DigitalRoadtrip: Spring Roadtrip, Day 3...On to Delaware

Day 3

Sunday, March 3, 2024

With a full day ahead, plenty of sunshine and no real plans, I did a search for hiking trails near me. What I found was Waterworks Park. It's a six hundred acre park with a bunch of hiking and mountain biking trails. I chose two loops and a connecting trail that would eventually total five miles. It's an area surrounding the old city reservoir, thus the name.

The day started with a mile loop that I did twice for the mileage. It's a well maintained trail through the woods with plenty of rolling hills, none of which were that high. It just felt good to be out walking in the sunshine.

On the back side of the loop is the connecting trail alongside the reservoir.

Eventually, this would lead to the dam at the far end of the reservoir.

This brought me to the aptly named Solar Park Loop.

I've been seeing these more and more over the years. Not only do you get clearly marked trail junctions, but a QR code that shows you exactly where you are in the park.

This is the junction at the far end of the loop. From here, it's up a hill and alongside the Annapolis Solar Park. Build over the decommissioned landfill, the park contains 55,000 solar panels. You can read more about the park here:

And eventually back to the reservoir for the trail back to the car.

Before leaving Annapolis, I considered stopping for lunch at the Middleton Tavern. Built in 1750, it's the oldest tavern in Maryland. They claim to have had George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin as customers way back in the day. Unfortunately, parking in downtown Annapolis is a bit of a nightmare. After circling further and further out, I gave up.

Instead, I stopped into the Ten Eyck Brewing Company. The food truck out front made a really nice Chicken Philly. And the beer, definitely worth the stop.

I really didn't have far to go, and it was still early in the afternoon. So, I did another search for hiking trails. That brought me to the Lynch Preserve. The land was donated by Mary B. Lynch and contains two main loop trails, as well as a few shorter loops. All told, I probably did two and a half miles through the woods. To their credit, the junctions were clearly marked, and there were plenty of colored blazes on the trees to follow.

From the preserve, it an easy drive out to the Delaware Coast to Dewey Beach. My home for the night was a place I have stayed numerous times, the Gold Leaf Hotel.