The Broadneck Trail Made Sandy Point an Arnold Park. November Changes Its Hours.

"Today, that goal is no longer a line on a planning document or in a budget. It's the ground beneath your feet," Jessica Leys, director of the Anne Arundel County Department of Recreation and Parks, said at the March 30 ribbon cutting, as the Capital Gazette reported.

That ceremony opened three sections adding up to 5.4 miles and finished the $17.5 million Broadneck Peninsula Trail. The trail was first proposed in 1999 and construction began in 2012. It now runs all the way from the B&A Trail to Sandy Point State Park. The summer is over, so this is the trail's first off-season, and the off-season works differently at the Bay end. Walking or riding in is free, the gate charges cars, and from mid-November the park shuts its daytime gates at 4 p.m. For anyone in Arnold, Sandy Point is now a place you can walk to. You can also get the timing wrong in a way you couldn't when you drove.

A trail that follows College Parkway

At the ribbon cutting, the County described an eight-mile trail. The Anne Arundel Trail Network's route guide puts it at nine paved miles. Its count runs from the B&A Trail at Jones Station Road in Severna Park and includes two short road links. One is a cul-de-sac stretch after the trail crosses Ritchie Highway. The other is the park road from the end of the trail into Sandy Point.

Jon Korin chairs the County's Bicycle Advisory Commission and is president of Bicycle Advocates for Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. He told the Capital Gazette that the trail means people can ride the route and "not have to share it with cars on East College Parkway." That sums up the trail. It follows the same corridor Arnold already uses for errands and the AACC commute, on a separate path.

Your spot on College Parkway decides where you join it. Going west to east, these are the entry points and parking options listed by the route guide and by Friends of Anne Arundel County Trails:

1. Jones Station Park & Ride, near where the trail meets the B&A. The Jones Station Trail Crossroads Sign stands on the south side of Jones Station Road and explains how local and national trail routes cross there.
2. Anne Arundel Community College, which has a spur and parking.
3. Broadneck Library or Broadneck High School, both listed as parking options along the route.
4. Broadneck Park at 613 College Parkway, open sunrise to sunset.
5. Walnut Ridge Drive and Cape St. Claire Road, a spur toward Cape St. Claire.
6. Bay Head Park at 1661 Bay Head Road, open sunrise to sunset. Dogs must be leashed, cars must use the designated lots, and overnight parking isn't allowed.

The County's ribbon cutting was held where the trail meets the Bay Head Park spur. Bay Head is also the last parking option on the list before the state park.

What the Sandy Point gate charges, and who pays

According to the route guide, people who arrive on foot or by bike get into Sandy Point free, and vehicles pay. The vehicle charge changes a lot with the season. Maryland DNR's Sandy Point page lists these day-use fees:

• May 1 to September 30: $5 per person on weekends and holidays, $4 per person on weekdays
• October 1 to April 30: $3 per vehicle, plus a possible processing fee at checkout

In summer, a carload of four pays $16 to $20, and DNR requires advance reservations to enter on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day to Labor Day. From October 1 through April 30, the same car pays $3 and doesn't need a reservation. The trail's money advantage over driving is smallest in the cooler months. In this season it gives you something else, which is getting to the shoreline under your own power with no parking at all. The route guide also notes that the park fills up on summer weekends.

The park at the end of the trail is large. DNR lists Sandy Point at 1100 East College Parkway, covering 786 acres with a one-mile beach, picnic areas at the Tollgate, South Beach and East Beach areas, and a marina with 22 launch ramps. The park first opened on June 25, 1952.

The 4 p.m. gate

The schedule is where trail users have to plan. DNR lists Sandy Point's day-use hours as 7 a.m. to sunset all year, except Christmas Day. From mid-November through January 2, the park closes at 4 p.m. for the Lights on the Bay program. Fishing and boating access stay open 24 hours all year, but DNR asks visitors to check with the park first if they plan to be inside outside posted hours.

Bay Head Park and Broadneck Park both close at sunset. So by late fall, a ride out to the Bay works best as a morning or midday trip. An afternoon start that worked fine in September will run into the 4 p.m. close once mid-November arrives. Plan the Sandy Point end around that time and the rest of the route can stay as it is.

After dark, the park belongs to the holiday lights. The schedule from Lights on the Bay works out like this:

Lights & Leashes is the one time in the season when people walk the displays. For three nights before the drive-through opens, a two-mile paved route runs along the Bay shoreline past more than 70 animated and stationary displays. Dogs are welcome, and there are pet-friendly vendors and photos with Santa. Proceeds go to the SPCA of Anne Arundel County. The organizer says the route is fully accessible on the paved path. Admission is per car and sold at the gate each evening, so plan to drive in for this one. The trail is for daytime.

This makes three different schedules at one park within about six weeks. The free walk-in gate runs during the day, a $25 car gate runs in the evening, and the daytime gates close at 4 p.m. from mid-November through January 2.

Coffee before, dinner after

The route guide notes that the trail passes food and drink options, including 7-Eleven stores at Ritchie Highway and in Cape St. Claire, plus restaurants and coffee shops along Bay Dale Drive and Cape St. Claire Road. Those two roads sit near the AACC end and the Cape St. Claire spur, so they make good bookends for a ride.

On Bay Dale Drive:

• Rise Up Coffee at 1296 Bay Dale Drive is open every day and opens at 6 a.m., an hour before Sandy Point's gates. It shares space with Mad Eggs, which serves until 3 p.m., and posts shorter winter hours.
• Vivi's Chicken 'n Mac at 1272 Bay Dale Drive lists Arnold as one of its two locations and takes online orders.
• O'Loughlin's is in the Bay Hills Shopping Center off College Parkway.

On Cape St. Claire Road, close to the Walnut Ridge Drive spur:

• Broadneck Grill & Cantina at 1364 Cape Saint Claire Road
• Blue Rooster Cafe at 1372 Cape St. Claire Road

The order is easy in late fall. Get coffee at Rise Up early, pick up the trail at AACC or the library, reach the Bay well before the 4 p.m. close, and stop on Cape St. Claire Road on the way back. Before you go, check the business's own page and DNR's Sandy Point page for current hours, because both change with the season.

Our team lives and works around these waterways, and we like seeing more of the Broadneck peninsula's shoreline become reachable on foot or by bike. If you're thinking about how the trail and the parks along College Parkway fit into everyday life in Arnold, The Lucas Knott Laye Team is happy to talk it through with you. Contact Us whenever you're ready.