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