Tuckahoe State Park to Host Celebration of National Trails Day June 1

Park to debut new ‘sensory trail’ designed to enhance access

One of the activities along Tuckahoe State Park’s new sensory trail. Maryland Department of Natural Resources photo

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources Office of Outdoor Recreation and Tuckahoe State Park invite the public to celebrate National Trails Day on Saturday, June 1 with a full day of family-friendly programs at the park. Visitors will be invited to take part in activities such as guided walks, prize raffles, a fishing derby, informational displays, archery programs and much more. 

The day’s event will kick off at 10 a.m. with a ribbon-cutting for Tuckahoe’s new Lore of the Land: Sensory Trail. This type of trail,  planned specifically for people with disabilities and sensory impairments in particular, encourage visitors to use more of their senses, which will benefit all ages and abilities. The easy-to-navigate loop trail provides a series of stations designed to collectively immerse people in a multi-sensory journey. Hikers learn to recognize different sounds, textures and smells along the trail, thereby gaining confidence in their own abilities to interpret the environment at their own pace.

For Tuckahoe Seasonal Ranger Autumn Berry, who was instrumental in developing Tuckahoe’s sensory trail, this was a personal project. 

“My mother has retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and it’s difficult for her to enjoy outdoor experiences because of her visual limitations; I’ve seen her struggle with the terrain on regular trails,” Ranger Berry said. “With that in mind, I wanted to develop different stations that would allow people like her to touch and feel natural items normally encountered while walking the trails without fear of getting disoriented and possibly injured.” 

The day’s guided walks will have something for everyone: opportunities to learn about habitat restoration projects, see Maryland’s wildlife up close, and journey back in time to hear more about the people who lived in the area before it became a state park. 

June 1 is also a license-free fishing day in Maryland, so all are invited to take part in a fishing derby at the lake. With so much on the schedule, every visitor is sure to find something of interest. 

National Trails Day is held annually on the first Saturday in June and recognizes the incredible benefits federal, state, and local trails provide. Events held throughout the country help promote awareness of the wide variety of services the trails systems offer, and encourage people to discover their local trails, become active concerning trail issues, and share their excitement for the outdoors. 

Throughout the state, DNR invites all to enjoy the thousands of miles of trails available in Maryland’s public lands: state parks, forests, and wildlife management areas. Throughout the year, the Maryland Park Service is encouraging visitors to complete challenges related to its 2024 theme: “In their footsteps, stepping forward in nature and back in time.”

For more information about National Trails Day events at Tuckahoe State Park, visitors should call the park directly at (410) 820-1668.