jpescatore

If you are a gravel biker or mountain biker, there is an awesome off-road trail loop that Montgomery County MD has built, mostly dirt and with several stream crossings: the North Branch trail, map here.

My wife and I have section hiked most of the 30 mile loop - nothing super challenging for real (TM) mountain bikers, easily doable on a hybrid or gravel bike. A friend did the entire loop in under 3 hours on his Jamis.

It has signs that say please stay off when muddy, so far it has stayed in pretty good shape as those who know about it seem to do so.

balto charlie

Thanks for the link. I want to check this ride out. I can't get the link to work. I turned off my blocker yet it still doesn't load.

jpescatore

Try it now, I fixed the link to this.

DonkeyShow

That doesn't go all the way down to lake needwood does it? Nice area around there.

balto charlie

Excellent, thanks. Might check this out this week.

jpescatore

This trail system does connect to Lake Needwood. The overall map tool is kinda finicky but look here and zoom in on Lake Needwod/Lake Frank and you can see the connections.

tiger1964 

Interesting and not far away for me. I have not yet tried out my "gravel bike" on actual gravel yet.

balto charlie

I just rode this trail last Wednesday, beautiful. Nice ride. I used my old toruing bike that I often use on gravel. Unfortunately I did not put on my gravel tires. This trail is fun but a handful on my style bike. It is better suited for my old rigid Mnt bike with thicker tires. hybrid would work and a gravel bike with ~45 tires. Tires I used were slick urban style, 35 (or 32's??). I would not go smaller, some places had roots and rocks. I didn't realized I could have connected to Lake Needwood. This would have made a great loop including Rock Creek and Lake Trail, next time. The northern part of the trail, where I parked is the way to access the northern section of Rock Creek trail. Its kinda strange, riding between homes and cornfields but it is obvious. I will ride this again, probably use my rigid bike with 40-45 tires. Thanks jpescatore

tiger1964 

Thanks for posting that. That seems more "trail" than "gravel" compared to other photos of gravel rides, but I guess it's worth a try soon. It could be I'll have a few "portages" over obstacles. I'll be on a 50 year old Raleigh Grand Sport, almost full Campy, with lower gears and 27x1-3/8 knobby tires, so let's see.

And, after last night's storms, is the trail still there?

balto charlie

It will be muddy. It was a little muddy when I rode it but not bad. There is a section of pavement between miles 8-10. I went off course to explore MoCo suburban bike lanes and rejoined the trail miles 12-14.5. I just wanted to see how the other half lives.
My bike was a 1985 Miyata 1000, did fine though not the best choice.
Here is my Ridewithgps ride map.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/130073621