Live and Frederick and love to mountain bike? Have you been looking for a place to take the family biking that is a step up from the paved neighborhood bike trail? Do you want to see if those mountain bikes you bought can handle a real single-track trail? The Little Bennett Bike Trails at this Montgomery County Regional Park (not far from Frederick) is a perfect place.
Read on to learn more about one of the best bike trails near Frederick for you and your family to enjoy.
The Little Bennett Bike Trails - Overview
What Makes the Little Bennett Bike Trails Ideal?
Nicole and I spend much of our time in Bend Oregon, which we blog about on this site. Bend is considered one of the premier mountain biking destinations in America.
While no one will confuse Frederick mountain biking with Bend, you can find some great trail riding in the Frederick area. The Frederick Watershed Mountain Biking Trails are particularly well known for hard-core mountain bikers.
But that’s not you. You aren’t looking for black diamond riding, rough and tumble trails that require highly technical biking skills.
What you are looking for is place to get outside, preferably into the forest, onto bike trails that are wild but not overly bumpy, but will challenge you occasionally and give you some thrills.
Basically, a place to take those hybrid mountain bikes that have never seen anything but pavement onto something that feels more like….mountain biking.
Little Bennett Regional Park is a perfect biking excursion from Frederick for you, your partner, and/or your family.
The Little Bennett Bike Trails Basics
Little Bennett has a series of bike trails with varying degrees of difficulty. This post will suggest a great loop that is everything described—a ‘goldilocks’ mountain bike trail that is not too hard, not too easy, and probably perfect for the whole family.
Total Distance: 14.2 km
Total Duration: 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on your group
Trail Start: Hyattstown Mill Trailhead (14901 Hyattstown Mill Rd, Clarksburg, MD 20871)
Distance from Frederick: 12 miles, ~21 minutes
Parking and Fees: No fees, just park and go
Review of Our Recent Mountain Bike Ride on This Loop
Nicole and I did this loop recently on a Sunday. Let me first qualify by saying that both of us are decent bikers, in good fitness for our age (50+), probably what you would consider ‘casual mountain bikers’.
We are not Olympic athletes and are definitely not ‘hardcore’. The trails at Watershed, while popular, are too bumpy and technical for us.
Nicole has a proper ‘mountain bike’. I only have what is considered a ‘hybrid bike’. In other words, I have one of those bikes that people often buy at Dick Sporting Goods and mostly use on pavement and only occasionally on single-track dirt trails.
With all the above qualifications…we LOVE this bike loop. It’s our favorite Frederick area bike trail.
Overview of the Little Bennett Bike Loop
You will start by going out on the Hyattstown Road trail, and you will spend most of your time on this trail. This trail is a glorified forest road.
If you can ride on your neighborhood bike trails, you can handle this section. It’s gravel and dirt, so of course, it’s a little bumpy. But even your kids will love it.
You’ll be on a forest bike trail, quiet and peaceful, and you’ll probably see wildlife. You’ll follow this trail for several kilometers. There are cool bridges across streams. There are places to read interpretive signs about bluebirds and their peculiar behavior among the bird boxes.
You’ll eventually come to Clarksburg Road and another parking area. Here, you can take 2 different trails: The Hard Cider Trail or Kingsley Trail Gravel Road.
Take This Biking Adventure to Another Level
If you’ve enjoyed the Hyattstown Road trail, and for example have younger kids are plenty challenged by this gravel road, continue on the Kingsley Trail Gravel Road. In fact, take this trail a little farther, then turn back.
Work your way back to the Hyattstown Mill parking lot where you started, and call it a ride. You and your partner or spouse will have had a great experience.
However, if you are ready for something more challenging, do what Nicole and I did and take the Hard Cider Trail. This trail will be a step up in challenge.
It is more of a ‘single-track’ mountain bike trail, with ups and downs, bumps, rocks, and tree roots, and an experience more like the mountain biking we do in Bend.
But you can do it. Take your time. If something looks hard, stop and walk your bike. You came out to challenge yourself and do something new, and that’s what you are doing.
This bike that has never seen anything but pavement is finally serving its real purpose…mountain biking.
The Loop Portion of the Trail
After taking the Hard Cider Trail, after huffing and puffing and getting a full-on sweat, you’ll eventually intersect with the Putnam Trail. Bear left.
From here, you have several options to turn this into a loop back to where you parked.
Nicole and I took Putnam to Loggers Trail, where we turned left. This trail is now officially an ‘intermediate’ trail, supposedly harder, though honestly, I didn’t notice much difference.
Alternatively, you can keep going all the way to the green Browning Run trail and turn left.
From Loggers, we took a right onto Pine Knob, another intermediate trail (where I promptly saw 2 baby deer nursing with their mom). We then turned left on Browning Run blue (intermediate), which took us down an extended, somewhat challenging journey back to the Hyattstown Road trail.
From there, you coast back to the parking lot, feeling the glory of your hard work and this new extreme sport in which you are now officially a participant.
Little Bennett Bike Trails - Maps
If you want to build your own Little Bennett mountain bike excursion, there are several published maps to help you:
Why We Love This Little Bennet Bike Trail
Little Bennet is a Montgomery County park, but it’s a short drive down I-270 from Frederick. It’s the perfect excursion out of town to what feels like a leafy, secluded park, complete with trees, water, wildlife, and plenty to explore.
As mentioned, it’s also challenging enough to give you a sense of adventure, but it’s not as challenging as the X Games.
Suggest After Biking Refreshment Stop on the Way Back to Frederick
The Comas Inn is 7 minutes down the road from the parking lot and has the perfect Beer Garden to relax in after your ride.
It was recently taken ownership by Vanish Brewery, and better than ever!
