Soldiers Delight Choate Mine Trail

We went for a hike in the Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area outside of Baltimore, Maryland. The first European settlers to come to this area were frustrated in their attempts to farm the land. The serpentine ecosystem is made from an oceanic rock called "serpentinite" that is high in magnesium and low in other nutrients typically need by most plants. The land was barren of trees for timber but had some scraggly oaks and lots of grass. Settlers switched to raising livestock on the land rather than growing produce. A lot of rare plants and animal thrive in this area, making it an interesting place to visit.

Around 1808 chrome was discovered in the area. Isaac Tyson, Junior, opened a chromite mine that operated from 1828 to 1850. The trail we hiked was the Choate Mine Trail.

History on a stick

Start of the trail

The trail leads to two holes in the ground that show the oceanic rock not far below the surface. Surprisingly, the mine came later on the hike (though that did not surprise me since I had looked at a map beforehand). These holes are pit mines.

Grassy hole (safer than the grassy knoll?)

Inside the pit

Picture for the earthcache

We continued our hike along the trail. The day was a bit hot for late October and the path was very rocky. The hard stone really is close to the surface, providing little soil for the vegetation and little comfort for our feet.

Moving on

Barren land

Looks more like a stream bed than a walking path

More trees and the blazing sun

The hike was not very long and the landscape is very much unlike other nature hikes in the area. Maybe it was the late autumn that made everything brown and blasted. Or the unseasonable sun. I felt like this would be a good place for an H. P. Lovecraft story.

Unusual vegetation

Some scraggily forest

We finally made it to the mine ruins. The main shaft into the mine has some cart tracks. A nearby hole was dug to ventilate the air in the mine. Both holes have been fenced off and an audio recording said that the mine is flooded now, so there's no point in even trying to go in.

The entrance is behind me

Another view of the entrance

Mine cart tracks

Ventilation shaft

Across the road from the Choate Mine Trail is the Serpentine Trail, a longer trail that we decided to do another day.

View over the Serpentine Trail area

Soldiers Delight also has a visitors center that was closed when we were there. We will probably come again.