Falls Road & Prettyboy Reservoir

Baltimore's short loop: from Brooklandville the route rides north on Falls Road (MD-25) through Butler into the hills, loops around Prettyboy Reservoir by Beckleysville and Spooks Hill roads, crosses the dam, and comes back down on the reservoir back roads and Falls Road, finishing through the Green Spring Valley instead of York Road. It's 49 miles. Cars move fast on Falls Road, the reservoir roads are narrow and shared with cyclists, and the lot at the dam is small, so keep the pack tight and patient.

Falls Road (MD-25) is the Falls Road Scenic Byway, a Maryland scenic byway that runs about 39 miles from Prettyboy Reservoir down to Baltimore. The route picks it up in Brooklandville and rides north through rolling hill country to Butler and beyond, then follows Beckleysville and Spooks Hill roads around the reservoir. There are two roads called Falls Road around here: follow the one signed as MD-25.

Prettyboy Reservoir was finished in 1932 on the Gunpowder Falls and, with Loch Raven, supplies about 61 percent of the Baltimore area's drinking water; tradition says it's named after a settler's horse, Pretty Boy, that drowned in a nearby creek. The route crosses the dam on Prettyboy Dam Road, where there's a small parking area, then takes the reservoir back roads, Dubbs, Yeoho and Stringtown, to Falls Road again, and finishes on Tufton Avenue, Greenspring Avenue and Greenspring Valley Road through the Green Spring Valley. Cars go fast on Falls Road, and the reservoir roads are narrow and busy with cyclists.