This is a surprisingly pleasant and long run, through east Baltimore. The creek, named for an old family rather than the fish, begins as two branches, one coming down from Towson State University ('West Branch') and the other from Parkville (the main stem). The 'West Branch' is a good place to start a Herring Run trip if it has enough water (at Northern Parkway, a mile above Echodale Ave.), but the main stem is flatter (25 ft/mile) and unattractive, as it is channeled alongside Perring Parkway. There is a good put in at Echodale Avenue, a quarter mile below the confluence.The trip starts off mild, with just class II for almost a mile, but as it enters the fall line, the rapids become longer, steeper and more frequent, culminating in a long, twisting class III rock garden. There are also quite a few good surfing waves. The action then gradually slows down, except for sharp man-made ledges just above and below Harford Road (Md. 147).
For the following mile, the creek is mostly flat, with a few minor man-made ledges and some long riffles. Approaching Belair Road (US 1) there is a 70-yard, class II rapid. The next 0.3 miles, to Mannasota Ave., contains a pair of long class II+ rock gardens, with several routes available (depending on the water level), ending in a tricky drop just below the bridge. The 0.8 miles from there to Sinclair Lane is again mainly class I. There is a bicycle trail alongside this 2-mile stretch. Below Sinclair Lane, the gradient drops to 20 ft/mile, and the creek is mostly flat, except for a few more man-made ledges of up to class II+ difficulty. Take out just upstream of US 40, on a side road that leads to the city's auto impoundment facility, but park across from the office up above.
The creek is wide enough to minimize the number of stream-wide strainers. But on the negative side, even a person as olfactorily challenged as myself could not miss the pungent odor of unprocessed sewerage pouring out of one pipe. As for the scenery, it changes from rocky gorge to open fields to more urban sights, and would be overall quite decent if not for the abundant trash that festoons every rock, bush and eddy.
Ed Evangelidi testifies:
Use the trails on either side of the run to check out the stream.
Lat/longitude coords are approximate, from TopoZone.