bend my 20" front rim on my recumbent 2 wheeler and cause a pinch flat with 3 holes in the tube about 1/4" in length, cut right into the tube.
And bear in mind that you CAN'T see them coming. Other riders remarked upon this, and I blithely dismissed that, too.
I could easily envision the unwary rider without a lot of experience, expecting a beautifully paved ride, getting injured.
As said in several of the previous reviews, these are two segmented trails. The southern part of the segmented trail is very nice. Nicely paved trails with pretty views along the way. A few walkers, joggers, and bikers frequent this trail.
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