Best Kid Friendly Trails in Maryland

Beautiful and scenic.
One of my favorites hikes!

Great location for trail running.
Many trails, they can get confusing.
Park is very well maintained. Always clean and freshly mowed. The trails do have some erosion and exposed roots. Run carefully. Lots of hills of varying elevations and some nice flat stretches.
All in all a great place for hiking, biking, running, and horseback riding.

Nice paved trail.
Safe and fun for the whole family.

Great hike with the kids! Tons of stop off points. Front end is more entertaining than the back end. Though the back end is definitely less trafficked.

Today, I did some trail riding on the bike I recently rebuilt. I converted my 25 year old Huffy 15 speed BMX / Mountain bike to a single speed road cruiser. The bike preformed quite well on paved roads and also riding on the earthen trails through the woods. I geared the bike at 44/18 but still thinking of changing to 44/20 for up/hills. Even though I sprayed for ticks the flies were very bad along the marsh trail section. Lots of people in the park. Many fishing, swimming or just having a picnic. The Beach was crowded when I passed through. The only few people I saw on the trails were walking their dogs. Please stop walking your dogs when it's feels like one hundred degrees out.

My 1 year old Chocolate Labrador and I tested out this trail for the first time (mid July); the weather was perfect, the trail itself was an easy climb, and the view from Annapolis Rock was lovely. This trail was just enough exercise to tire a pup out by its end.

P.S. I was pleased to find a dog-drinking station at the rest area. We did bring our own water just in case. :)

Was okay...but honestly it could be marked much more clearly. We were always a little confused about which trail led where!

This is a very challenging trail system with a lot of elevation changes. - On the Elkridge County side of the Patapsco ( Howard County ) are multi trails that can be hiked in many ways. This loop could have been larger but 7 miles is enough for this old senior. There are two connector trails you can take if you wish to shorten the loop. You could also have hiked the Cascade Falls trail which is color coded ( blue ). The entire trail system is well marked and color-coded, except for Garrett's Pass but I would recommend a map as a backup. If you are biking this loop you are good to go. Bikes are not allow on the lower section directly where the falls are. You would stay on the upper Cascade and bike directly to the Ridge Trail. The only restroom and freshwater is located at the Swinging Bridge. The only other spot for water or restroom would be at the playground. You would have to go down the Water Bars or the NEW Ridge Extension trail and go to the Playground. The NEW Ridge Extension trail is right in front of the Restroom.

This was a pretty easy trail. Beautiful views from the King and Queens seat, but that was the only view on this hike and it was right at the beginning. The rest is a long uphill stretch. Not my favorite hike, but it was nice.

Gorgeous views all around. Great place if you want to just go for a hike on your own or take the entire family. Two big fields for dogs to run in if you want to take your dog. There was a place where you could rent a row/paddle boat if you so wished. There were a lot of people fishing and a lot more spaces for it than were being used. Overall a very versatile location. However, if you don't like running into child day camps I wouldn't recommend doing this one while school is out.

Revisited.

Completed 07/11/18

Great hike with lots of little spots for wading in the water or shallow pools for kids to play in.

Busy trail although we did visit the day after a holiday. Parking lot was full at noon but the ranger let us wait in line until a spot opened which only took 10 minutes. Bring your water shoes to cross the river and get a better view of the waterfall! Trail is nicely shaded.

Trail was beautiful. Early part was more secluded. recommend pants if you don’t like grass brushing you. We wore shorts and were fine though. When we went (summer) some of the old pond trail was not completely cleared.

The lake is beautiful and as a result can get crowded.

very nice walk and good get away!!!

Easy hike- took my 7yr old and puppy. Small but pretty waterfall and pretty walk along the creek. A lot of families, kids, bikers, runners. Felt safe. Overall very nice

Very cute easy trail that is very well maintained! Came across a handful of mountain bikers throughout the 3mile hike and plenty of people and dogs. Wasn’t as crowded as I thought it’d be (definitely not as bad as sugarloaf mountain). The falls are tiny but cute and it has 2 small pools below it that you can hang out in. The top pool is only about 3ft deep at its deepest and the bottom pool is max 2ft deep. Great spot to bring a friendly dog (my 10lb dog loved it, couldn’t bring my 30lb dog because she doesn’t do well with large numbers of nearby dogs while on leash)

Very scenic trail. We saw a lot of wildlife. The farms aspect was also very nice. The trail is pretty well marked, but if you're doing the loop you have to know when to switch from following one trail to another. Some parts of the trail were actually maintenance roads. No complaints there, I just want others to know that they should definitely familiarize themselves with the map beforehand since you'll be between trails at some points.

We really enjoyed this hike. With the easy rating, we expected it to be flat but were pleasantly surprised by the inclines.

1st hike ever and with my 9-year-old daughter. Overall it was an amazing experience, however we were disappointed as we were not able to hike to the dam, as many trails leading to the damn were obstructed. However, my daughter's experience of feeding turtles in the estuary made up for it.

Super easy but pretty and great hike with kids.

Not maintained well. Big tree fell on Blue trail, blocking the trail. We had to come back all the way

Nice wide path, mostly flat so easy for the kids. We enjoyed the side trails, one was a boardwalk. I didn't realize the trail stops being paved a little after the Dolfield Rd bridge (we started at Red Run blvd). We tried riding the dirt trail but it was too challenging for our 5 year old. The dirt portion is narrow, a little bumpy, and much more hilly with switchbacks.

Great trail for relaxing hike! More on the moderate to easy side. 2.5 miles up and 2.5 miles back totally at 5 miles. The hike starts on a freeway which seems funny but after about 5 minutes you’re in nature’s quiet! We got lucky and got the trail mostly to ourselves! A beautiful summit with rewarding views. Definitely suggest!

Cute place to swim in waterfalls!

It’s been a year since my last trip here. I brought my puppy for a nice hike and wasn’t disappointed. There is plenty of shade and places to sit for water breaks; it is kept almost completely trash free; and it’s secluded enough that, if you don’t want to run into people, you don’t have to. I can see how the parking could run out, but there is another parking area near the pier that has plenty of space.

Great trail! Well marked and somewhat hilly. Excited to discover this gem in my backyard

Great hike took my sister and our dogs. My lab loved the access to the river and the trees provide amazing shade for a cool walk. Fantastic Day!

Actually this trail is not an out and back; it's a loop when combined with a couple of other trails at the State Park. You can do a 5-6 mile loop depending which way you turn. Take Indian Turnip to where it dead-ends at Beckmans trail. A right/straigh onto Beckmans will give you a 6-mile loop, while a sharp left will give you a 5-mile loop. It is well marked and easy to figure out with some maps along the way.

Sorry to see all the negative reviews. As pointed out in the description there is an active range on some days. When the gates are closed you should not go around them. It’s an active range.
To see if the range is active check https://mobile.twitter.com/NSAAnnapolis.
Yes it is overgrown. MWR doesn’t take care of it. More folks should complain to them. www.navymwrannapolis.com
There is an Contact Us link on the page.
Hope this helps.