Submit your own Adventure of the Week here and keep an eye out for your adventure to be featured in one of our next Weekly Outdoor Adventure Guides!
Weather (Click Here)
Before you hit the trails or set up camp, make sure to take a second glance at the weather for this weekend!
Today's Moon Phase according to NASA (Click Here)
Waxing Crescent: "As the Moon moves eastward away from the Sun in the sky, we see a bit more of the sunlit side of the Moon each night. A few days after new Moon, we see a thin crescent in the western evening sky. The crescent Moon waxes, or appears to grow fatter, each night."
Hiking (Click Here)
Elk Neck Park Trails, North East
Beaver Marsh Loop: 2 Miles A hike around the marsh provides a great opportunity to see wildlife. These tall forests support deer, eagles and squirrels. Beavers have an active lodge in the middle of the marsh. This is a longer trail and the waterfront portion is under water at high tide, so be prepared! Start at the Rogues Harbor Boating Area. Hiking: Difficult; Biking: Expert, bikes not permitted on certain portions of this trail. Please follow the signs.
Turkey Point Lighthouse Trail: 1 ½ Miles The signature destination at Elk Neck State Park is the Turkey Point Lighthouse. This historic tower sits on a one-hundred foot tall cliff overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. Travel is an easy loop trail to enjoy this amazing and unique place. Start at the Turkey Point parking lot, located at the southern terminus of Route 272. Parking is very limited. The Turkey Point Lighthouse parking lot, located 0.8 miles north of the lighthouse, frequently fills to capacity on weekends. The best times to visit are before 10 a.m. or after 6:30 p.m. on weekends or any time during the week; however you may be turned away at any time if the parking area is full due to capacity. Hiking: Easy Biking: Novice
White Banks Trail: 3 Miles This challenging one-way trail features steep hills, tight turns and some amazing views. Combine the southern section of the White Banks Trail with the Beaver Marsh Loop to make a loop highlighting the diverse landscapes of Elk Neck State Park. Start at the Rogues Harbor Boating Area. The northern portion of this trail is closed; please follow the posted signs. Hiking: Difficult Biking: Expert
Hunting (Click Here)
Be sure to consult your Maryland Guide to Hunting and Trapping for season dates and bag limits.
Pocomoke State Forest, Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester County
Hunting is one of the more popular recreational activities on Pocomoke State Forest. Various game birds and mammals, which include wild turkey, white-tailed deer and gray squirrels, are prevalent. Upland game birds and mammals are not as common, but do provide hunting opportunities. Low populations of eastern cottontail rabbit, bobwhite quail, mourning dove, and American woodcock can be found in recent forest harvest areas and in open land habitats that exist on the forest or near private agricultural lands.
Aquatic habitats located within and surrounding the forest support several species of waterfowl. Open waters include the Pocomoke River, its tributaries, and several swamps/marshes. Wood ducks and mallards are the most common species.
Hunting with rifles, handguns, shotguns, bows, and muzzleloaders is permitted in all designated areas in accord with state and federal laws. Possession or use of weapons is prohibited in State Forests outside of regular open hunting season. Target shooting is prohibited. All game birds and game mammals may be hunted. Game shooting stands are limited to those of a temporary nature which can be removed or dismantled at the end of each day. The hunting seasons in Pocomoke State Forest conforms to standard hunting seasons adopted by state and federal regulations.
Please refer to the hunting maps located here for the designated areas to hunt on Pocomoke State Forest.
History of Our State Parks (Click Here)
Seneca State Park
Woodlands Estate
Located at the Park Office and Historic Area at 11950 Clopper Road, a self-guided interpretive path reveals the history of the Clopper Family and their estate home “Woodlands.” Francis Cassatt Clopper (a distant relative of the painter Mary Cassatt) was a prosperous merchant who moved to Montgomery County in 1812 and established a huge plantation farm off Clopper Road. Explore the archeological remains of the now-vanished plantation house and its outbuildings, and learn about daily life on a farm across four generations, from before the Civil War up to the middle 1950s.
Grusendorf Log House
Also located near the Park Office is Grusendorf Log House, the oldest surviving building from the original Germantown, Maryland. Built by a German-American carpenter named Jakob Snyder in 1855, this one-room log cabin once stood near what is now the corner of Clopper Road and Great Seneca Highway. When the land on which the cabin stood was redeveloped in the 1980s, the historic home was relocated to Seneca Creek State Park. Park volunteers present interpretive programs and offer interior tours periodically on weekends from spring through fall. Check the monthly program calendar for open house dates and times.
Schwartz Peony Garden
The Schwartz Peony Garden is a living reminder of one of the great commercial horticulture operations in Montgomery County. Now located in Seneca Creek State Park’s Day Use area, the garden was originally planted at Summit Avenue in downtown Gaithersburg.
Between 1915 and 1924 a prosperous real estate broker and flower fancier, Mr. Edwin P. Schwartz, collected heirloom peonies from dealers in Holland, France, England and Germany as well as the United States. Mr Schwartz’s mansion home, which once overlooked the garden, is now Gaithersburg City Hall. By the 1920s the family had become prominent peony root stock dealers, publishing a catalog offering hundreds of different varieties for order by mail. In the 1940s the family moved their commercial garden operations to five acres in what is now Seneca Creek State Park.
Thousands of individual peony plants in scores of varieties still bloom in the park every May and June. Visit the display garden and walk the open fields to enjoy the spectacular flowers in all their colors and varieties.
Black Rock Mill
Black Rock Mill sits along Great Seneca Creek adjacent to Black Rock Road. Inside the walls of the now roofless old building are displays which tell the history of this 1815 grain-grinding mill. Featuring reinstalled gears and machinery, the displays give a cut-away view of the milling operation. Startling high water marks on the inside of the walls show the magnitude of the floods which have ravaged the Great Seneca valley from time to time over the last century.
Seneca Historic District
Closer to the confluence of Great Seneca Creek and the Potomac River are the Seneca Schoolhouse and Seneca Historic District, including the ruins of the Seneca Stone Mill and Quarries. Located at the end of Tschiffely Mill Road, the quarry is renowned for providing the signature red sandstone used to build the Smithsonian Castle. The nearby one-room schoolhouse, located at 16800 River Road, once served children of quarry workers and other members of the local community. Historic Medley District, Inc. now presents interpretive programs at the restored schoolhouse. Also nearby are Riley’s Lockhouse and Seneca Aqueduct of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, both preserved by the National Park Service as part of the C&O Canal National Historic Park.
Waring Viaduct
The park’s Seneca Greenway foot trail offers excellent views of the 110-year-old Waring Viaduct, a three-arch stone railroad bridge that soars high above Great Seneca Creek. Built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to replace an older steel bridge on the same site, this majestic bridge still carries trains high above the Greenway and the valley of Great Seneca Creek. Access the viaduct by walking on the Seneca Greenway north from the Park Office at 11950 Clopper Road (1 mile) or south from the MD Route 355 trailhead parking lot (2 miles). Please note: Waring Viaduct itself is private property and is in active railroad use--never walk or trespass on railroad tracks.
Animal Cams (Click Here)
This week tune in to watch the Great White Shark Meditation.
Beach Cam
In the winter months we all long for the beach. Take a look at whats going on at your favorite East Coast beaches right now.
