Around the time my son learned to ride a bike, we heard about Horsepen Park in Bowie. Multiple people had told me that I just had to take him there. My son was never overly enamored with riding his bike after he learned, so it fell down the priority list until this past week when we finally made the trek over to Prince Georges County.
It is a fantastic park with an obstacle course built for kids to ride bikes on. They also have what we assumed was a mini-skate park, although you could ride balance bikes on that as well. We went on a Tuesday and were the only people there for the hour or so that we spent there. We brought our scooters, which were more challenging than a bike, but we did the obstacle courses anyway.
The park has a playground, but the real gem is that it has a legitimate zip line that we did repeatedly and laughed every time.
Horsepen Park is part of the WB&A trail in Prince Georges County that will soon link up with the WB&A Trail in Anne Arundel County. In 2022, construction began on a 550-foot hiker/biker bridge over the Patuxent River connecting the two sections. Upon completion, it will serve as the Maryland portion of the East Coast Greenway and several other national bike trails.
We scootered on this for about a mile and then headed home for lunch.
Address: 8603 Race Track Road, Bowie, MD
Distance from Annapolis: 20-25 minutes
Cost: Free
By Frank Bolinsky, Parks & Rec Contributor
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