Tucked along a quiet stretch of the Patapsco River, the Woodstock area of Patapsco Valley State Park is one of the park’s best-kept secrets. Unlike the busier sections that fill up on weekends, Woodstock offers a peaceful escape where you’ll meet only a handful of other visitors.
Longtime Friends Partner Joe’s Bike Shop hosts one of our favorite events here each year, the 6 Hours at Woodstock race, which showcases the area’s best trails and its community of giving and stewardship.
We’re also grateful for our Friends at the Woodstock Inn. Its delicious food, cold drinks, and easy trail access have made it the unofficial headquarters for Patapsco Valley trail users, and a big part of Woodstock’s transformation.
Building the Foundation
A decade ago, park volunteers and the Friends of Patapsco built two key connections in Woodstock: a contour trail south of Old Court Road, originally called “Dixon’s Ridge,” and the WoodMarr Trail to the north, which opened easy access to the climbing crag and links through to Marriottsville Road and McKeldin.
In 2020, the Friends built Maryland State Parks’ first Adaptive Trail System, with help from REI, Kennedy Krieger, and Catalyst Sports. It adds five miles of KASA-spec adaptive trail in the McKeldin area.
Building on that groundwork, the Friends and park officials are now working to open up even greater access to this underused area of the park.
Better Access. More Patapsco.
The Woodstock Project is the largest trail development in Patapsco Valley State Park’s history. A new bridge over the North Branch of the Patapsco River will connect McKeldin’s five-mile adaptive trail system to new adaptive trails in Woodstock. That doubles the park’s adaptive mileage and creates Maryland’s largest natural surface adaptive trail system.
Built for visitors of all abilities, the network also passes local history, including a former granite quarry that supplied stone for the Washington Monument, a filming location from “The Blair Witch Project,” and a stone bridge built by Jesuit priests.
Woodstock currently has no dedicated parking, so many visitors park near the Woodstock Inn. Better access points, parking, and trail infrastructure are central to the project, so people can enjoy Woodstock’s quiet beauty without adding strain to a park already seeing record visitation.
The work reflects what the Friends do best: building on decades of volunteer trail work to expand access to Patapsco’s natural and historic resources while protecting what makes places like Woodstock special.
What does a project like this cost? FPVSP has raised over $500,000 for trail construction so far. When you factor in staff time, volunteer events, signage, kiosks, and other essentials, we expect the total project cost to come in just under $700,000. (This amount does NOT include the bridge over the Patapsco!)
Now we need you!
Grants are funding trail design, construction, and a critical bridge connection across the North Branch of Patapsco.
Your donation will directly support:
-Trail markers, kiosks, and maps
-Directional and interpretive signs
-Volunteer trailwork days
-Our incredible trail captains who build and care for our trails
