Who knew there was an 8 acre lake with hiking trails behind the Bowie Baysox Stadium? I certainly didn’t! The only reason I found this place was due to a link on the website for Jug Bay. In order to reach the parking lot you turn onto Governor Bridge Road from 301 and drive almost all the way to the bridge. The parking lot is tucked in on the right side. There are no facilities here.
On this beautiful Friday afternoon, we decided to take the blue trail, which starts just past the gate. This part of the trail is paved, but that peters out by the time you reach the lake.
After throwing a ton of rocks in, we kept following the blue trail as it curved around the lake. There was oodles of mud and some sections of trail were almost impossible to traverse! Hubby and I airlifted Pebble and Rainbow over the worst of it. There was a lot of laughter when Stormy thought she’d stepped on a solid spot only to sink almost to her ankle!
When we reached the juncture with the red trail we turned right and followed it down to the Patuxent River. This trail was much narrower, but the views were worth it!
Spring flowers were everywhere and the kids enjoyed their snack overlooking the Patuxent River.
After feeding our little minions a boatload of pretzels, we took the red trail back to the lake.
Once we reached the lake, the littles were tired! We threw more rocks in and followed the green trail around the lake until we hit the blue trail. It was only a short walk back to the car then. We did not see many people on the trails, although there were fishermen along the sides of the lake. Despite the raw beauty of the place, we also saw plenty of evidence that people had been here, especially near the lake. Why someone didn’t pack out a dirty diaper, I don’t know. We plan to go back and hike more, hopefully there will be less garbage. If you pack it in, please pack it back out! Happy trails!
Trail Map & Governor Bridge Natural Area
