Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 13

The trail is generally only lightly used.

WHEN YOU GO

Rivermist/Monocacy River Trail
The Hike: A very easy 3-mile outand-back along the Monocacy River
in Frederick, Maryland.
Getting There: From the intersection of I-70 and US 40, take US 40
West for 1 mile, stay straight onto US
15 North for 2.5 miles, merge onto
MD 26 East at the Exit 17 toward MD
194, turn right onto Monocacy
Boulevard and in less than .2 mile
turn right into trailhead parking.
Trail Information: There is very
little information about the trail since
some of it is still under construction.
A map of the Shared Use Path Plan,
which shows the completed and
planned sections of the Rivermist/
Monocacy River Trail, is available at
cityoffrederick.com/
DocumentCenter/Home/View/654.
You might also want to contact Visit
Frederick, 151 S. East Street,
Frederick, MD 21701, 301-600-4023,
visitfrederick.org to see if they have
any up-to-date information.

The route is paved for easy walking.

gleaming white bark on the upper
portions of their trunks. If conditions
are right, sycamores can live for centuries and come to have the largest
trunk diameter of any hardwood tree
in the eastern part of the country. Its
leaves also have the distinction of
being the largest single-bladed leaves
(4 to 10 inches in length and breadth)
native to the United States.
Michelle Kershner, former marketing and communication manager
with the Tourism Council of Frederick
County, told me she had seen an owl,
several toads, deer, and other animals
like rabbits along the trail. I didn't
come across any of these, but
American black ducks and mallards
were paddling along the slow-moving
water of channels separated from the
main part of the river by small islands.
Mallards are the most common
ducks in the world, with close to 10
million inhabiting North America
alone. The male is easily recognized
by its shiny green head, chestnut
breast, white ring around the throat,
and yellow bill. The female is a mottled brown with an orange and black

bill. Both have metallic blue bands,
known as speculums, on their wings
that are offset by bands of white. As
with everything in nature, the speculum has a purpose. During the courtship ritual, when the male is trying to
attract a female, he will repeatedly
dip his bill into the water and follow
this with an exaggerated preening of
his wings, in which his brilliant blue
band is flashed in the eyes of his
potential mate.
About 100 feet from the river was
a wide swale whose three to four
inches of water were so solidly frozen that I wondered why no one was
taking advantage of its smooth surface to do some ice skating.
I had to turn around before reaching the end of the completed part of
the trail because of an impending
appointment, but I am returning to
Frederick in the spring and you can
be assured I will make time to walk
here again when, I've been told, the
pathway is lined by Dutchman's
breeches, spring beauties, Virginia
bluebells and other ephemeral flowers like trout lily. 
MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 13

http://www.cityoffrederick.com/ http://www.visitfrederick.org

Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015

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