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E-bikingBikingWalkingRunningHikingBirdingFishingand more
The North segment of the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail is its Forest Hill section, about 1.8 miles on the old Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad grade from Blake's Venture Park to Friends Park. It is short, nearly flat, and easy going for walkers, runners, and families on bikes. Near Blake's Venture the path crosses wetland beside Bynum Run. It then passes under Route 23 through a pedestrian tunnel. It ends at the pond in Friends Park, which has restrooms, water, a fishing pier, and a playground. The South segment runs from Edgeley Grove Park in Fallston to North Avenue in Bel Air. The link from North Avenue to Blake's Venture is still being built, so the two segments do not yet connect.
MA & PA Heritage Trail: North
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the MA & PA Heritage Trail: North has about 113 to 162 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, birding, e-biking, running, biking, and walking, with April, May, and October the best months.
Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.
Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.
Enjoy the MA & PA Heritage Trail: North!
In half of past years, color along the MA & PA Heritage Trail: North peaks October 29 to November 9, typically around November 3. The trail has 35% deciduous coverage, with the majority being yellow-poplar, red maple, white oak, and chestnut oak.
The Ma and Pa began in 1881 as the Baltimore and Delta Railway, a three-foot narrow gauge road. It reached Bel Air on June 21, 1883, and pushed north through Forest Hill. In time the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad ran from North Avenue in Baltimore to Market Street in York, Pennsylvania. Trains hauled mail, slate, marble, coal, lumber, furniture, and farm goods. They also carried the stone that built Baltimore's Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. Harford County's canneries, quarries, and mines depended on the line. Then buses, trucks, and cars on Route 1 took its traffic. On August 31, 1954, the last passenger train left Bel Air Station. Within a few years the railroad folded, and the tracks in Maryland were pulled up. In 1998, part of the Harford County grade became a rail trail. A Fallston link to Edgeley Grove was dedicated on June 7, 2008. County officials worked for 25 years to join the Fallston and Forest Hill sections. In 2016 they acquired a key parcel from the family of the late state Senator J. Robert Hooper. A 1.2-mile Bel Air section opened in April 2022. The final link, from North Avenue to Blake's Venture, is still being built. This segment holds the Forest Hill section, from Blake's Venture Park to the pond at Friends Park.
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