My Fiancee and I have just moved to the Baltimore area, and we are looking for suggestions for good car camping sites that are within a 2 to 3 hour drive. Ideally something with solitude, bathrooms, and firepits. No bugs please...
My Fiancee and I have just moved to the Baltimore area, and we are looking for suggestions for good car camping sites that are within a 2 to 3 hour drive. Ideally something with solitude, bathrooms, and firepits. No bugs please...
Give this a shot, should help you find a campground.
"If you play a Nicleback song backwards, you'll hear messages from the devil. Even worse, if you play it forward, you'll hear Nickleback." - Dave Grohl
By now, you've probably browsed the Maryland State Parks website but if not, here's the link: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/pfwma2.html
The nicest park close to Baltimore IMO is Susquehanna State Park. I camped there one year in the Spring and saw more great blue herons in one place than I ever had before. Depending on which part of Baltimore you live, it's about 1-1 1/2 hours away.
On the Eastern Shore, Pocomoke State Park is my favorite because of the cypress trees in the Pocomoke River and its tributaries - the northernmost location of cypress on the East Coast. Bring your own canoe/kayak or rent them there. It should take less than 3 hours to drive. Also, there's Tuckahoe which I've never visited but may be preferable if you're seeking relative solitude. It looks like it has nice features.
Because of heat, humidity, and bugs, I wouldn't visit either of these parks in the heart of summer. Spring would be best followed by Fall.
For a taste of the mountains, the first/closest parks available are Cunningham Falls where the falls are nice and there are some hiking trails and Gambrill near Frederick. Both have campgrounds and are about an hour from Baltimore but the "mountains" barely exceed 1,500' and you'll still find summer temps rather oppressive.
I'm biased of course since I live in Frostburg but the best MD parks (especially in summer) are here in the Western Panhandle and the "best of the best" IMO is New Germany State Park. Like practically all of Garret County, the park is at 2,000' elevation so it's never oppressively hot in summer. Even if you work up a sweat hiking one of the many trails there and in Savage River State Forest, you'll cool off rapidly. New Germany has a nice campground and a lake for both canoeing and swimming. Yes, there might be some mosquitos at night but nothing like the Eastern Shore.
If you base-camp in New Germany for a few days, there's lots of outdoor activites to do including cycling the Great Allegeny Passage, whitewater rafting on the Youghiogheny River, flatwater canoeing/kayaking on the Potomac, motorized water sports on Deep Creek Lake, and hiking in all 3 states - MD, WV, PA.
And finally, there are 2 great state parks near Western MD: Ohiopyle in PA where a trifecta of hiking, cycling, and paddling await you and Blackwater Falls in the highlands of West Virginia, adjacent to Monongahela National Forest. At 3,000', it's always cool in the summer. I spent last Saturday night camped near there; right now, the Fall colors are magnificent.
Lots of opportunities await you. Enjoy!
I just noticed that you're moving from St. Louis so perhaps you want to see the ocean. Try Assateague State Park but do so before October 27 when the campground closes. And there's also Assateague Island National Seashore where the camping is slightly more primitive.
Don't know if you can still camp there, but Patapsco Valley State Park has some very nice areas - I was a frequent visitor to the Hilton/Avalon area (near Catonsville) while a student at nearby UMBC.
I'll 2nd Cunningham Falls St.Park / Catoctin Nat'l Park. You can car-camp in the Wm.Houck area and hike a nice 10-mile loop past several interesting rock formations & vistas, then relax by the falls on the way back to your campsite.
Caledonia & Pine Grove Furnace St.Parks in southern PA (approx 90 minutes from B'more) are quite nice, and right on the AT. Wash.Monument & Crampton Gap St.Parks are on the AT in MD, but no longer offer car camping... you can camp at Greenbrier (just north of Wash.Mon.) and hike down to the monument or up to Annapolis Rocks.
Welcome to Baltimore, hon! ;-)
Both are nice parks but for camping, I'd recommend Pine Grove because it's much quieter whereas at Caledonia you'll hear the Rt. 30 traffic all night. Not only is Pine Grove on the AT, it's also the site of the "Half-gallon Challenge" and the AT midpoint marker is within an easy hike.
Try Catoctin Mountain Park (National Park Service) in Thurmont MD, http://www.nps.gov/cato/. Catoctin is adjactent to Cunningham Falls State park.
http://reserveamerica.com/
This may help, it can give you distances to campgrounds
If you're willing to drive a couple of hours, you can get to Shenandoah River State Park in Front Royal, Virginia. (Not to be confused with the much-better-known and nearby Shenandoah National Park.)
I think it's one of the nicest car-camping areas I've seen. You park in a lot and walk in maybe a couple hundred feet along well-groomed trails... they have little carts to help you haul stuff if you need it. The tent pads overlook the river, pretty much right on the edge of the bluff, and are well-spaced so you feel like you have some privacy. The bath houses are very nice. There are plenty of hiking trails in the state park, and of course you can always go over to the national park for more.
I was there three or four years ago so I can't say what it looks like now, but I have good memories of camping there. It seems to be a well-kept secret.
I have to agree with the Assateague Island National Seashore . There are sites you leave your car about 100 yards away from the tents for a little more privacy. There are wild horses wandering around and you can hike over the dune and build fires on the beach. Its a great time. I go every year.
It was so crowded this weekend... We wanted to hike the trails of off skyline drive and see the fall foilage, so we tried to stay in Mathews Arm campground. It was completely full at noon on Saturday. Ended up stopping and calling a list of of campgrounds that we picked up at the north visitors station. We stayed at low water bridge campground. Not my ideal campground, but it worked.
We stayed at the group campground "B" there one Autumn weekend. The colors were beautiful with gold in predominance. Because of the proximity to Camp David it wasn't all that quiet lots of chanting Marines out for that zero-dark thirty 5 mile run, some sporadic shotgun fire when deer dared to penetrate the perimeter, and plenty of motorized stuff driving around at a pretty good clip. Clinton was the guy at the time and he wasn't in residence that weekend so who knows what goes on when the prez is there. The individual campgrounds may be different.
Virginia Campgrounds have been voted # 1 nation wide and have excellent facilities for car campers. I've stayed at Shenandoah River SP near Front Royal and at Westmoreland SP on the Potomac below DC. They love the pea gravel tent sites and grant no waivers on using them so bring long stakes.
There is also rocky gap and deep creek a litlle rougher is green ridge state forrest.
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"Bob Marley"
The problem with Rocky Gap is that the state considers it a "resort" park and if the gambling initiative passes next week, will add casinos. All right, I'm not going into a gambling polemic here but the I suspect the OP wants camping in a natural/woodsy setting unfettered by golf courses and casinos.
Deep Creek SP is OK but still in the midst of a tourist mecca.
So if you're making the drive to Western MD, better to head to New Germany with its hiking trails, small lake for paddling, and quieter setting.
All of have been great suggestions. My personal faves:
If you don't mind driving: Swallow Falls SP in Garrett Cty. Good trails, fishing, nice sites. Cool waterfalls and good picture oppurtunities.
Close to Bmore and personal fave: Cunningham Falls in Frederick Cty. Tons of trails, great fishing. You can get remote real easy in this area because it is linked to Catoctin NP and Trail. I've caught native brookies in unnamed streams around here!
Don't be afraid to park somewhere and backpack a few miles either. Annapolis Rocks on the At is a great place to start, although crowded. Hike .2 miles to the Cowall Shelter on the AT and cook some burgers and overnight. I do this in the winter all the time. Next thing you might try is a 27 mile weekend.