This weekend, my wife and I took a short hike through a very small section of Patapsco Valley State Park in Elkridge, Maryland. I had seen a few pictures on Flickr showing a beautiful cascading waterfall off of one of their trails. We decided to go and try to get some pictures of our own. Unfortunately, the low water levels created a much less impressive waterfall, but we still had a great, relaxing, time visiting the park.
![Patapsco Valley State Park Waterfall Patapsco Valley State Park Waterfall](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1165/1402232163_8c676defd8.jpg)
We were happy to find a number of smaller waterfalls up and down the area from the main falls. In many ways, I found the smaller waterfalls more interesting than the main one. One thing I did notice is that the pools underneath the waterfalls contained very little wildlife besides some common water bugs.
![Patapsco Valley State Park Waterfall](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1164/1403122112_8baa82ba6f.jpg)
Upstream, however, was a different case. In areas with more vegetation on the banks, we spotted several large schools of fish, newts, and frogs hopping from the banks into the water on our arrival.
![Patapsco Valley State Park Stream](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1178/1403121466_5eb6153be9.jpg)
The creek itself was quite barren of plant life, containing only a rocky/sandy substrate. The small fish, which I believe could be blacknose dace, persistently tried to take cover in the shadows under rocks, but their shear numbers made that a laughable endeavor.
![Patapsco Valley State Park Fish](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1432/1402230875_8388d4907a.jpg)
Throughout the watershed, I spotted a large number of Polygonum-looking plants, but none of them submersed. I suspect this is due to the shady habitat of the forest, the fast-moving current in the streams, and the barren rocky substrate in the water.
![Patapsco Valley State Park Waterfall](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1196/1403120232_17bb76edc9.jpg)
The forest itself is quite beautiful, with huge moss-covered rocks providing the stronghold for trees to take root along the waterside. I was happy to see that the trails themselves were not littered with significant garbage or human impact, detracting from the natural setting.
![Patapsco Valley State Park Scene](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1227/1403121130_5838f82055.jpg)
Besides the already mentioned wildlife, we spotted several butterflies, spiders, and even some whitetail deer. One tree branch (below) was covered a cotton-like substance, that upon closer inspection turned out to be some sort of insect larvae/pupa. If anyone can identify these guys, I’d be grateful.
![Some Sort of Larvae](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1074/1402230977_72953ed44a.jpg)
Patapsco Valley State Park is a large area of land stuck right in the middle of overdeveloped areas of Baltimore and Howard counties. We really only experienced a very small section of the park. I’m sure we could spend an entire summer hiking through all of the trails without seeing everything there. I hope to do some more exploring of the trails, and most of all, hope to get some more waterfall pictures when the water levels are more impressive.
![Patapsco Valley State Park Waterfall](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1366/1403120786_ad4239d9c5.jpg)