The Bike Washington Site also has a map and information on the B & A Trail. I had planned to ride the B & A Trail one way and then try to follow the route (mostly a road route) of the American Discovery Trail to the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Trail (WBA trail). I had a hard time following this route and so instead made a round trip on the B & A and also bicycled into Annapolis. This is a paved trail with a very good surface. The directions to the trail from the Bike Washington site were good and there was no problem (even for a person not familiar with Annapolis) finding the Annapolis parking lot. The parking lot is about a half mile from the trail, go right from the lot and then right again on Boulters Way. The best part of the trail is the southern half which is through a suburban area. The northern part is close to busy roads and goes near shopping malls and other commercial areas. The southern part is shady but the northern part is more in the open. Like most trails near large cities, there are many road crossings. The trail end in the north at The Baltimore, Washington, International Trail.
After riding round trip, I bicycled into Annapolis to see the Naval Academy and the historic downtown. This was a good bike route going south from the parking lot on Rt. 450 and across the Academy Bridge into Annapolis. Rt. 450 is busy but there is a wide bike lane and crossing the bridge was OK. There is a Colonial Maritime Trail Greenway in Annapolis, but I didn't have enough info to find it. Annapolis is unbelievably congested but it is better to struggle through on a bicycle than in a car. Next time I will find out more about the greenway.
The Bike Washington site has a map and other information on the WBA Trail. I started from the
southwestern end near Lanham. The start of the trail shown on Bike Washington Info at Rt. 450 and 704 was closed for construction so I started a mile north of Rt. 450 on Rt. 953. As mentioned in Bike Washington site, the trail is not complete. This section to Bowie is about 5 miles long. There is a 3 mile gap and then the trail continues to Odenton. There is a problem completing the trail because of landowners objections. The site has an address to contact to try to get support for completing the trail.
The trail is paved. It is new and at present isn't very enjoyable especially on a hot day. The trail follows a power line for a few miles and the reamainder is not very interesting. When completed it will be a good link to the B & A trail.
Here are some pictures of a trip along both trails.
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