A.C. and I went hiking last Sunday, on what was supposed to be a two hour, 6.8 mile loop around Loch Raven north of Baltimore. Of course, it was a total debacle thanks to Bryan Mackay, author of Baltimore Trails, who is officially no longer my friend.
Soon after beginning the hike a few things became apparent: the trail is not blazed, and Mackay has done a craptacular job of indicating which way to go. At least three forks in the trail passed without comment, so we had to backtrack a time or two, including one unfortunate half-mile side-trip ending at an abandoned campfire and a newspaper dispenser.
The point at which A.C. likely gave up hiking for good came at the 4 mile mark, where we are advised that the only ways to continue are to go back the way we came, take a two mile death-defying road detour, or walk across a shallow river along some near-pebbles strewn far and wide. We elected to do the balancing act, and while neither of us fell in, our collective nimbleness was tested far too often. I’ll stick to bridges, thanks. A much easier crossing point, several hundred yards upstream, again was omitted.
All the same, I did get some half decent snapshots of the dam and the lake. And we made it back to the car just before the sun disappeared, which is always a plus.
