Enjoy Nature at Palmer State Park

Deer Creek in the winter.

Scott McDaniel

Palmer State Park in Harford County, Maryland is a place to spend time in nature, enjoy outdoor exercise and find that connection with the land that has become rare in the modern world.  555 acres of forested hills cradle a fast-moving section of Deer Creek and offer a network of low impact trails. You may find yourself immersed in quiet as you trek through a wintry forest, actually hearing your boots crunch in the fresh snow while perhaps following red fox tracks or watching a bald eagle soaring above Deer Creek. You can also spend time searching for a large list of songbird species that make use of this corridor during both spring and fall migrations. The new growth of spring decorates the forest floor with wildflowers that transition with each passing week as buds turn into green leaves and the enchanting calls of warblers and wood thrushes fill the air.   

The park was once the site of a grist mill, kilns, and a general store that all centered around mining quartz from the area’s quarries. Today you can envision these old folkways through ruins that remind us of how much the landscape has changed and how nature will heal and reclaim once we let it.  

It becomes apparent how much wildlife responds to having large continuous habitat as you observe the park’s varied fauna. If you sit in the park long enough you may witness a raccoon using its nimble hands to sift for crayfish on the edge of a sandbar, or you might hear the gnawing of a beaver trying to add one more layer of lumber to its lodge or dam.  There’s a good chance you will notice the wood drumming and laughing call of a pileated woodpecker darting through the canopy above, or the chattering of a belted kingfisher hunting the deep pools for a meal. If you are really lucky and time it just right, you could even catch a rare glimpse of one of our two aquatic weasel species, the river otter or mink as they slink along the banks. 

There is something so compelling about having space to explore, to put your hand on the bark of a tree, and to feel like you aren’t looking through glass as nature, but you’re accepted into it, as a part of it. This is a place that is to be revered and protected for all to enjoy.

This is an abridged article originally written by Scott McDaniel.