Camping at Green Ridge State Forest, Maryland

Written from an article by Scott McDaniel, abridged and published by the National Park Service.

For a deeper connection to the land and its history — and a sense of what Maryland may have been like long ago — there's Green Ridge State Forest, in Allegany County.

The forest

• Where: in Western Maryland, between the Potomac River and the Mason-Dixon line.
• How big: some 49,000 acres of old, worn ridges and valleys, winding creeks, trails, rock outcrops and forest.
• Camping: almost one hundred primitive campsites — the chance to be immersed in the landscape day and night.

Camping there

There's no single right way to camp. At Green Ridge:

• sites lie north and south of Interstate 68, with different levels of privacy and space;
• every site has a fire pit, a picnic table and room for at least a couple of tents;
• there are no reservations: sign in and pay for your first-come, first-served pick at the 24/7 kiosk at Green Ridge Headquarters;
• try different sites each visit and build a list of favorites;
• the forest service asks campers to follow Leave No Trace.

Hiking

Mornings start with coffee and breakfast on the camp stove, then a hike. Many trails follow clear, rocky-bottomed creeks down toward the Potomac, the forest's southern border, leading to:

• clear mountain ponds;
• carved gorges;
• shaded bottomlands along the floodplains, with unusual rock formations, wildflowers and a broad Appalachian ecosystem.

On the smaller trails you'll rarely meet other hikers — just quiet lowlands between steep ridges. These mountains belong to the Appalachians, one of the oldest mountain ranges on Earth.

Sources

Based on "Camping at Green Ridge State Forest," an abridged article originally written by Scott McDaniel, published by the National Park Service and in the public domain; rewritten in hubnx's own words. The author's photograph is not reproduced.