We had a day off from school and went for a hike by the Savage Mill. A trail from the back of the parking lot leads off into the woods.
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The path starts here |
We took the first left turn on the path an came to a large, gravely field. It would be great for camping except for all those little blue rocks. Some people did make campfires here, probably some troublemaking teenagers.
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The pavement ends in gravel |
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A fire with a bit of trash in it! |
On the other side of the field, the path presented us with another choice. One way led downhill to the Little Patuxent River; the other off to the right deeper into the woods. We had a vote.
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Two voters with different votes |
The river won.
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Off to see the Wizard |
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Pretty flower on the way |
When we got down by the river, we discovered some ruins!
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Posing by the ruins |
The ruins look like they were part of the diversion of the river to a side run to power the mill's water wheel. The mill stopped production in the 1940s, so plenty of overgrowth has come up in the subsequent decades.
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Inside the ruins |
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A corner |
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Part of the remaining wall |
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Outside the wall |
Down below is a small passageway into the ruins. It looks like a water release to me, but now it's a tunnel.
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Going into the ruins |
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Posing inside |
Those pesky teenagers probably come down here too, having parties and making graffiti.
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A long wall
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Graffiti
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After the fun exploring, we went to the river trail, looking for a good spot to stink our hands into the water.
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Walking the trail |
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Testing the waters |
Out in the water we saw a rock that looked like it had some metal rods in it on the right. At one point a train bridge crossed this area, maybe it's leftovers from that.
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A rock with rods in it?
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Peaceful waters |
We also spotted some cool animal tracks by the river.
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Okay, maybe it was only one track
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Back along the trail, I spotted a snake taking a snooze on a rock. Only his head was visible. I told the kids to move on.
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Almost hidden snake
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Snakehead closeup (still not easy to see) |
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Some body too!
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The trail became very rocky, especially where the water took a bend to the east. The older kids wandered out into the water. Our youngest wasn't quite so brave.
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The rocky trail |
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As rapid as river rapids get on the Little Patuxent |
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Wandering out |
While the young one and I were shore-bound, We saw some butterflies.
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Last pollen collection of the season? |
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Climbing out farther |
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Relaxing in the river |
We went back along the river and saw the point where the Middle Patuxent River and the Little Patuxent River merge. Weirdly enough, after they merge it's called the Little Patuxent. A victory for the little guys!
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Merging rivers |
The path had some fun wooden features.
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I went over on the right; the kids went under on the left |
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Low-budget bridge |
Farther down the trail, we came to another fork. In the interest of making it back to civilization, we took the high road.
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Which way? |
On the way back to the car, we spotted a fallen tree that was clearly someone's snack.
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Not a snack for us
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The trail was a lot of fun and we will probably visit it again.
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