1
Patapsco Valley State Park Orange Grove Area
Managed by Maryland Park Service
1,095 acres20.4 mi of trail
Garrett's PassMorning Choice TrailRidge TrailBloede Dam TrailNacho
Dogs on leashMapped in OpenStreetMap
Outdoors · Ilchester
Ilchester, MD parks, trails & bike paths
About 19% of Ilchester is conserved land, roughly 1,290 acres. There are about 35 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Patapsco Valley State Park Orange Grove Area (20.4 mi), Rockburn Branch Park (7.7 mi), and Patapsco Valley State Park Avalon Area (4.2 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Ilchester, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Ilchester outdoors
Conserved land
19%
1,290 of 6,887 acres
Trails
35 mi
3.2 mi per sq mi · 9 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
8
45 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
2.3 mi
2.1 mi lanes · 0.0 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
2
Rockburn Branch Park
Nature preserve
393 acres7.7 mi of trail
Rockburn TrailNu TrailPain CaveLong CutSkills Park Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the trailhead
3
Patapsco Valley State Park Avalon Area
Managed by Maryland Park Service
168 acres4.2 mi of trail
Rockburn Branch Trail (purple)Ridge Trail ExtensionCaptain John Smith LoopWater BarsBelmont-Rockburn Connector
Dogs on leashMapped in OpenStreetMap
4
Howard County Conservancy at Belmont
Nature preserve
69 acres0.2 mi of trail
Morning Choice Trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Picnic areas in Ilchester
Avalon AreaIn Patapsco Valley State Park Avalon Area
Orange Grove AreaIn Patapsco Valley State Park Orange Grove Area
Unnamed picnic area in Rockburn Branch Park
Trails
Named trails
Open to bikes 25.7 miHorses 9.5 miUnpaved 27.0 mi
Showing 1–10 of 25 trails
- Morning Choice Trail2.7 mi
- Garrett's Pass2.5 mi
- Ridge Trail2.4 mi
- Bloede Dam Trail1.4 mi
- Nacho1.3 mi
- Rockburn Trail1.3 mi
- Cascade Falls Trail1.3 mi
- Valley View Trail1.1 mi
- Rockburn Branch Trail (purple)1.1 mi
- Belmont Trail1.0 mi
Water
Lakes & rivers
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
1,290 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 360 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 148 of 278 parcels. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes2.1 mi
- Off-road bike paths0.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.2 mi
- Patapsco Traverse (south mtb) (bike route)5.3 mi
- Patapsco Alt HoCo Thru Trail (bike route)5.1 mi
- Garrett's Pass (bike route)2.5 mi
- Morning Choice Trail (bike route)1.3 mi
- Rockburn Branch Trail (bike route)1.1 mi
Courts & fields
- Baseball15
- Tennis11
- Multi-sport6
- Basketball6
- Pickleball3
- Soccer1
- Lacrosse1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Ilchester
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Local Park 585 acConservation Easement 450 acLocal Other or Unknown 422 acForest Stewardship Easement 223 acUnknown Easement 200 ac
Showing 1–10 of 15 places
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockburn Branch ParkLocal Park | Not recorded | 498 | Access unknown |
| Lyndwood ManorLocal Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 115 | Access unknown |
| Timbers At Troy Golf CourseLocal Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 100 | Access unknown |
| County Open SpaceLocal Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 95 | Access unknown |
| Belmont Manor & Historic ParkLocal Park | County | 68 | Open |
| Open SpacePrivate Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 62 | Access unknown |
| Waterloo ParkLocal Park | Not recorded | 18 | Access unknown |
| Open Space To Be RecordedLocal Other or Unknown | Other or Unknown Local Government | 18 | Open |
| Mayfield PlaygroundLocal Other or Unknown | Other or Unknown Local Government | 13 | Open |
| Rockburn TownshipLocal Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 13 | Access unknown |
History
Historic places to visit
Showing 1–10 of 12 places
Captain John Smith MarkerIn Patapsco Valley State Park Avalon Area · Monument
House (ruins)In Patapsco Valley State Park Orange Grove Area · Ruins
Latrines (former)In Patapsco Valley State Park Orange Grove Area · Ruins
Latrines (former)In Patapsco Valley State Park Orange Grove Area · Ruins
Latrines (former)In Patapsco Valley State Park Orange Grove Area · Ruins
Latrines (former)In Patapsco Valley State Park Orange Grove Area · Ruins
Men's Latrine (ruins)In Patapsco Valley State Park Orange Grove Area · Ruins
Shelter (ruins)In Patapsco Valley State Park Orange Grove Area · Ruins
Women's Latrine (ruins)In Patapsco Valley State Park Orange Grove Area · Ruins
Holy Trinity CemeteryCemetery
Nearby
Ilchester and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ilchester | 18.7% | 35.0 mi | 8 |
| Ellicott City | 15.9% | 62.6 mi | 18 |
| Catonsville | 3% | 52.8 mi | 17 |
| Columbia | 26% | 31.3 mi | 23 |
| Elkridge | 6.1% | 0.2 mi | 4 |
| Arbutus | 3.2% | 3.6 mi | 7 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Ilchester's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 20-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.