(July, 2020) The COVID19 situation has a positive side effect – people want to get outside more often now. We’ve joined the trend, publishing a blog on walks around the area, promoting outings on the Bay with our partners, and now we give you another great option – a bike ride around Kent Island, just across the Chesapeake Bay bridge – it’s about a 30 minute drive to the start point for this ride.
(There’s also a nice trail you can access right from the Flag House Inn, the B&A, trail, see our blog)
We ventured out on a cool day in May and did the Cross Island leg, about a 10-12 mile round trip. We crossed over marshes, Kent Narrows (home of many famous crab houses), pedaled through quiet tree lined paths and even rode along side a huge sports complex. It’s an easy and safe ride, there are only a few road crossings.
We also want to give you an overview of the entire 22 mile network of trails around Kent Island as we are very familiar with the area. Marty’s family used to have a little piece of land that they used for crabbing for decades. More recently, we have discovered the fabulous Kent Morr restaurant / marina/ beach & Tiki Bar.
The layout – there is a 5 mile (east – west) Cross Island Trail and a 14 mile north-south trail, which parallels Route 8 from the northern tip at Love Point to the southern tip at Bloody point. There is about 4 miles at both the north and south section where there is no trail, only road riding, but these sections have much less traffic than the middle 6 miles which are on a protected paved trail.
There are many good access points to park:
- Queen Anne county library in Stevensville (GPS address 200 Library Circle). From there you can head west to the north – south trail, or go east along Rt 50 to Kent Narrows
- Matapeake State park – combine your bike ride with some rest at the Matapeake beach, includes boat ramp and fishing pier
- Romancoke pier – you may have to pay to park but you can walk the long pier and watch the fishing and crabbing.
- Old Love Point Park – a huge sports complex – plenty of parking
- Terrapin Nature Park – good spot since you can access Chesapeke Bay similar to Matapeake. 1/2 mile walk to beach
In all cases you can access the trail which will be nearby to where you park
Enjoy the pictures we took on our outing and let us know about your trip!
Some links:
Map of Kent Island Bike trails
Trail Map of Kent Island Bike Trails
Parts of the trail access the Chester river
Much of the cross island trail is shaded and in the woods
