Cascade Falls

Not far off Interstate 95 between Baltimore and D.C. is the Avalon area of Patapsco Valley State Park. If you are looking for a short but scenic hike with little kids, the Cascade Falls trail is a good option. If you enter the park off of Route 1, take River Road on the south side of the river to the last parking lot. The parking lot is next to the "swinging bridge", from which you can look up or downstream at the Patapsco River.

The Cascade Falls trailhead is on the same side of the river as the parking lot, so you don't have to cross the bridge. To the right of the restrooms, you will see steps going up the hill and a sign for the trail.

At the top of the short hill turn left towards the fence and go until it turns sharply right.

You are now on a trail above the creek you will follow to get to Cascade Falls. It is less than 100 yards up this trail that you will see and hear the creek going through and over large boulders.

After the boulder strewn creek, you will come to the Falls. There are usually kids playing in the sandy pool below the Falls and photographers shooting models in front of the Falls. For the shot below I was able to shoot around the crowd of people that were there this evening.

All photos were taken by me on my iPhone 6. Some were shot using the Slow Shutter app.