Rosaryville State Park, MD - March 26, 2012

Today dawned sunny and brisk (55F - 60F) with a bit of a wind, so we decided to take a 10 miles dayhike in nearby Rosaryville State Park.  Probably laid out as a bike trail, it is described as "lightly undulating" with no long steep hills - and that is accurate.  There were many ups and downs, and many serpentine cutbacks as the trail attempted to keep a fairly level grade for the bikers.

The highlight of the hike, according to the guide, was a collection of artifacts from a farm that had once been on the property.  We came across this early in the hike, and it was rather novel to see a toaster, some coffee pots, etc., posed on logs by the trail.  However, probably the true highlight of the hike was an old tobacco barn.  As we approached, we saw a handmade sign reading:  "Occupy Upper Marlboro"!  (Upper Marlboro is the local municipality.)  Poking inside, we found a couple tents and some other signs of habitation.  No one was there, so we surmised that it is, perhaps, more of an occasional party sort of occupation rather than primarily a political one.

Shortly past the barn, we found an old, rusted rotary farm tiller or the like, which was interesting.  There were a couple of old abandoned cabins as well.

Over the course of the 4.5 hour hike, we encountered several groups of trail bikers, and four different horses with riders.  One fellow on a large white horse was out with his hunting dog.  We caught a photo of them as they high-tailed it back up the hill across an electric power line easement from us.

We enjoyed crossing some open green fields - first a couple crossings of an electric power line easement, and then some open fields that looked as if someone had constructed some jumps for horses on them.

Finally, as we headed back around the loop trail from lunch, we started seeing lots of trail signs warning bikers of blind curves.  Kathy captured one photo of a "Slow Blind Curve."

Photos of these hike highlights can be found on our Flickr photo site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/scranton21/sets/72157629310944962/