Patapsco Valley State Park (Catonsville, Md)

Tuesday, September 16th was the third meet-up that I did with the MAHG. I had loved the previous ones (Pohick Bay and Oregon Ridge) so I was extremely excited to head out to one of the more longer trails with the group. Also, I was ecstatic that they actually had hiking on Tuesdays which happen to be my day off from work.

I travelled up to Catonsville, Maryland which took about an hour. It was at the end of I-195 near Baltimore and easy to get to. The park has a honesty type paying system where you fill out an envelope and put your $4 (for out-of-state) into it, slide it through the slot, and hang the parking pass on your rear-view mirror. Very easy and without the hassle of a park attendant staring down at you while you dig for change. That being said, you definitely need to bring cash!

We met at Shelter 245 which was by itself on the right at 10 am. There was a rather diverse group with ages ranging from young (me) to the retired fellows which made me think that these next 9 miles won't be too bad. Boy, was I wrong!

I met the hike leader, Irina, who was a foreign hiker transplanted to the US a while back. Her accent was very thick, her personality was abrasive, and her bearing was a little uptight. She seemed to be friendly, but she wasn't afraid to make snide comments about some people's speeds throughout the trip. Also, she really didn't slow down enough to get pictures, much to my chagrin.

First, we set off towards the blue trail from the parking lot. The terrain was very rocky and hard on the ankles, but it was all down-hill until we got to the the stream bottom. Here, we stopped and took a group picture in which we were all perky and excited. The trail was already looking to be quite a fun spot. As we got to the trail bed, we had to go through a tunnel which had an Amtrak train cross overtop as we got close.

Creepy tunnel

After, we walked through, there was a nice easy gravel section that led to the swinging bridge and the lone bathrooms where everyone stopped. The Patapsco River flowed serenely underneath the bridge that swayed as 10 people trudged across. I won't lie, I got a little nervous at the last little section when the swinging really started, but it wasn't that bad.

Swing Bridge!

A really shallow river

We, then, climbed up a few sets of stairs and onto the orange trail. The orange trail seemed to go on forever as we trudged up and down hills and through wooded forests. At this point, the slower people had really fallen behind and the hike leader was getting more and more upset. Finally, we all found our way to a beautiful cascading waterfall (hence the name cascade falls) where we snagged a few pictures before heading back onto the orange trail.

Horrible picture because I was moving

After a while on the orange trail and Irina getting angry that I had fallen about 50 yards behind along with half of the group, I stopped paying attention to my surroundings and focused mainly on where to put my feet. This is not something I like to do as I am an amateur naturalist at heart.

During the trek on the orange, we burst out from the wooded area to a meadow. There were some private school teachers with young elementary school aged children catching butterflies and identifying meadow flowers. They stopped us to ask where we were heading which Irina brusquely replied without slowing her pace.

We entered the wooded area again after about a quarter of a mile of such beautiful scenery and was greeted with a ruin of some sort. I was not able to explore or see if there was any history about it, but I have seen this ruin in plenty of pictures on the internet, so I assumed I could figure it out. Irina pushed us along like cattle to get to the a spot to take a short break.

Before we arrived to the purple trail, we had a stop for lunch. At this point, some of the group members who hike with Irina every week started to complain how this was hike was not fun for them because they had to stop every mile or so to wait for us slower people to catch up. I let it roll off my shoulders because I was really happy that I was only a few yards away and I like to hike with my own thoughts.

Lunch consisted of turkey and salami roll-ups, a dill pickle, and some squeezable pouch of apple sauce. I rested along with some of the other people on a fallen log, talking about how this experience differed from some of the others. I found out that I wasn't the only one who thought the pace was starting to feel gruelling. 

We bushwacked ourselves from our lunch spot to the purple trail over our heads and continued on our way. Because everyone had declined an earlier lunch, we were out of our way by almost a mile. Irina was getting more irritable at those that were slower than the regulars. There were so many hills, switchbacks, and rocky terrain that I was forced to slow down a little more in order to not have an asthma attack or fall.

We reached the yellow trail and took it. Here, we found another set of ruins, something that looked like it was supposed to be a pavilion of some sort. It was off in the distance and at the pace that we were going, I knew that I couldn't just catch up. We also ran into a couple of guys and their 4 month old puppies who were lost and couldn't find their way back so they asked me if they could tag along with us. I didn't see why they couldn't, but our fearsome hike leader was not pleased at all.

After the yellow trail, we found ourselves walking on a paved road, dodging cars while we walked back to the bathrooms and the starting point. At this time, the grumbling had become snide comments about slow people and the lack of fun. Some were even commenting about whether or not we had gone hiking before or did we overestimate our abilities.

I started out being proud of how I kept up and how far I managed to go without a total breakdown, but then, hearing their complaints, I started to feel ashamed. Even the hike leader was in on the bashing, acting very unprofessional.

We returned back to the blue trail after crossing the swinging bridge (no heart palpitations this time!). At the trail, we climbed our way out of the river bed, my chest heaving, struggling to catch my breath, and almost falling over large rocks.

Irina met us half-way and told us to keep going. She wanted to wait until the last person was off the trail before she headed up.

Nancy, Irena, and I caught up with some of the more elite people who were also struggling to make it up the path. We were the three that composed of the mid-pack stragglers. We were a small source of the aggravation of the more elite group.

As we came up, we could hear them telling each other that they were going to complain about it in the group and I heard someone tell the other that a large girl like me shouldn't even be on this trail (say wha?!). I may be the largest one in the group, but that doesn't hinder me from being able to do the hike.

Finally, we were back to our cars. Irina stormed back to the parking lot to tell her elite group that the stragglers decided to sit down on a bench near the swinging bridge and if they got lost, it was their own problem. I was furious because she never let them have a break and one of the people had fallen and, yet, they never complained.

This hike had the potential to be an amazing hike. The scenery that I was able to see was amazing. The pace was a bit fast, but it wouldn't have been too bad if I wasn't so into nature. The hike leader was a boorish woman -- a hiking sergeant with no tolerance. Her and her regular group were unfriendly complainers that dragged the hike down.

I plan on going back with C. This way I can get more amazing pictures, see the wildlife, and experience the hike like it should be done. Also, if I ever become a hike leader, I now know what not to do.