This morning and early afternoon Karen and I were out hiking at Schaeffer Farm, located on the outskirts of Seneca Creek State Park. Schaeffer Farm offers a network of over ten miles of trails. These trails are well marked, and maps with one’s location indicated are placed at every intersection, so there is no need to bring one’s own map. Karen and I concentrated on hiking the Yellow Trail, which required also that we hike parts of the White and Blue Trails. All-in-all, we walked about six miles.

The trails are perfect for off-road bicyclists, which is, no doubt, why Karen and I came across so many of them. “Behind you, to your left!” “Coming through!” We must have heard these and variations at least twenty times, but there was always the cheery “Thank you!” and “Enjoy your hike!” The trail, always more or less smooth, but sometimes made bumpy with roots, winds through the woods with a gentle undulation. The elevation change is limited to 600 or 700 feet, so one never has to climb much.

If one follows the Yellow Trail out to the further reaches, one emerges into the perimeter of the farmland itself, and ultimately one crosses over a dirt road with rows upon rows of corn to one’s right and left. Thus, this hike offers alternative scenery to the Maryland hiker looking for a change from the woods.