| "If your dog is fat," the old saying goes, "you aren't | | | | also welcome at Fort McHenry National Monument. |
| getting enough exercise." But walking the dog need not | | | | Unlike the others, your best friend won't be able to |
| be just about a little exercise. Here are 13 cool things | | | | explore the actual fort but there is plenty of fresh |
| you can see in greater Baltimore while you hike with | | | | grass to romp on outside the bastion |
| your dog.AIRPLANES. The BWI Airport is the only | | | | walls.HENRYTON TUNNEL. The Baltimore & Ohio |
| airport in America that features a recreational trail. The | | | | Railroad built its first line west along the Patapsco |
| Thomas A. Dixon Jr. Aircraft Observation Area on this | | | | River and the trails at Henryton Road in Patapsco |
| 12.5-mile paved trail, opened in 1994, provides an ideal | | | | State Park follow a particularly historic stretch of the |
| spot to watch the planes land directly in front of you. | | | | Old Main Line. On a rainy night in 1830 Irish laborers, |
| You won't be able to see the rubber hit the ground | | | | tired of waiting for back pay, rioted and managed to |
| here but can see it from other spots along the trail. To | | | | destroy all this track for five miles to Sykesville. The |
| get the feel of a big jet soaring directly over your head | | | | disturbance prompted the first ever American troop |
| walk down a half-mile to the east (you'll see stop | | | | transport by train when the Baltimore militia rode out to |
| signs) and stand here. It won't be only jets using the | | | | squelch the rampage. When the trail crosses this |
| airport either - you can spot an occasional propeller | | | | section of railroad track look to the west and see the |
| plane as well.AMUSEMENT PARK RUINS. Although | | | | Henryton Tunnel. Opened in 1850, it is the |
| only 20 acres in size, the Bay Shore Park was | | | | second-oldest tunnel in the world that remains in active |
| considered one of the finest amusement parks ever | | | | railroad use.MODEL TRAINS. Thomas Winans made |
| built along the Chesapeake Bay. Built in 1906, the park | | | | his fortune building the Russian transcontinental railroad |
| featured an Edwardian-style dance hall, bowling alley | | | | for Czar Nicholas I. He learned railroading from his |
| and restaurant set among gardens and curving | | | | father Ross who invented the swivel wheel truck that |
| pathways. There were rides such as a water | | | | enabled trains to negotiate curves. Their railroad |
| toboggan and Sea Swing. Visitors would come out | | | | heritage is preserved at Leakin Park in Baltimore by |
| from Baltimore on a trolley line. Most of the park was | | | | the Chesapeake & Allegheny Live Steamers who |
| torn down after its closure in 1947 but you and the dog | | | | maintain three miles of track for miniature steam trains |
| can explore the remains of the turn-of-the-century | | | | that carry passengers (sorry, no dogs) free of charge |
| amusement park, including the wood-framed trolley | | | | the second Sunday of every month. Capable of |
| station and the restored ornamental fountain, in North | | | | speeds of 25 mph, the trains rumble along instead at a |
| Shore State Park. Complete your tour with a hike | | | | passenger-friendly 6 mph.MODERN ART. The natural |
| down the old Bayshore Pier which juts almost a | | | | beauty of Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis is |
| quarter-mile into the wind-swept Bay - a diving board | | | | augmented by the outdoor sculptures that grace the |
| once operated here where benches are today.BALD | | | | grounds. Sculptures are chosen by jury from national |
| EAGLES. With nearly 13,000 acres of undeveloped | | | | and international artists working with a variety of |
| space, the Patuxent Research Refuge is said to be | | | | material and installed on a rotating basis. When your |
| the largest patch of green space remaining on the | | | | dog tires of sniffing the statuary, you can take her to |
| East Coast between Boston and Raleigh. Research | | | | Anne Arundel County's first dog park at the back of |
| done here was used by Rachel Carson to argue that | | | | Quiet Waters. Not only are there two large fenced-in |
| the pesticide DDT was weakening the shells of bird | | | | enclosures for big and small dogs but there is a dog |
| eggs, especially bald eagles, causing them not to hatch. | | | | beach on the South River for serious dog |
| Her book, Silent Spring, led to the banning of DDT and | | | | paddling.POT ROCKS. From the parking lot on US 1 at |
| launched the modern environmental movement. Today | | | | the Big Gunpowder Falls there is great canine hiking on |
| more than 250 species - 8 of every 10 birds that can | | | | both sides of the river in either direction. On the |
| be seen in the Baltimore area - have been sighted at | | | | opposite bank heading downstream on the Big |
| Patuxent, including a pair of nesting bald eagles in the | | | | Gunpowder Trail, about a mile down, are the Pot |
| North Tract in Anne Arundel County. These | | | | Rocks. You and the dog can walk out and examine |
| representatives of America's national symbol quite | | | | the conical depressions created in the bedrock by |
| possibly could be the bald eagles living closest to the | | | | swirling waters armed with millions of years worth of |
| White House. Don't let your dog dig around at the | | | | grinding cobbles. These unique potholes can be a foot |
| North Tract - this land was once a testing ground for | | | | or more deep. Keep hiking another two miles down the |
| Fort Meade and may still harbor live ammunition.If you | | | | river and you reach the last series of rapids on the |
| aren't lucky enough to spot the eagles in flight at the | | | | Gunpowder as the water leaves the hilly Piedmont |
| refuge, try hiking the Hashawha Trails at the Bear | | | | region and slips into the flat Coastal Plain.RARE |
| Branch Nature Center in Carroll County. Here is the | | | | TREES. Growing unobtrusivley beside the parking lot |
| chance for your curious dog to look a bald eagle in the | | | | at Tridelphia Recreation Area is one of the rarest |
| eye. The Nature Center maintains a M.A.S.H. unit for | | | | native ornamental trees in the world, the Franklinia |
| raptors who have been injured too badly to be | | | | Alatamaha. A relative of the camelia, this flowering |
| returned to the wild. The cages for eagles, kestrels, | | | | tree is prized at any time of the year - in the winter for |
| hawks, owls, turkey vultures and other recovering birds | | | | its striped bark, in the summer for its palm-sized snow |
| of prey are on the Vista Trail.CANAL LOCK. Near | | | | white flowers, and in the fall for its deep red leaves. |
| North Park in Havre de Grace, the 444-mile | | | | The Franklinia was discovered by Philadelphia botanist |
| Susquehanna River is busy emptying 19 million gallons | | | | John Bartram in 1765 in a remote corner of Georgia |
| of fresh water every minute into the Chesapeake Bay | | | | along the Alatamaha River and named for his friend |
| that it has drained from 13 million acres of land. The | | | | Benjamin Franklin. It has not been found growing in the |
| rocky river upstream from here, however, is not | | | | wild since 1790.For a true arboreal education however, |
| navigable and the 45-mile Susquehanna and Tidewater | | | | treat the dog to Cylburn Arboretum in Baltimore, one |
| Canal opened for barges, pulled at 4 miles per hour by | | | | of the few such tree museums that permit dogs on |
| mules, to haul goods between Havre de Grace and | | | | the grounds. The collection at Cylburn features several |
| Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. The first of 29 locks | | | | Maryland Big Tree Champions including an Italian maple |
| operated here and it has been restored to its original | | | | and a paperback maple. Two easy champions to see |
| appearance including a pivoting footbridge that swung | | | | are on the lawn in the right front of the mansion: a |
| open to allow barge traffic to pass. The handsome | | | | castor aralia with large glossy leaves and an Amur |
| brick Lock House, now a museum open on weekends, | | | | maackia. Both trees are native to Asia and are resilient |
| dates to the canal's opening in 1840. The large grassy | | | | to pests. The maackia is a member of the pea family |
| lawn can be used for a first-rate game of | | | | discovered by 19th century explorer Karlovich Maack |
| fetch.CHOATE MINE. The first chromium mines in | | | | along the Amur River between Siberia and |
| America were opened in rural Baltimore County in | | | | China.UNUSUAL BRIDGES. Hiking in Gunpowder Falls |
| 1808 and from 1828 to 1850 just about every scrap of | | | | State Park in Harford County, downstream from |
| chrome in the world came from here. Along the | | | | Jerusalem Mill about 1/2 mile, is Jericho Covered Bridge, |
| Choate Mine Trail in Soldiers Delight Natural | | | | one of only six remaining covered bridges in Maryland |
| Environmental Area you can stand in front of the | | | | and the only one of its kind in Baltimore and Harford |
| entrance to the Choate Mine and look into the slanting | | | | counties. Old folk wisdom held that these bridges were |
| hole kept open by half-timbered posts. So close the | | | | built to resemble a barn so as to entice a wary horse |
| cool air will rustle your dog's fur. The mine once ran | | | | across water but the bridges are covered simply to |
| 200 feet deep and 160 feet across.DAMS. After a | | | | protect the expensive wooden decks. The ford at this |
| long hike at Robert E. Lee Park around Lake Roland | | | | point across the Little Gunpowder Falls dates to |
| you can sit on top of the Greek Revival valve house | | | | Colonial times; the bridge was constructed in 1865. |
| completed in 1862 and look over the stone dam. Lake | | | | Builder Thomas F. used three truss types in its |
| Roland, created after plugging up Jones Falls, was | | | | construction: the simple Multiple King Post; the horizontal |
| Baltimore's first reservoir. This smallish dam is just an | | | | Queen Post extension; and the Burr Arch, patented in |
| appetizer for the dams yet to come that were built to | | | | 1804 by Theodore Burr, for stability. Renovated in 1981, |
| quench Baltimore's thirst. Others to see include hiking to | | | | the Jericho Covered Bridge still carries traffic.In |
| the base of Liberty Dam at the end of Feezer's Lane | | | | Howard County's Savage Park, on Foundry Road at |
| in Patapsco State Park or using the Gunpowder South | | | | the trailhead for the Historic Mill Trail, is the last |
| Trail in the Hereford section of Gunpowder Falls State | | | | remaining Bollman Truss bridge in the world. Your dog |
| Park to see the Prettyboy Dam, built in 1933. No tour | | | | can trot across the first successful iron bridge used by |
| of Baltimore's dams would be complete without a visit | | | | railroads, patented by Wendell A. Bolman in 1852. This |
| to Conowingo Dam, America's longest concrete slab | | | | example, a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, |
| dam across the Susquehanna River. You can take the | | | | originally carried traffic on the Baltimore & Ohio main |
| dog to gaze out at the Conowingo Dam in | | | | line but was disassembled and put into service here |
| Susquehanna State Park.FORTS. At Fort Howard | | | | for Savage Mill in 1887.copyright 2006I am the author |
| Park your dog can climb into an actual gun battery and | | | | of over 20 books, including 8 on hiking with your dog, |
| scan the Patapsco River just like gunnery officers | | | | including the |
| who once aimed guns capable of accurately firing | | | | widely praised The Canine Hiker's Bible. As publisher |
| 1,000 pound projectiles eight miles. Ruins abound at the | | | | of Cruden Bay Books, we |
| former "Bulldog at Baltimore's Gate," including | | | | produce the innovative A Bark In The Park series of |
| remainders left over from the 1960s when a mock | | | | canine hiking books found at |
| Vietnamese village was created for training at Fort | | | | During the warm months I lead canine hikes as |
| Howard. Batteries and magazines that once formed | | | | tour leader for tours, leading packs of dogs and |
| the coastal defense of Baltimore in 1899 can also be | | | | humans on |
| seen at Fort Armistead Park and Fort Smallwood | | | | day and overnight trips. |
| Park. As for Baltimore's most famous fort, dogs are | | | | |