Lower Susquehanna — River Bluffs, Rock Run Mill & Concord Point

A single big day tracing the last dramatic miles of the Susquehanna River before it empties into the head of the Chesapeake Bay, only forty-five minutes northeast of Baltimore. The morning belongs to Susquehanna State Park, where the Deer Creek and Rock Run trails wind through hemlock ravines to a restored 1794 grist mill and out onto high wooded bluffs above the churning river. From there it's a short hop to Havre de Grace, a walkable colonial waterfront town where the promenade skirts the water to the little 1827 Concord Point Lighthouse — the oldest continuously operated lighthouse on the bay. Between the river-bluff hiking, the historic mill, and the seafood-and-decoy town at the river's mouth, it's a full day of movement and Maryland history without a long drive.