Maryland Trail Users - Groups and Clubs
Established in 1978, the Annapolis Striders is a running club in Annapolis, Maryland, that promotes physical fitness and mental well-being through long-distance running. The 1300-member club hosts a series of races, which includes a marathon and half-marathon on the B & A Rail Trail and a 50-kilometer trail race in Rosaryville State Park. It conducts training programs for all levels of runners and it serves as the focal point for the running community in Anne Arundel County.
We are hikers, primarily and foremost, the oldest hiking club in Maryland (since 1934) and the premier hiking group in the state. We are a Baltimore-based volunteer organization that is centered on hiking. We support Leave No Trace principles, work on local trails and on the nation's first National Scenic Trail, the Appalachian Trail. We organize and lead hikes and other outdoor activities, such as camping, seasonal canoe trips and backpacking weekends.
The Maryland Volkssport Association (MVA) is the official representative within Maryland of the national (AVA) and international (IVV) walking associations. The primary purpose of the MVA is to promote the continuation and expansion of volkssporting. Volkssporting involves sponsoring, promoting, conducting, and participating in primarily walking events which are non-competitive and family-oriented. Volkssporting means family-oriented walking, biking, and swimming events.
Founded in late 2002, The Mid Maryland Triathlon Club is a USAT-sanctioned, not-for-profit group dedicated to helping area triathletes. Our members include novices looking for support before completing their first triathlon, to veterans of Ironman competition. The club is run by the members; they organize all the activities, social events, clinics, and workouts.
TROT is dedicated to the preservation of existing equestrian trails and the establishment of new trails throughout Maryland and neighboring states. Some trails are on public lands while others are on private land, some of which are subject to development. TROT has active county chapters in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's, Queen Anne and Wicomico counties. Membership includes individuals in most Maryland counties, as well as in D.C., Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Since 1983, The Maryland Horse Council has represented Maryland's diverse equestrian community as the horse industry's trade association. We protect and promote the equine industry to the Maryland government and the general public through media and our members.
The Maryland Running guide is a resource for runners looking for information about the people, places, and events that make up the Maryland running community. The guide was started in 1996 as the most comprehensive resource about running events in the state of Maryland. This website provides website links to running clubs and a places to run in Maryland.
MORE is a 501c (3) non-profit representing thousands of area mountain bikers. Founded in 1992, MORE maintains more than 250 miles of natural surface trails in 25 state and county parks in the region. MORE members contribute more than 3,000 volunteer hours annually and have constructed nearly 100 miles of new, sustainable trail. The club also leads hundreds of rides each year at local parks, ranging from beginner to advanced levels. MORE is committed to environmentally sound and socially responsible mountain biking, facilitating recreational trail cycling, educating about the sport of mountain biking, maintaining local trails, and advocating for increased multi-user trail access.
This is a website dedicated to everything you need to know about Geocaching in Maryland. Online membership is free.
The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club is a volunteer-based organization headquartered in Vienna, Virginia. The PATC was founded in 1927 by the visionaries who planned and built the Appalachian Trail. The club now manages more than 1,200 miles of hiking trails in the Mid-Atlantic region, along with cabins, shelters, and hundreds of acres of conserved land. The PATC's reason for existence is the Appalachian Trail (AT), a 2175 mile footpath between Mount Katahdin in Maine and Springer Mountain in Georgia. These miles are divided into sections maintained by 30 trail clubs in cities along the length of the AT. The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club's section starts at Pine Grove Furnace in Pennsylvania and ends at Rockfish Gap (the southern end of Shenandoah Park) amounting to 240 miles. We also maintain other regional trails, for a total of over 1,000 miles. After the National Trail Systems Act was passed by Congress in 1968, the PATC became a partner of the National Park Service. The NPS AT office is headquartered in Harpers Ferry under the title of the Appalachian Trail Park Office. The 30 trail clubs are linked together by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, also in Harpers Ferry.
The purpose of the Gwynns Falls Trail Council is to publicize, raise funds for, generate volunteer involvement in, monitor the City's management of, and in other ways support and improve the Gwynns Falls Trail. The Gwynns Falls Trail is managed by a membership-based public/private partnership formed in 1998 by Parks & People Foundation. The partnership consists of community residents, government agencies and non-profit organizations. The mission of the Gwynns Falls Trail Council is to promote the enjoyment and continuous improvement of the Trail by publicizing, providing funds and recruiting volunteers. The Council is governed by a Board composed of community members and ex-officio representatives of public agencies and non-profit organizations who are our partners in the development, management, and promotion of the Trail. The Council works in partnership with the Baltimore City Department of Recreation & Parks to facilitate the construction of the Trail, to promote its use and enjoyment, and to ensure its continuous improvement. The Council also, with the support of other organizations, works to improve adjacent parks and links neighborhoods to the Trail.
Allegheny Highlands Trail of Maryland is a citizen's group formed in the 1990's to promote Maryland's portion of a project that has become known at the Great Allegheny Passage. We worked with the Maryland Department of Planning, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Maryland Greenways Commission, six similar trail groups in Pennsylvania that comprise the Allegheny Trail Association (the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, Canal Place Preservation and Development Authority, the Allegany County Office of Tourism, the Maryland Department of Transportation, and the Chamber of Commerce) and various local and state officials to secure the funding which completed the Maryland portion of this trail.
Trail Voice aims to build an active community of Washington DC area hikers, bikers, climbers, and paddlers who are passionate about giving back to the outdoors through service and stewardship. We hope to inspire fellow outdoor recreation enthusiasts to embrace their responsibility to preserve and protect the natural environment.
The Friends of Patapsco Valley and Heritage Greenway Inc. (FPVHG) is dedicated to preserving, protecting, interpreting and restoring the environment, history and culture of the Valley. We translate this mission into two primary goals: Protecting the valley and Telling the story of the valley. Presently, while we are neither a property-owning or governmental organization, we try to encourage the positive management of the Patapsco Valley and its visitors. We participate in a wide variety of state and county planning activities. We also are actively involved in developing educational materials about the environment and the history of the Valley. Our motivation is to ensure that the Patapsco Valley remains pleasant for our generation and for future generations. One of the key elements of our mission is to complete and expand a professionally developed Management Plan. This study is a beginning vision of possible ways to protect and preserve the valley. This will create an official focus and provide a vehicle to help us protect and enhance the Valley.
The Mason Dixon Trail connects the Appalachian Trail with the Brandywine Trail. This 193 mile long trail starts at Whiskey Springs on the Appalachian Trail, in Cumberland County, PA and heads east towards the Susquehanna River, passing through Pinchot State Park en route. The trail then follows the west bank of the Susquehanna south to Havre de Grace in Maryland. Across the river, the M-DT continues east, passes through Elk Neck State Forest, then on to Iron Hill Park in Delaware, north along the Christina River and White Clay Creek to the White Clay Creek Preserve. The trail then heads northeast to its eastern terminus at Chadds Ford, PA on the banks of the Brandywine River.
In 1999, the Garrett County Commissioners saw Pennsylvania's Great Allegheny Passage (GAP), a paved rail trail running from Cumberland to Pittsburgh, taking shape just to their north and they appointed a Recreational Trails Task Force to explore trail possibilities in Western Maryland. The Task Force developed a Master Trail Plan for the county and then on June 18, 2008, Garrett Trails, a non-profit, volunteer group was created to implement the plan. Since 2002, Garrett Trails has been focused on a very ambitious dream called the "Eastern Continental Divide Loop Trail" which is envisioned as "a 150-mile hard-packed, multi-user trail through the heart of Garrett County that bridges the connections between existing trails and also connects to larger trail networks outside the county."
Friends of Anne Arundel County Trails is a non-profit 501(C)(3) organization of dedicated volunteers helping to promote, protect and enhance the multi modal trails of Anne Arundel County. Created as Friends of the Baltimore and Annapolis Trail. Friends now encompasses the B&A Trail, the BWI Trail, and the Washington Baltimore and Annapolis (WB&A) trail. Friends works with many partners all of whom are dedicated to the trail systems in the county and in the country.
Maryland Mountain Biking
Maryland Bicycle Clubs
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Momentum is Building to make Trails in Maryland "Second-to-None."
