Governor Bridge Natural Area
7600 Governor Bridge Road
Bowie, MD 20716
This is one of our favorite hidden spots that we’ve found since the pandemic hit! Governors Bridge Natural area is located behind Bowie Baysox stadium and has several hiking trails around a large lake as well as access to the Patuxent river. I have lived in this area my whole life and never knew this place existed. There are several trails that are the perfect length and difficulty for toddlers – mine are able to walk to entire time. We have seen turtles, frogs, geese, ducks, and herons when we’ve visited. It is a beautiful setting and we love packing a lunch and taking a break at one of the lookout points. The trails can get pretty muddy when it rains so I recommend rain boots if it has rained recently.
We usually park and head through the yellow gate up the blue trail that starts out wide and paved. The paved section ends pretty quickly and turns into gravel. You will eventually run into a bridge over a creek. Just over the bridge we turn left and take the green trail around the pond until it meets back up with the blue trail, then we head back to the car from there.
A you can see from there map, there is much more to explore so you can spend much longer here if you’d like!
🚽 Bathrooms 🚽: No
👩👧👦 Solo w/ kids? 👩👧👦: Not for me! I prefer to visit when I have another adult with me. The trails are pretty remote and you get a good distance from your car, so I feel more comfortable going with another adult to help.
🛒 Stroller friendly 🛒: No! The trails a are easy enough for my toddlers to walk, but can be muddy and bumpy so aren’t great for the stroller. I put the baby in the carrier.
🦠Covid-Safe🦠: yes! We see very few people when we visit and if we do, it’s still very easy to keep our distance.
🅿️ Parking 🅿️: Parking lot. Even if the lot appears full, the trails have still been mostly empty. We have found that the cars are mostly from people fishing.
Maryland Kid Adventures 