I just rode at Prettyboy Reservoir yesterday with a few friends, and I was wondering if anyone knew where to get a map of the trails. I couldn’t get over the awesome hills & plenty of water, great conditioning for my horse. Thanks for any help, Lisa
This book:
Baltimore Trails
http://www.amazon.com/Baltimore-Trails-Hikers-Mountain-Bikers/dp/0801868068/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223312796&sr=8-3
includes Prettyboy. It is oriented to hikers, but should be helpful. I have it, and it’s pretty good.
Isn’t Prettyboy gorgeous? A lot of it is a bit too narrow and rocky for horses (IMHO) but it is a beautiful area.
Have you tried riding at Liberty reservoir? The drive is further for you but there is a great out and back trail with rolling terrain, some good climbs, great galloping areas, multiple water stops and 20-21 miles out and back. Almost all is on old fire roads that are dirt covered for the most part. Super good training trail with only one road crossing.
Bonnie S.
Thanks for the information.
Thanks Lori B, I just may have to put that book on my Xmas list this year. Yes, I was surprised at just how rocky the trails were, now I understand why my friend asked if our horses had shoes. We’re use to narrow goat like trails, can’t say that I like them much, neither do my knees when I whack a tree, but the scenery was awesome & it was nice to get to a new place to ride. We’re always looking for new places to ride. Thanks again for your recommendation on that book!
Lisa, we would like to ride at Prettyboy. Where did you park the trailer? Can you give some more details what the trails were like. Thanks.
Hello Bank of Dad,
We only rode at Prettyboy one time so far & we followed our friends to Prettyboy from the Glenrock, PA area so I’ll ask my husband on what road we parked the rig when I get home tonight. I was chatty kathy the whole way there because I was so excited to be riding at a new park and with new friends that I wasn’t paying much attention. The trails were rugged but we’re use to the local park (Spring Valley) that this was nothing new to our horses or us. I recommend shoes or easy boots, there were a lot of rocks. And tons of hills, really nice to condition your horse on. We only ran into one other group of riders and a handful of hikers. There was enough water crossings to keep your horse hydrated. I really liked the park, seemed like miles of trails, but we kept it short because our horses are out of shape. I’ll try to remember tonight to find out where we parked, hope this helped, Lisa
Where do you park the trailers for Liberty Reservoir. I think you can get a map from the MD DNR. Google MD state parks and see if a list of parks comes up. It has been awhile since I was on the site, but I believe with the discription of each park, there is a spot for ordering a map for a small amount of money. Something like $2.00 or $3.00. I have several maps from the DNR and they are very good.
When I ride at Liberty Reservoir I park along Deer Park Rd. under the big power lines. Do a map search for Eldersburg, MD, follow Rt 32 north from Rt 26, then turn north onto Rt 91 and about midway between 32 and 140 yiou would turn right (at a light) onto Deer Park Rd. Looking at a map you’ll see that Deer Park crosses an arm of Liberty reservoir. Before reaching the reservoir you come to big powerlines that cross the road and really wide graveled shoulders suitable for parking. that is where you can park. The trail you want is downhill under the power lines, from the road, and then off to the left into the woods at the bottom of the hill. The trail immediately splits and you can go either way but the simplest is to go to the right. You cross one of the many creeks several times then end up near the reservoir. Basicly, we explored the first time out there and learned how to follow the main fire road. the reservoir will always be on your left although not always in sight. Any smaller trails going off to the right are just trails that go out to private farms. Most trails to the left go down to the water and end. Good riding, lovely sections of conifers planted years and years ago by the Civilian Conservation Corp.
You can drive to this spot from the 795, going west on Nicodemus. there are no park maps of Liberty reservoir because it’s not a park. Wish there was a good parking lot to send you to but the roadside works well for many of us.
Bonnie
Thank you so much for the directions. Sounds like a real fun place to ride. We normally ride Sweet Air (Gunpowder State Park) Fair Hill and sometimes Scarboro. Have been wanting to try some place different.
Sometimes the parking at Deer Park under the power lines gets a little “shocky”. If you feel static shocks, be prepared with a screwdriver and some wire. Put the screwdriver in the ground, put the wire around it, and attach the wire to your trailer to ground it. Ask me how I know!
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lon=-76.7083&lat=39.62
http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/environment/watersheds/ep_pbmain.html
http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=XMR012-033
I’ve always wanted to ride at Liberty and Pretty Boy- if anyone is going anytime soon and wouldn’t mind a tag along- please shoot me a PM:)
Tabula, if you want to ride Liberty, PM me and we can set a date and time. They are in my back yard.
We could do the same at Fair Hill some time too, if you ride there.
Hello Bank of Dad,
I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner on the road we parked on at Pretty Boy reservoir, unfortunately my husband didn’t know the name of the road either. We saw a few places it seemed like people just pulled their rigs over to the side of the road. I’m sorry I couldn’t be much more help than this, Lisa
