This past weekend Shira and I hiked a 9 mile loop in Patapsco Stream Valley State Park. The loop combines the Log, Morning Choice, Lewis and Clark, Cascade Falls, Ridge, Rockburn Branch, Hop the Snake and Belmont trails and was published over at alltrails.com.
On the surface, there's nothing remarkable about this hike. It has no breathtaking views or challenging rock scrambles. However, it strikes me as impressive that you can log 9 miles of forest hiking, with only occasional glimpses of suburbia, so close to Washington, DC. We've hiked Patapsco a number of times, and yet with the exception of a segment of the Cascades Trail, this was all new to me. If you don't mind hours of driving to and from the trail, then by all means, head out to Shenandoah and the like. But if you want to log miles without the schlep, Patapsco is hard to beat.
I could definitely see using these Patapsco trails for training purposes. You could load up a backpack and get an authentic hiking or trail running experience in, in a fraction of the time it would take you to do the same exercise in a remote location.
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