The Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail is one of my favorite places to walk – a place I did not discover soon enough after we moved here. If you go there in the morning, you can often watch crabbers load up their boats with crab traps. Since I was not born and raised on the coast, I find this little slice of life endlessly fascinating.
The boardwalk goes right over Fishing Creek, along the path of the old Chesapeake Beach Railway. Because the trail goes through wetlands, visitors will often see birds and marine life. I usually see something different each time, whether it’s a heron, bald eagle, red-winged blackbirds, or a few ducks. I don’t really plan on walking for fitness when I come here because I usually stop several times to watch birds and take photographs.
The Chesapeake Beach Railway Trail is about 2 miles round-trip if you take a left where comes to a T and then turn around where it dead ends. That path (Trail A) will take you through a wooded area. If you take a right at the T (Trail B), you end up in a residential area. You’ll still go over the creek and into the woods, but the trail ends at a subdivision. I only go that direction if I want to add a little extra distance to my walk.
This trail is dog-friendly, with several Mutt Mitt dispensers and trash cans located throughout. That being said, I see bicyclists on this trail from time to time, so it’s sometimes difficult to pull my dogs aside to let them pass when I’m on the part of the trail that goes over the water.
I try to make it out to the Chesapeake Beach Railway Trail pretty frequently, particularly because it seems to change with the weather, light, and seasons. The main reason I go, though, it because I love smelling the tang of the salt air and witnessing daily life on the Chesapeake Bay.