Fountain Rock Nature Center — Attraction in Walkersville

The smaller and "more experienced" (read: older) sibling of Catoctin Creek Nature Center, Fountain Rock Park and Nature Center is built around the ruins of old lime kilns. The former quarry pond is now home to several species of turtles, including snapping turtles and red eared sliders. The kiln ruins are visible both from the parking lot and on the nature trail at the back of the park. There are several small houses on the property, one of them the park office and the others open for occasional special events.

The nature center itself is on the smaller side, but is packed with a wide array of local animals, including several types of snakes, spiders, fish, frogs & toads, and insects. There's even a beehive inside, and the Queen is marked with a dot of special dye. Younger visitors will have fun looking for her. One minor negative about Fountain Rock is that while the park is open daily, the nature center is only open on weekends, and for limited hours at that.

Like any good park, there's a playground here, as well as a small fishing pond and a relatively new (as of February 2017) interpretive trail. Keep an eye out for the "Bug Hotel"...

This park is smaller than I thought but it has so much to do and see. It's great for kids and dogs. There is a picnic shelter, a playground, a pond for fishing, 3 houses and a visitor's center that I didn't check out. I really like walking the boardwalk along the quarry. Spotted a couple turtles, several ducks and an animal that I'm not sure if it's alive or dead. Only it's back was exposed to the water surface, and I'm not sure if it's sleeping in the water with no oxygen?? Or dead but it's nit bloated. The back reminded me of looked like a beaver 🦫. The kilns were interesting. It is fascinating how much work people used to put into making limestone. We walked to the back to get a view of the top of the kilns. The trails are behind the kilns and they can get a little confusing. I had Mapmywalk app on which helped me find my way back. I found the walkersville community park and walked the paved trail there. The railroad tracks and the creek is along the community park. If I'm nearby, I would come here again. We walked...

It was a Friday though so they weren't open. However, we had a great time with our granddaughter who is 3 years old. She had an opportunity to play in their playground and then we went to look for what there was there. We walked a little ways and saw some trails which we followed to a pond big pond which was very interesting for her as their word loss of turtles and fish in the water. We bought some food for $0.25 from them from their machines and we enjoyed feeding the fish and the turtles. There was a great blue heron sitting there very still and he let us come right up to him. Maybe 10 ft away? He didn't move at all. It's a great place for kids and for adults. Although our 3-year-old granddaughters not a hiker, we could have gone on a hike. We will take our t 8-year-old grandson next time and go on a hike with him. It's actually only open on Saturdays and Sundays. However, you don't need it to be...