Rosaryville

Rosaryville is a beautiful State Park with several distinct micro-climates and flora zones; ranging from an area we nick-named “Jurassic Park”, to complex trail networks, to fern filled valleys, to impassable overgrown thickets, to open forests. Rosaryville offers as wide a range of terrain as we have seen in a single park. In general, you will see a significant range of runnability at Rosaryville. There are pockets that are dense with vines, briars and saplings that will make passage extremely difficult, if you are not on a trail, yet 10 yards away it could be open and runnable woods. This entire park is a complex trail-rich environment with horse, mountain bike and hiking trails. Years ago, this was royal hunting grounds which became a farmland community. Evidence of old buildings, barns, roads, and old trash dumps can be found throughout the park. Old roads are generally marked as Rides. Trash dumps (old cars, refrigerators, farm implements, etc.) are marked with a black X. There are many large rootstocks in the woods, but none are marked on the map and none are used for controls. Do not rely on rootstocks for navigation. In the central area of the park is Mount Airy Mansion, which dates back to the mid-1700’s and once belonged to Lord Baltimore and later the Custis family (Martha Washington’s family) and is part of the park. It is rented out for special occasions and the grounds are open to the public. It is OK to use the trails, parking area and roads in this area. Generally, the area of woods just outside the Mount Airy grounds is thick with vegetation so trails are the best option through that area.
The terrain is classic ridge and valley, with broad, flat ridges and deeply incised watercourses. Along the streams are many side reentrants. Climb in this park is mild to moderate, except around streams where embankments tend to be very steep. Marshy areas and reentrants may be bone dry or boot sucking mud depending on the amount of rain we get during the week prior to the meet.
You will probably encounter horse riders and mountain bikers during your run. Some horses startle easily if they don’t know you are there. Please step to the side of the trail and let the horses pass you. Try not to run by a horse or come up from behind them. Mountain bikers will usually slow down as they approach you and call out which side they want to pass you on. Again, just step off the trail momentarily while they pass you. Being courteous is the key!
All trails are accurately shown on the map and are generally in good condition, though all trails are covered with fallen leaves and can be more difficult to see this time of year, especially the indistinct trails. The mountain bike trails are very distinct and smooth, where the horse trails often are beaten up and muddy. If there is recent heavy rain, many flat areas and trails will be wet, muddy and marshy. Please make sure to tighten your orienteering shoes or you might lose them in the mud. If you are on an indistinct trail, you can follow it fairly well if you pay attention, but if you run across it, you may not notice it.
It seems that there has been a recent rejuvenation of the horse jumps throughout the park. Only the permanent, unmovable, jumps have been mapped as man-made objects (black X). Any jump that is temporary or movable has not been mapped. Every week they seem to be in different locations.
Lastly there are hundreds of streamer flags of every color in the rainbow hanging throughout the park marking who knows what. They have nothing to do with our orienteering and should be ignored. Enjoy, and may you be one with the forest.