Trail Description
This rail line through the suburban region between Annapolis and Baltimore is now a paved linear park that encompasses 112 acres (0.45 km2). The asphalt trail winds through parks, neighborhoods and natural wooded areas providing scenic views of trees, streams and many historical points. Two of the major stops on the trail are Severna Park at mile 4.8, and Glen Burnie at mile 12.7. The trail also goes by the Marley Station Mall and the Ranger Station.
Along the trail are historical markers labeled A to Z, which correspond to the Guide to Historical Markers on the B&A Trail, written by park volunteer Barry Miller. The historical markers were designed and placed as an Eagle Scout service project by William Brian Sanders of Boy Scout Troop #1785 in Pasadena, Maryland in 1993. The A marker is near the Annapolis end of the trail at the Winchester Station House, mile 0.1. Marker Z, at mile 13.3, is for the Sawmill Branch, which was a source of water and power for residents in the early 18th century. The historic markers illustrate the communities the railroad helped develop between Baltimore and Annapolis, and the individual achievements of people within these communities. The trail also has switch boxes and sections of track lining the trail.
The trail is lined with flowerbeds and kiosks and includes a Planet Walk sponsored by NASA. The Planet Walk is a linear museum with educational displays for each planet and the sun. The main scenery around the park is forested land, and it contains several bridges. It is also paralleled by a Baltimore Gas and Electric distribution line for almost all of its length.
The trail ends in the north at Glen Burnie near the intersection of Maryland Routes 170 and 648, where it connects to the BWI Trail Loop, a 12.5-mile (20.1 km) loop around the Baltimore–Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The right-of-way for the former railroad continues to the north as the Baltimore Light Rail, which begins in the south at Cromwell Station.
Since 1998, the trail has hosted the popular B&A Trail Marathon and Half Marathon each spring, which draws approximately 225 marathoners and 650 half marathoners.
Read more about this topic: Baltimore & Annapolis Trail
Famous quotes containing the words trail and/or description:
“You will trail across the rocks
and wash them with your salt,
you will curl between sand-hills
you will thunder along the cliff
break retreat get fresh strength
gather and pour weight upon the beach.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“As they are not seen on their way down the streams, it is thought by fishermen that they never return, but waste away and die, clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period; a tragic feature in the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be remembered with Shakespeare’s description of the sea-floor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)