Tuckahoe State Park: The Drive and Hike

Blue Flag Iris

Hike Date: May 22, 2011

To begin our hike we had to cross over the Bay Bridge into Maryland's Eastern Shore to hike the trails at Tuckahoe State Park.  We began with the short and simple lake shore trail which begins and ends in a parking lot.  The habitat had lots of potential but the wildlife seemed to be lacking in the area.  The short walk throught the pines and woodlands is nice but way too short. 

After that we began our real adventure over to the Orange trail.  One of my favorite things about the trails here is that they can lead you in one big loop so you don't have to see the same scenery twice.  The trails leads you through Adkins Arboretum, and for the plant enthusiast it is worth a visit.  A lot of the plants are labeled and can make this part of the trail educational as well. 



Orange Blaze: The roadside trail marker

One of my least favorite things about this trail is the seemingly excessive horse traffic and horse manure along the trail.  There is a horse farm nearby so these trails are used very heavily by riders and some spots of the trail have seen some damage from the excessive hoof use.  Some trails were restricted to foot traffic and whenever possible these were the trails we used.  Near the end of our hike we came out onto a road and felt a bit confused only to find the blazes painted on trees along the roadside!  Overall I feel this place has a lot of potential to be a great place to hike but something really needs to be done about all                     the horse mess in the area!

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Human Traffic (mostly horseback riders) ««««

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