Saturday, June 21, 2008

Biking in Fairhill NRMA

Fairhill is a wonderful place for biking; and very close to Newark too. We went biking here a few times earlier too. But, this is the first time we had the GPS on us.





Fairhill Natural Resources Management Area (NRMA) is located just off of Rt 273 across DE/MD state line. Parking is not free - Maryland vehicles pay $3 while out-of-state vehicles pay $4. Park maps are available for purchase at the Nature Center on Tawes Dr. Although there is a map available on the website, it is of low resolution and is not useful as a trail map. You can purchase a trail guide with maps online for $6.



We parked in the parking lot on Tawes Dr. A park map is posted near the parking lot. We wanted to get a copy of the map from Nature Center. However, it was closed on that Saturday. A park map was posted near the Nature Center too. We decided to go on the Orange Trail and started off from Nature Center. After biking on Tawes dr we entered Orange trail on the left. The idea was that we get back to the same place when we finish biking on that trail. However, we lost our way after biking about half way! At least for the first half of the trail, it was very well marked with orange blazes along the trail. Although there were a few hills to climb, the climb itself was not very difficult. Luckily though we got on the trail from the 'easy' side. I feel that it would have been a little difficult in the opposite direction. Next time, we will give that a try and write how that felt.



Here is a map of our path with a flag marking the place where we should have taken a right (instead of left) in order to be on the orange trail.





View Larger Map





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