Backbone Mountain / Savage River Road (MD-135)

Maryland Route 77 runs 20.74 miles east-west through northern Maryland, ascending South Mountain before descending Catoctin Mountain along the narrow Hunting Creek valley. The road threads between Cunningham Falls State Park to the south and the National Park Service-managed Catoctin Mountain Park to the north — the same forested ridge sheltering Camp David. The highway is designated as both the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Byway and the Old Main Streets Scenic Byway, and passes through Thurmont (junction with US-15) before extending east through Rocky Ridge to Keymar. Densely forested twisties through the park corridor are the draw; fruit stands and a covered bridge punctuate the quieter eastern farmland section.

Maryland Route 550 runs 24.43 miles from Libertytown north to Fort Ritchie (Pen Mar Road), linking Frederick and Washington counties through a mix of open Monocacy Valley farmland and forested Catoctin and South Mountain terrain. The highway connects Woodsboro, Creagerstown, Thurmont, and Sabillasville, passing along the northern edge of Catoctin Mountain Park before cresting South Mountain near the Pennsylvania state line at Blue Ridge Summit. It is part of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Byway. Fruit stands, 18th-century farmhouses, and the Victor Cullen Center dot the roadside; the northern stretch becomes genuinely mountainous as it approaches Pen Mar County Park. Pairs well with MD-77 and MD-491 for a natural Catoctin-South Mountain loop.

Maryland Route 261 runs 12.86 miles along the western Chesapeake Bay shoreline from Parran (Calvert County) north to Friendship (Anne Arundel County), passing through the beach towns of Chesapeake Beach and North Beach and the forested Rose Haven shoreline. The road is part of the Roots and Tides Scenic Byway and parallels the bay closely as Bayside Road and Willows Road, passing the preserved Chesapeake Beach Railway Station (now a museum) and historic Holly Hill near Friendship. The ride itself is flat and shoreline-hugging rather than twisty, making it a scenic complement to the longer St. Mary's County loops or a standalone lunch-and-waterfront run out of the DC/Annapolis area.