Scotts Cove Recreation Area
T. Howard Duckett Reservoir
Harding Road, Laurel Maryland 20723
Amenities: There is a portable toilet adjacent to boat ramp when the reservoir is open.
Special Attractions: There are two gravel parking lots; picnic tables, grills, tot lot, and a boat ramp. Day or seasonal passes required for fishing and boating are available at the Brighton Dam Information Center.
Handicapped Access: Parking lots are adjacent to wooded areas; the water is down a flight of steps or steep slopes. Some birds can be seen and heard from the lots; the south lot provides a slightly better view of the cove. The boat ramp is the only paved area.
Habitat: Water level fluctuates by season and rainfall. Occasionally in late summer, attractive mudflats are exposed. Mixed woods border the cove with stands of planted white pines east of the boat ramp on the south side.
Layout: There are gravel parking lots on both sides of the cove with adjacent picnic/public areas near the water. There are also trails of varying lengths at the junction of Pineway Drive/Harding Road (park on Pineway), at a wooden gate between Pineway and the north parking lot (park along the south side of Harding Road), and east of the boat ramp just above the boat stakes. All trails end at the edge of the cove or at a point overlooking the main reservoir. When water levels are down, mudflats develop from the head of the cove east. They are easily accessible from either gravel lot. Harding Road is heavily traveled and mostly lacks wide shoulders around the cove; avoid walking along it. There are mixed deciduous/coniferous woods on the north side (although every major storm reduces the remaining native pines). On the south side, blocks of pines were planted decades ago south and east of the boat ramp. A small amount of edge vegetation is along the stream at the head of the cove. There is little understory anywhere, thanks to a substantial deer population and human use.
Pineway Drive Trail. This short trail begins at a wooden gate on the south side of the intersection with Harding Road and ends at a point overlooking the main reservoir and the mouth of Scotts Cove. There is a fine view of sky, edge, and water.
Wooden Gated Trail is on the south side of Harding Road west of Pineway Drive. This provides wooded access to the north side of the cove with a less expansive view than the Pineway Drive Trail.
North Parking Lot. Listen and look for migrants in nearby trees on both sides of the road. From the lot, walk south through the picnic area to the water’s edge, listening for migrants and residents. Along the water, check the ducks (sometimes another species joins the Mallards and hybrids).
South Parking Lot and Boat Ramp. Like the north side, the south side provides access to the cove. After early morning hours, the viewer’s back to the sun. East of the boat ramp and just above the boat stakes, there is a fishing trail running east through a pine plantation to points overlooking the reservoir.
Compiler: Joanne Solem
