Harford Glen Park — Attraction in Bel Air

Nice park, apparently not allowed in on school days, however its only enforced if you're in a car apparently. There's no signs on any of the 10 other access trails stating this policy and even the park employees don't seem to know their own park that well. When I rode my bike into the area, they seemed dumbfounded when I mentioned I came in on a trail from the neighboring neighborhood (Monmouth) and they just laughed. For that matter, they only seem to address the policy and enforce IF they happen to see you AND you're in the main area where the Admin buildings are. They don't seem to patrol the trails or even know about them given their reaction to what I said. People go there to fish and hike all the time, and apparently they are clueless to it.

So i guess the "closed on school days" only applies if you drive a car to the park, but you could walk/bike around the gate or via a trail entrance and they are none the wiser to it apparently. Its a an odd system and not well advertised if they are truly that concerned about school days. Its a large park, but only that small corner is overseen, the rest of it is wild, and can be accessed by the public rather easily from 10 other trail heads.

They only marked the main entrance for some reason, so it would be easy to say you had no idea of their policy, because it would likely be the truth. They don't seem to enforce it though. The guy that mentioned it to me must just have been bored that day, because I never heard anything about it since then and I kept going, just made sure I didn't go by the main buildings.

Add more signs, Harford Glen, if its that important to you. And its not going to occur to most people to look up a park's...

I had never been here before, but for father's day I went with my boyfriend and his kids to fish. The pond is pretty, there were sunfish and something small that wriggled off my line. The turtles are very active and swim all around the bridge that spans the middle of a frog serenaded lily pond.

The area is getting cleared for the summer traffic in the fields, nice paths to walk and a bathroom area. There were exhibits of a few wild locals and historic buildings which open during certain times for public enjoyment, as well as outdoor stages/ pavilions for entertaining.

There was a nice little board walk that straddled a cat tail marsh and river to the back, we wanted to fish it but there were signs saying the area was dangerous and no one could proceed in the area we thought looked best. My boyfriend talked about massive carp back there, but I was sad to have no path open to the deeper waters due to whatever happened to make that back most path so dangerous. Possibly washed out river banks?

The boardwalk looked to have suffered from the heavy rains and floods of 2019 (or other years?), it was safe but warped in the parts furthest from ther entrance. The park could use some help, but I'm sure that's got something to do with funding...

Great place to take the family, feels remote yet close to everything.

Only complaint I always have is how they close the park to public access at the main gate far too often. It seems they feel (1) nobody should hike or enjoy nature any time of year other than summer, and (2) nobody should enjoy nature after dinner during the week, even in summer. Boggles the mind how they close nature access so often. Can't tell you how many times I've loaded the kids to go explore the outdoors on a beautiful day, just to be greeted by a closed gate.

Side note, the park can always be accessed via driving to uncontrolled access points (such as Somerville Rd), or you can just park outside the main gate off Wheel Road and walk around the fence. Don't let their insane and unethical nature access policies stop you from enjoying...