Though the end of summer is just a few weeks away, there is still time to explore several new attractions that have been added to parks around Montgomery County this summer, such as a new mountain biking course, a dog park, pickleball courts and campgrounds equipped with camping essentials.
Here are a few places to check out:
New mountain bike trails
This summer, Montgomery Parks opened a new mountain biking course called Gravity Mountain Bike Park in Wheaton Regional Park at 2000 Shorefield Road.
The mountain bike park, geared toward mountain bikers and BMX riders, has an easier green course and a more advanced blue course. Both routes cater to moderately experienced riders and feature dirt and wooden berm turns, rollers, drops, and ride-through features, according to Montgomery Parks.
“This new bike park is a great spot for adventure riders to build their skills on challenging terrain. Once riders start the course, it’s all downhill with multiple challenges to navigate,” Bob Turnbull, Montgomery Parks’ natural surface trails program manager, said in a July press release.
According to Montgomery Parks Director Miti Figueredo, the county Planning Board in 2022 approved an updated master plan for Wheaton Regional Park, which is more than 50 years old. The plan includes projects to update the park with new amenities that “better serve the community” in the surrounding area.
The creation of the mountain bike park, one of the master plan’s recommendations, is the first new project coming out of the updated plan, according to Figueredo.
“It feeds right into our goals of getting people outdoors in nature, having fun and getting exercise, and connecting with each other,” Figueredo said.
Columbia Local Park reopens with pickleball courts, dog park
Obsessed with pickleball or just starting to learn the sport? This summer county fans gained more places to play with the opening of courts at Columbia Local Park in Burtonsville.
With an abundance of pickleball courts in locations ranging from neighborhood parks to facilities dedicated to the sport, pickleball has surged in popularity in the county in recent years. North Bethesda, in fact, is the home of the headquarters of JOOLA, a table tennis and pickleball manufacturer.
Pickleball courts aren’t the only new amenity at the park at 14900 Old Columbia Pike. After nearly a year under renovation, Columbia Local Park reopened earlier this summer with a new dog park, futsal court, and a new seating area with solar charging tables, according to Figueredo.
The nearly 11,000 square-foot dog park has two sections, one for big dogs and the other for small dogs, and is primarily paved with large mounds of artificial turf in each space, according to planning documents.
According to Figueredo, Columbia Local Park, acquired by the parks department in 1969, needed a “park refresher.” With the renovations complete, the space has received a “complete facelift,” she said.
“One of the things that we do over time is we go into some of our older parks that need updating, that maybe have some kind of amenity that’s no longer used, and we swap it out and put something new that people really are going to make a lot of use of,” Figueredo said, noting the park had an underutilized asphalt area that was repurposed as the pickleball courts.
Go camping
Need a last-minute vacation? Campsites at Little Bennett Regional Park in Clarksburg are still available.
This summer Montgomery Parks added three new sites at Little Bennett Campground’s Loop C that are equipped with camping essentials, according to a press release. The new sites include a canvas tent on a wooden platform, two camp chairs, a propane stove, a lantern, a picnic table, a fire ring with a grill top and an electrical outlet.
“Little Bennett Campground has camping options for everyone,” Laura Favin, assistant manager at the campground, said in the release. “The new canvas tent sites offer the best of both worlds: the rustic charm of camping with the convenience of modern comforts, so you can spend more time exploring and less time setting up.”
Little Bennett Campground, at 23705 Frederick Road, spans 3,700 acres of forest and meadows and offers access to more than 25 miles of trails for hiking and biking, according to Montgomery Parks.
Other campground amenities include hook-up sites for recreational vehicles as well as yurts, cabins and group camping areas, according to the parks department. In addition, the full-service campground has bathhouses with sinks, showers, toilets and drinking fountains within walking distance of each site.
For more information about the campground and to make a reservation, visit the campground website. There is a two-night minimum for all reservations.