Off the Beaten Path

If it wasn’t for the eastern screech owl with one bad eye, I might still be unaware of the Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge’s North Tract and its many miles of undulating dirt roads, a mere 25 minutes south of my home in Baltimore. An unseasonably hot and humid day in October 2017 resulted in a shortened run at Greenbelt Park. My wife and I had driven south on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway intent on logging 90-minute runs on Greenbelt’s principal loop and adjacent athletic fields, but the conditions exacerbated our training fatigue. We decided to cut our losses make the most of the afternoon by exploring the area.

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News

It had been a while since I had added a new loop, so to celebrate the return of reasonable hours for the National Arboretum, there is now a 10k segment in there, mostly free of car traffic.

The loop follows the outer loop, going clockwise, with a trip up to Mount Hamilton (counterclockwise around the top loop), and then a smaller interior loop. You can follow the path of the loop, which is a few steps over 10k, here. The start is the R Street exit sign and the finish the cross street on the road leading to the out-of-use gate. It’s really easier to follow the map, but it makes sense when you’re in there. If people are interested, I will add chalk markings.