I mean you're not from the city but that's alright. You can tell people you're from Baltimore I guess. But you can definitely identify with and feel connected with the city.

BTW I live in Catonsville and yeah it's not Baltimore City. Also grew up near Westchester and nobody there says they live in NYC. I'm not sure why saying you're from the city is such an important thing to someone who isn't from the city...?

I can tell I’m out of touch since even after googling I have no idea

Where’s it say trans modern festival?

All of these parks will have plenty of people hiking and biking so safety shouldn’t be an issue, especially out in the county. No wildlife concerns; bears aren’t an issue here. Injury is always something to consider, if you slip in a stream crossing or whatever but again, should be plenty of people on these trails. I’d say it’s fine to hike alone, but for context I’m a 6’2” male so, grain of salt.

You’ll need to judge when to turn around based on fitness level but regardless, bring water and maybe even a clif bar or something. Maybe just go 20 mins out, and back on your first go. See how that feels, then you have a baseline and you can do 25 mins or whatever next time. Plus you know if you like that particular route or want to try something else. It’s ok to hike a short distance but it is not ok to realize you hiked too far out. But again, all these trails are beginner friendly.

Btw in this area it’s supposed to be bikers yield to hikers and both yield to horses. In reality a hiker not letting a mountain biker pass on a descent or a climb is a total dick move. Also don’t feel offended if a biker rings a bell- just trying to make sure you know they’re there. (Edited: fixed last paragraph)

Honestly none that I know of. Middle branch is just a park with an asphalt path- wouldn’t call it a trail. Mostly anything with trails will be safe, maybe sans leakin park and possibly parts of herring run but even those should probably be perfectly fine

Probably referring to Middle Branch Park. Probably not that dangerous now, but definitely not hiking. It’s like a paved sidewalk. Nice walk; decent chance your car gets broken into; not hiking nor especially scenic.

Almost all of the hiking throughout the area will be beginner-friendly. Lake Roland has parking and only a couple trails- you can just start walking and turn around when you want. You can walk around Druid Hill; there are paved and unpaved trails there, so a good mix for beginners - parking throughout the park or recommend the end of Parkdale Ave. Wyman Park has a little easy trail- street parking. Out of the city, Loch Raven and Patapsco have tons of trails that are beginner friendly while offering strenuous climbs or distances. I like starting at the parking area off Dulaney Valley rd just west of the bridge at Loch Raven. For Patapsco, recommend parking on Rolling Road in Catonsville (basically opposite the park and ride at the end of 195).

I couldn’t tell you trail names but I recommend just trying different routes and seeing what you like, rather than trying to stick to a particular trail. Just make sure you have a map or AllTrails or something. OnTheGoMap works well too.

Recommend REI for boots. Try a bunch on, get some input from staff etc.

Cardinal tavern, bud. Note that this post and all of the comments are about cardinal tavern. Mahaffeys is only mentioned because Alice was an owner, before buying Cardinal.

Idk dude obviously I didn’t see that. We had regular pleasant interactions years ago at Mahaffeys. My experience with most MAGA people is that they advertise it. I was surprised and disappointed to hear all this. That is all.

Oh shit maybe you’re right, maybe I am unknowingly anti-vax and a MAGA… you know except for the vaccines and voting for Biden lol.

Just to clarify, the good food owners sold it to a guy who changed the menu a few years ago. I went there in like, maybe 2019, and it was kind of asian-fusion-influenced food in a kind of southern-themed bar. That failed relatively quickly and one of the owners of Mahaffeys bought it. It was a quick improvement (not saying much) but I’m really disappointed to hear about all this. She was one of my favorite bartenders and helped me plan a surprise birthday party for my now wife upstairs at Mahaffeys. Gross.

Wait what?? Alice? Damn, I would not have guessed that based on my interactions with her. That sucks

That's exactly what I did, and what prompted my comment! Back in ~2010 Remington was Paper Moon Diner, the Dizz, auto body shops, and fenced-in pavement lots. At least that's what it seemed like to me, not spending much time there... then over the course of like 5 years it transformed into multi-family and mixed use spaces. Makes perfect sense for the location, near JHU, but yeah it's unrecognizable from many angles. Makes me feel old! The developments in Remington, Harbor Point, maybe a couple other spots still register as 'new' in my head.

It’s wild how much Remington has changed in the past 10-15 years.

It's not exactly binary; it's not like, whelp, we added a trail, guess we can't also solve other problems. 'Don't make improvements until all problems are solved' is not a reasonable approach. Any level of government needs to be able to address all types of problems, solutions, and improvements at the same time.

That also ignores all the social and economic benefits of having recreation but that's a whoooole other discussion.