After a tourist day in Baltimore, it was time to get the adventure really started. The plan was to ride north across the Pennsylvania border, headed for the campground at Codorus State Park, where’d camp for the night.
My bikepacking setup was a light as I’ve ever ridden with; I hadn’t brought a tent, only a bug bivvy and tarp. It wouldn’t be cold, but the forecast showed threats of rain and thunderstorms. I hadn’t tried this gear in rainy conditions; I’d have to see how it went.
The route started up the hill through Johns Hopkins, and through the opulently wealthy neighborhoods nearby.
The area north of Baltimore went from suburban to exurban, with some industry.
I got my obligatory east coast Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s worth the trip.
There I met two folks who were sitting outside, Jasmine and Ahmad, who were probably on their breaks from work. Ahmad was talking about how people aren’t open to conversation anymore, which led into us sitting and having coffee together for a few minutes.
From the big shopping mall, I quickly popped onto the Nothern Central Railroad Trail, which was pleasant but again, kind of similar to what I’d been riding all the way from Pittsburgh.
I took the opportunity to hop onto a one-lane road on the other side of the creek, which was a great bike touring road, quiet and beautiful.
I had to do one of those short, steep East Coast climbs up to the main highway, and got rewarded with a pastoral view.
From there it was back towards the creek and the river trail.
The surrounding area was now full-on rural; in Monktown there was a welcoming mushroom and flowers farm stand.
Then a hillside completely covered with gnomes and gnome-related puns.
Leaving the rail trail, I headed towards Gunpowder Falls State Park (MD), where I was back into the short, steep climbs and descents of the Appalachian foothills.
I wanted to grab some food along the way because I didn’t have much with me. Just before heading into the Prettyboy Reservoir area, I hit a general store and deli counter at a road junction in Rayville. Got a personal pizza and some ice cream for $10, which was just about right.
Good call, too, because once I headed into the park the roads got very remote, and the weather started to become threatening.
I was hoping to make it to get camp set up before any rain hit, but it seemed like every turn in the road pointed straight towards the darkest part of the sky.
Finally, only a few klicks from camp, I felt heavy droplets, and ducked under an Amish vegetable cart on the side of the road, just in time to avoid a 45-minute soaking.
I managed to wait it out, and got rewarded with a sunset rainbow.
It turned out I was only 100 meters from the state park entrance when I took shelter, but I was still quite a ways from the actual campground. When I did finally arrive, the camp in general was pretty nice, and the “roughing it” section I was staying in was great. I got the site just off the lake and had dinner on the shoreline.
One thing California state parks could learn from New York: Free showers! No fumbling around for quarters or tokens; just go in and wash yourself off. Radical idea.
I got the bivvy and tarp set up; things were still pretty wet but it didn’t look like I’d have to deal with substantial rain during the night. We’ll see.
