South River Farms Park Is Open

[Lisa]

After 30 years, South River Farms Park in Anne Arundel County is open to the general public.

This rustic county park on the south shore of the South River has 170 acres of woods and meadow, a 300 yard sandy beach, two tidal ponds and hiking trails.

The kayak launch onto Brickhouse Cove is now a rough 80 yard carry through the woods.

The park is now open 7 am to 2:30 pm non-holiday Mondays through Fridays. The county maintenance shed, now located in the park, will move elsewhere in late summer 2015. The post-maintenance shed plan is to open South River Farms Park 7 am to dusk.

Directions: Take Route 2 south of Annapolis. Cross the South River. Turn left/east on Central Avenue/MD 214 and go ~1.9 miles. Turn left on Loch Haven Road at the BP gas station. Continue for ~1.4 miles as the road turns into Loch Haven Drive. Keep your eye out on the right for a wide drive with a yellow metal gate set back from the road. That drive is the entrance to South River Farms Park. If you pass Walnut Drive on your left, you've gone 30 yards too far. Turn into the park and go ~ 1/4 mile to the parking lot on your left.

Lisa

2-IMG_3267.jpg4-IMG_3259.jpg1-IMG_3262.jpg3-IMG_3261.jpgDSCF1047-001.jpgDSCF1067-001.jpg1-South_Co_Farms_Park_trails_bdy_GE_ldngs_.jpg

[Cowpokey]

Are there any plans for weekends to be open?

[Lisa]

Yes, after the county maintenance shed now located in the park moves elsewhere around late summer 2015.

Lisa

[Lisa]

Also, the Water Access Committee is participating in Maryland Day in March. South River Farms Park will be open from 10 am to 2 pm on Sunday, March 22, 2015. You can join our hikes at 10:30 am and 12:30 pm or you can come and explore the park on your own.

Maryland Day website:

http://marylandday.org/about/

Lisa

[mytmouse]

Lisa,
I don't have the opportunity to fish much in AA county but I must applaud your efforts to providing the public with more water access!! Especially on what seems like the county's prized South River! LOL It is great to see this!

[PigPen]

Can't wait!

Thanks Lisa,

Is the Brickhouse Cove launch the only one available or is it just the closest? Looking forward to scouting the park.

[Lisa]

Thanks, there are a lot of us pushing this boulder uphill. It is a true grass roots effort of local people and local groups. A great deal of the credit also goes to the Department of Recreation & Parks. We have a wonderful working relationship with them. We don't always agree on what should be done next week, but we're dealing with each other in good faith.

[Lisa]

Thanks Lisa,

Is the Brickhouse Cove launch the only one available or is it just the closest? Looking forward to scouting the park.

Brickhouse Cove may be the only launch. There is a steep hill, a steep wooded hill, between the central meadow and Limehouse Cove. It makes the landing beach at Limehouse Cove an impractical carry for a kayak. The other landing site, on the beach near the east tidal pond, is at the end of the park road. That road is a one lane dirt road with a section that's iffy in spring. It's good enough for occasional maintenance vehicle traffic, lousy for regular visitor vehicle traffic.

Because the goal is to get more people into the park, not to get more cars all the way to the end of the dirt park road, Brickhouse Cove may be the only launch site for a while.

And right now the Brickhouse Cove launch site is rough. It's an 80 yard carry through woods. It may be easier than the Beachwood Park ruins carry just because it's flatter and shorter

Please come to our Maryland Day open house at South River Farms Park on Sunday March 22 2015 from 10 am to 2 pm and check it out for yourself. We're doing guided hikes at 10:30 am and 12:30 pm.

Lisa

[J.A. Veil]

First off, thank you Lisa and the other committee members for your hard work. Gaining access is a highly important first step. Gaining "convenient access" is a later step that hopefully will be accomplished too.

I visited the South River Farm park this morning. I followed Lisa's directions and entered through the yellow gate. I had about 1/3-mile drive to point 1 on the photo below. The next three photos were taken at the same point but facing in three directions.

south river park.jpg

This is the only parking area now. You can see a broad field with trees beyond. That is an uphill slope.
001.jpg

This is the view continuing along the main road. At that point, the road is marked "Do Not Enter -- No Trespassing". In order to get to the Brickhouse Cove access point, I would have had to drive or walk another 1/4 mile to the point where the road bends. I chose not to violate the large signs either by driving or walking to that point.

002.jpg


This is the view from the parking lot looking back to the park entrance.
003.jpg

I hiked across the meadow to the top of the hill (point 2 on the aerial photo). Standing on the wooded ridge, I could see the South River in the distance.
004.jpg

Although the park is nominally open to the public, access seems to be limited to hiking at this point. Without violating the conspicuous signs, it is not possible to get to the water access point at this time.

[RavensDfense]

That's great you guys are getting access to new places. Blocked access can be frustrating. It's post like these that make me happy I live on the shore and can throw the yak into the water off the side of any old road.

[22Tango]

How is the fishing around that area of the South River? I know that SurfDog talks alot about fishing near the Thomas Pt Light and Kayaker356 (think) used to fish that area from a community pier. Not asking for any hotspots! Just a general question as more access becomes available there.

[Lisa]

<snip>
This is the view continuing along the main road. At that point, the road is marked "Do Not Enter -- No Trespassing". In order to get to the Brickhouse Cove access point, I would have had to drive or walk another 1/4 mile to the point where the road bends. I chose not to violate the large signs either by driving or walking to that point.
<snip>
Although the park is nominally open to the public, access seems to be limited to hiking at this point. Without violating the conspicuous signs, it is not possible to get to the water access point at this time.

Great point. Thank you.

I checked with Rec& Parks and people are allowed to walk past the "No Trespassing" sign on the dirt park road. They are holding for now at no cars beyond the No Trespassing sign. That may change when the kayaking season starts.

Rec&Parks will tweak the signage to make it clear that people can walk past the county maintenance shed and all the way out to the point. There's a beautiful view of the South River from the point and at low tide you can scramble across the mouth of the east tidal pond to the Limehouse Cove beach.

Also, if you walk directly north out of the parking lot and up the hill into the woods, there's a narrow path and an old wooden stair down to the Limehouse Cove beach. Mind the wooden steps - they get rotten leaves on them in winter and can be slippery.

Lisa

[Lisa]

FYI, Homeport Farm Park is 8 miles round trip from the beach at Limehouse Cove in South River Farms Park.

Lisa

[bunnielab]

I finally had time to head over to the park today. It is very close to my house so I am pretty excited by it.

I drove in and parked in the new lot. The sign that John posted has been replaced with a simple "No motorized vehicles" sign. I headed off in the direction of the pier on limehouse cove. The trail too it goes up a hill then down a rather steep hill through the woods. The pier looks a bit iffy so I didnt go too far out on it. I then decided to hike along the shore in the direction of the large pond. The path there is fine at low tide but might be a bit damp at high. The large pond was very low, maybe 20'-30' of mud exposed on the river side. My leg length and jumping skills were not up to the task of crossing the outflow into the river, so I had a wet foot for the rest of my explorations. Crossing over, there is a mowed meadow with a trail heading through the woods to the point and an other trail heading to the gravel road that leads back to the parking. I also discovered a small pier on the pond. Although the pond looks very shallow, the beer cans and snell packaging seems to indicate that someone thinks it is worthwhile to fish there.

I spent about an hour wandering through the woods and along the shore. I though I covered most of the shoreline but now, looking at a map, I realize I only covered maybe half of it. I never did find anywhere that would make a reasonable launch, but the amount of shoreline available for hiking is amazing and I will definitely be returning for that in the future.

[baitball]

It's been over a year since the last entry on this thread, so I'm hoping this post gets the conversation going once again.
I was curious if there have been any improvements to this park that are worthy of noting (i.e. Is it still open? Any new times? Any new/better kayak access? Any other info? etc...) Any info would be appreciated, especially since the AA website still lists the open times as only occurring during the week and not on weekends.
I would like to try launching from South River Farm Park this coming Sunday, June 5, when the winds are forecasted to be out of the south. The geography of this park seems it would block the (south) wind nicely. If someone has first-hand knowledge if my hunch is correct, I would appreciate that as well.
Thanks!