The Rachel Carson Greenway is a planned 25-mile stretch of trails, spanning from the historic Adelphi Mill in Prince George's County north through eastern Montgomery County, Maryland to Patuxent River State Park, and incorporating existing Northwest Branch trails.

[4] The largest section of the greenway consists of a network of unimproved hiking trails through the Northwest Branch stream valley gorge in Burnt Mills, Maryland.

[7] The conservation area was named in 1977 for noted environmentalist Rachel Carson, the author of Silent Spring, who lived nearby.

The trail extends north from Woodlawn Manor Park to the Sandy Spring and then on to a 300-year-old Champion White Ash tree.

[12] Between the Burnt Mills Dam trailhead on U.S. Route 29 (Colesville Road) and Kemp Mill Road near Wheaton Regional Park the Rachel Carson Greenway Trail follows the east side of the Northwest Branch, across the creek from the Northwest Branch Trail.