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(Enlarge) Richard Hansford, of White Hall, is on the Hike and Bike Trail a lot. He walks his two dogs, Welly, a golden retriever, and Gelert, an Irish wolfhound three or four times a week. Other times, he rides a bike on the trail. (Staff photo by Sarah Nix)

The 20-mile Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail, which makes its way from Cockeysville into Pennsylvania, has two distinct personalities.

On weekends, it is a wild and crazy place, crammed with people who drive to northern Baltimore County with their bikes, their strollers, their dogs and their comfy shoes. They don't seem to mind the steady stream of people and animals on the trail.

During the week, nearby residents come out to use a trail that's deserted some of the time. They do the same activities -- walk, run and bike -- but their time is reflective, not frenzied.

To tell the tale of the quiet trail, the ones the neighbors know, a photographer and I met at the Sparks Road parking lot early on a Tuesday morning.

Our goal was simple: ride north on our bikes and capture a slice of trail life. We had no idea what or who we'd find along the way. We also didn't have a clue how far we'd ride before we'd have enough for a story.

Sarah Nix is a photographer who knows every inch of the trail. She trained for a half-marathon on it and likes the area so much that she's moving to Sparks after her October wedding.

I live adjacent to the trail, in Monkton, and sporadically walk, bike, cross-country ski and snowshoe on it.

As we pedaled north, we passed a few serious runners. Rather than interrupt their run, we just said "Hi" and kept going.

It was warm and humid, but we weren't too hot as we rode along the shady, unpaved trail that parallels the Gunpowder Falls. Just looking at the cold waters of the river was refreshing.

In the first several miles, we saw so few people that Sarah talked about taking nature photos. I said I'd write something to go with them.

Then we spotted a couple sitting on a bench overlooking the river just south of Corbett Road. Their bikes were on the ground next to them.

Perfect.

Talia Feltz, of Perry Hall, and Ali Cromwell, of Towson, ride the trail as often as they can. They normally go seven miles and one day want to ride all the way to Pennsylvania.

"The greatest time ever is to be here early in the morning," said Cromwell, a barber at X Cetra Salon in Baltimore. "You see a lot of the same people and they're all friendly. We just love it out here."

Feltz, who works at St. Joseph Hospital's nuclear medicine department, said she enjoys the slow pace of the trail during the week.

"The only time I rode fast was when I saw a big black snake on the trail," she said. "I didn't know I could go that fast."

Sarah and I left them sitting on the bench while we headed toward Monkton. We saw several bicyclists and walkers in the parking lot, but our attention was drawn to members of the Gunpowder Garden Club.

About six women arrived at 8:30 a.m. to weed several gardens they've planted over the years at the Monkton train station, now a ranger station.

Lynn Irwin, who planted flowers in several large barrels outside the train station, began pulling weeds that somehow found their way into the barrels. Others weeded a large flowering garden at the entrance to the parking lot.

"The club probably put in 400 hours here last year," Carmela Veit said as she helped cut down lily of the valley that had developed a fungus.

The club created large gardens behind the station using native plants that attract butterflies and birds.

"It becomes an informal outdoor classroom," said Jane Keenan, the club's president. "People will come ask us all kinds of gardening questions when we're out here working. It's been a great project."

Reluctant sprinter

Sarah and I continue north where we come across Richard Hansford, who lives a few miles away in White Hall. He thinks he's walking Gelert, a behemoth Irish wolfhound, and a frisky young golden retriever named Welly, but they are actually walking him.

"If they see a deer, they're off and I'm turned into an Olympic sprinter," Hansford said while trying to keep two leashes separate and trying to keep Welly from jumping.

Hansford walks the dogs on the trail three or four times a week. The former British competitive cyclist also rides on the trail frequently without his canine companions.

"This trail is so lovely and quiet," he said. "It's the real reason we moved here."

Hansford leads us off the trail to the Blue Mount Road bridge, where he says a pair of copperhead snakes live. Sure enough, camouflaged in a pile of leaves on one side of the one-lane bridge is a copperhead sunning itself. The snake doesn't move, but it doesn't take its eyes off us, either. The mate isn't visible, but we don't look very hard.

"When I cross the bridge with the dogs, we walk straight down the middle," Hansford said. "That way, we don't bother them and they don't bother us."

The gnomes' home

Sarah and I want to go a little farther north to see if we can get the story on the gnomes.

We're both familiar with a huge pile of rocks next door to a house that sits right on the trail, just north of Graystone Road. The rock pile is topped with an American flag. Dozens of plastic gnomes are scattered throughout the rock ledges. Trail-users can stop at a small stand next to the gnomes, "Old Glory Oasis," and buy water and snacks. They can rest a while on a wooden bench painted red, white and blue.

As we pull off the trail in front of the display, Gene Stiffler, who has lived in the house since 1964, comes out with a chair and a Popsicle to sit a spell.

He's happy to give us a tour and a talk.

"I love going to auctions and I buy most of what you see here at auctions," he said. "They're not expensive and they're not collectibles. If they were, they'd be stolen."

Stiffler said the rock pile had been covered with honeysuckle and poison ivy. After he cleared the weeds out, he brought in topsoil and planted several groundcovers and flowers.

Then, he just started decorating.

"I don't really remember how long ago I started, and I really can't say how many I have," he said.

In addition to the gnomes, he has wishing wells, fountains, solar lights, as well as statues of Uncle Sam, a fairy and dinosaurs. There are homemade signs that say, "No amphibians allowed. Violators will be toad." And "Welcome to my gnometown."

He's not done with gnomes yet. He wants to find some that are in a sitting position to perch them on the rock outcroppings.

As we get back on our bikes, Stiffler invites us to come back anytime to see what he's added.

Sarah and I ride to Parkton, where we stop and talk about our story. We're feeling pretty good about getting the chance to talk with easy-going bicyclists, volunteer gardeners who brighten up the train station area, a cheery walker with cool dogs, and, of course, the gnome guy.

We know that if we went farther today, or did the exact same ride another day, we'd meet totally different people.

But we hope we've accomplished what we set out to do: give people a slice of trail life.

Trail trivia

* The first seven miles of recreational trail from Ashland to Monkton opened in 1984. The trail from Monkton to the Pennsylvania line was completed in 1989.

* It was originally named the Northern Central Railroad Trail after the railroad that ran into Baltimore from Pennsylvania.

* The trail was renamed the Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail in May 2007. Brown headed up Maryland's Department of Natural Resources when the trail was designed and built. However, most people simply refer to it as the Bike and Hike Trail or the NCR Trail.

* Railroad service ran through North County for 134 years. The original line was completed in 1838 and was named the Northern Central Railroad in 1854. Trains stopped in Ashland, Phoenix, Sparks, Glencoe, Corbett, Monkton, Blue Mount, White Hall, Parkton, Bentley Springs and Freeland.

* Farmers sent milk, fruit and vegetables into Baltimore by train and the trains brought out farming and household supplies.

* The railroad played an important role in American history. Soldiers wounded during the Civil War were taken to Baltimore hospitals on the NCR. President Abraham Lincoln used the NCR for a portion of his trip to dedicate the National Cemetery at Gettysburg in 1863 where he made his famous speech. Two years later, Lincoln was assassinated and his funeral train passed through North County as it made its way to Illinois.

* The Parkton local passenger train, run by the Pennsylvania Railroad, had its last run June 27, 1959. Freight trains continued to use the tracks until 1972 when Hurricane Agnes washed out many bridges.

Information gathered from "Guide to the Northern Central Railroad Trail," 1991 and "From Marble Hill to Maryland Line" by S.B. and C.E. Clemens, 1983.

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