Baltimore

Disclaimer: Living in the northwest has spoiled me on the quality and quantity of trails.

I rode the Gwynns Falls trail from the Inner Harbor to its terminus at the I-70 Park & Ride, to its other terminus at the Fishing pier on Hanover street and back. Signage from Inner Harbor outbound was very good, though there were a few places where I missed a turn and had to backtrack. The section west of Leon Day Park is pretty, but the route gets really funky as it turns into soft-packed gravel obscured by heaps of foliage. This was the nicest section – and I had it all to myself.

West of Gwynns Falls park was especially confusing. North Forest road was closed for bridge repair, leaving cars to detour along Wetheredville Road. I lost the actual “trail” porting, and ended up riding up all three spines. (I don’t think anyone is intended to bike on those roads as there’s no shoulder and humus dotting the rightmost side.) Eventually, I found the West Hills Park and Ride, then meandered back to the pier.

The section from Warner to Middle Branch Park was a nasty combination of railroad tracks, construction, and industrial disease. I would have turned around, but felt compelled to see if the end was going to be worth it. Middle Branch park was pretty, offering scenic views from the south side of downtown.

People not driving cars were surprisingly friendly. One guy, noticing I was looking at my map, directed me back to the turn I had missed. Most people also said hello back.

One odd thing was the “non-motorized vehicle only” section had three cars on it: one was park maintenance, one was a police car (scared the shit out of me coming around the turn at me) and one was some random guy, dazed, parked and confused.

With side trips, I had 39 miles for the day.

(Holy mal-formatted entry, Batman. The robots need more coal this evening!)

I’ve since prepended a few days to my October trip for customer visits. During the week of the conference, I’ll be staying at a hotel in the Baltimore harbor. Unfortunately, its midweek rate is nearly double (meaning: can’t stay there). Since my customer visits aren’t nailed down, I am flexible in where I stay for those additional days as long as it’s moderately priced.

Question: In which Baltimore area or satellite city would you recommend I consider staying? Are there any small, funky hotels (like the place I stayed at last time I was in Austin) worth considering?

In late October I will be attending Vis2006 . How’s the cycling scene? I’d like to see some of the city by bike, starting at my hotel in the inner harbor district? It looks like there are two trails connecting to the inner harbor, Gwynns Falls (15m) and Jones Falls (10m). However, it’s unclear to me how under construction these still are. (Last year, during one of the repeated tracks, I was able to enjoy tours of the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul areas.)