2019 Running Travels: Stop off the highway at the Red Run Stream Valley Trail

Posted on by Vanessa Junkin (She Runs by the Seashore)
View of paved trail with trees on both sides and a bike rack (with no bikes on it) to the right.
Here’s a view of the paved part of the Red Run Stream Valley Trail in Owings Mills. (Vanessa Junkin photo)

I was determined to run somewhere new the weekend of Sept. 14-15. I was originally planning to make the trip to see my family starting on Friday so that I could run somewhere new Saturday morning. That didn’t work out, and then I also didn’t get up early enough to run anywhere new on Saturday.

But after a Ravens game and bringing my sister back to her apartment on Sunday, Sept. 16, I decided to run at the Red Run Stream Valley Trail in Owings Mills for the first time.

This trail is right off Route 795, on Red Run Boulevard in Owings Mills, Maryland. There is a small parking lot with 10 spots (one of which is a handicapped spot), and I got the last spot when I got there on a Sunday evening. I passed the parking lot the first time, so be alert.

View of water with many trees.
Here’s a view from the unpaved spur of the Red Run Stream Valley Trail. (Vanessa Junkin photo)

I thought the trail would be a little longer based on the first Google result I saw, but this link seems to have the distance as more accurate, at 1.2 miles. I put down in the notes on my phone that the paved part of the trail was about 1.1 miles.

Once I parked, I followed the paved trail and went on a short paved loop for a total of about .25 miles before I came to a sign for an unpaved part of the trail that was .75 miles. I decided to take that and ran on the Red Run Stream Valley Trail unpaved spur, which went to Lakeside Boulevard. After reaching the end of that trail, I turned back around and ran the .75 miles back to the paved trail.

Rugged trail in a green forest.
Here’s another shot from the unpaved section of the trail. (Vanessa Junkin photo)

On my way toward Lakeside Boulevard, I saw a deer, and if I’m remembering correctly, I saw two.

I turned left at the end of this spur to continue onto the paved trail. There was another short loop, and then, the trail became more narrow — but it was still paved. I followed this until the paved trail ended and a wooded trail began. I ran on that for a tiny bit. Although I turned around soon after getting into the wooded area, this connects to Soldiers Delight, where I ran back in 2015.

In the foreground is a small boardwalk with a fence to the right and a trail beyond it, in the woods.
Here’s another view from the unpaved section. There were some small raised boardwalks along the trail. (Vanessa Junkin photo)

Then, I ran back straight on the paved trail, not taking the super short loops, which is when I ended up with about 1.1 miles for that stretch. I was at around 4.5 or so miles when I made it back to the car, so I decided to run up and back on Red Run Boulevard to end with a total of five miles.

There were some hills. Elevation has been off on my watch for a while, but with the elevation corrections on Garmin Connect, I logged about 237 feet of elevation gain during this run.

Paved trail with trees on both sides and a fence on the left side.
Much of the paved trail is wide. (Vanessa Junkin photo)

I set a goal to travel to at least one new-to-me place for a run each month of 2019. Here are the other places I’ve traveled to for runs this year:

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Yellow flowers with a black centers among greens.
I thought these flowers were pretty. They look like Black-eyed Susans, Maryland’s state flower, although I can’t be sure. (Vanessa Junkin photo)