Nature
Patapsco Valley State Park
Patapsco Valley State Park has over 16,000 acres and boasts eight developed recreational areas. Ideal for hiking, fishing, camping, and other outdoor activities, the park has something for every member of the family to enjoy. Cross one of the swinging bridges that span the Patapsco River and discover the ruins of an old grist mill, or visit Cascade Falls, located in the Orange Grove area, for a picturesque place to relax.
Over 200 miles of trails run through the park, with 70 of them maintained. There are many hiker-only and multiuse trails as well. Many of the trails are accessible for bikers and equestrians, so visitors have a variety of ways to explore Patapsco Valley’s landscape.
The park was originally founded in 1907 as the Patapsco Forest Reserve. Before then, the valley was home to many mills and factories. If you hike along the river, you may find remnants of various treasures, historical structures, and ruins.
The Patapsco Valley area is also great for birdwatching. Some of the feathered friends you may encounter include barred owls, great blue herons, pileated woodpeckers, wood thrushes, red-shouldered hawks, cerulean warblers, scarlet tanagers, and more.
If you want to stay the night, check out the park’s Hollofield Area campground. It offers 73 RV-friendly sites, with 26 suitable for RVs up to 40 feet long; some come with 30-amp electric. Each campsite has a picnic table and fire ring as well. The campground itself has a bathhouse with restrooms, a dump station, firewood for sale, and potable water available. It is open year-round.
More Info
Patapsco Valley State Park
8020 Baltimore National Pike
Ellicott City, MD 21043
dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/pages/central/patapsco.aspx
(410) 461-5005
Bookshelf
Revealing The Secrets Of Trees
Have you ever wondered why the shape of tree roots can be different on one side of a tree versus the other? Or have you questioned why some branches are shorter than others? Every tree has a story to tell, and in his book How To Read A Tree, Tristan Gooley shows humans how to interpret them.
Observing details can tell you about a tree’s characteristics and what they mean. For example, leaves with a pale central streak indicate that a water source is nearby, and reddish or purple bark signals new growth. By pointing out various tree features to pay attention to, Gooley enlightens readers on hundreds of different secrets that hide in plain sight. He provides his own personal experience along with informative drawings and photographs of trees to further elaborate on various topics. You’ll learn how to spot subtle differences in soil, how plants are affected by disturbances in their environment, what a tree stump reveals, how branches point toward light and what that can mean, and so much more.
New York Times bestselling author Tristan Gooley is an adventurer and writer with a passion for hands-on natural navigation. He has led expeditions on five continents and is the only living person to have both flown and sailed solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Gooley’s previous books include The Lost Art Of Reading Nature’s Signs, The Natural Navigator, and The Secret World Of Weather.
How To Read A Tree (The Experiment, $24.95) is available in paperback and hardcover at various bookseller websites and stores.
Travel
Floyd Country Store
By Josephine Matyas, F468364
Loitering outside the Floyd Country Store in Floyd, Virginia, is encouraged. Inside, you’ll find an old-time store, a café, and a soda fountain — plus the sound of great music.
To say they’re “rippin’ up a strip” on the dance floor Friday nights at the Floyd Country Store in Floyd, Virginia, would be an understatement. Truth be told, the main street of the small community has music and dancing happening on the hardwood floor inside and on the sidewalks streetside. The single-stoplight town of Floyd has got its mojo going.
By day, the Floyd Country Store is a main-street hub — a century-old, country general store up front with a raised stage and dance floor in back. Ticket sales for the famed, year-round Friday Night Jamboree start at 4:45 p.m. and often sell out.
This land tucked into southwest Virginia was originally settled along an old wagon trail through the Blue Ridge Mountains by English, German, French, Scottish, and Irish immigrants, and the authentic mountain music played is closely tied to those early influences. Back in the day, people used to sit around the store’s old wood stove and pluck at guitars, dobros, fiddles, and banjos. Fast forward to the 21st century, and the Floyd Country Store is now a popular stop on the 330-mile Crooked Road music trail, which connects the jewels of where traditional-style music was and is played in this part of the state.
Before the music begins inside (6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.), the brick niches along South Locust Street come alive with impromptu bands and flatfooting dancers who haul out large squares of plywood and delight audiences with close-to-the-ground rhythmic moves that go along with old-time Appalachian dance tunes. It’s a multigenerational party where youngsters, parents, and grandparents teach and learn from one another.
Both inside the store and on the main street, Floyd’s Friday night is a family-friendly, immersive, absolutely grassroots musical celebration. Just don’t arrive around 4:30 in the afternoon, a time when the locals joke that one stoplight creates a “terrifying rush minute” in their town of 450 people. Avoid that minute and your visit will be a golden musical and cultural small-town story, from the first strum on the strings to the last move on the dance floor.
Learn more about Floyd Country Store at floydcountrystore.com and thecrookedroadva.com.