Palmer State Park, Maryland: Quiet Trails Along Deer Creek

Written from an article by Scott McDaniel, abridged and published by the National Park Service.

Palmer State Park, in Harford County, Maryland, is a place to spend time in nature, exercise outdoors, and find the connection with the land that's grown rare in modern life. 555 acres of forested hills cradle a fast-running stretch of Deer Creek, laced with low-impact trails. It's a no-frills park — ideal for a self-guided day outdoors without distractions.

Through the seasons

• Winter: the quiet of a snowy forest — the crunch of your boots, perhaps red fox tracks, maybe a bald eagle over the creek.
• Spring and fall: a long list of songbirds use the creek corridor on migration.
• Spring: wildflowers cover the forest floor, changing week by week as buds open, with the songs of warblers and wood thrushes.

A landscape that healed

The park was once home to a grist mill, kilns and a general store, all tied to quarrying quartz. Their ruins still show how much the land has changed — and how nature reclaims a place when given the chance.

Wildlife

Large, continuous habitat lets wildlife thrive. Sit still long enough and you might see or hear:

• a raccoon feeling along a sandbar for crayfish;
• a beaver gnawing another log for its lodge or dam;
• the drumming and laughing call of a pileated woodpecker;
• a belted kingfisher chattering as it hunts the deep pools;
• with luck, one of the area's two water-loving weasels — a river otter or a mink — slipping along the bank.

There's something special about the space to explore, to touch the bark of a tree, and to feel part of nature rather than looking at it through glass — a place to protect for everyone.

Sources

Based on "Enjoy Nature at Palmer State Park," an abridged article originally written by Scott McDaniel, published by the National Park Service and in the public domain; rewritten in hubnx's own words. The author's photograph of Deer Creek is not reproduced.