Campsites near a trail
25 of the 99 campsites with a page qualify.
Pitch, then walk, without moving the car again. Every site here has a named, mapped trail within a quarter-mile of the pitch — near enough to start from camp after dark falls on the drive in, or before you have packed up.
The app draws every trail, with its blaze, surface and whether bikes and horses are allowed.
Independent, free, and built by campers. Not a DNR service.
- Booking
- None. Sites are first come, first served.
- Fee
- $10 a night for a standard site, $20 for a group site, paid at headquarters. Maryland DNR.
- Check in
- Sign the sheet at headquarters when you arrive, then go to the site.
- Is it free tonight?
- This page cannot know. The app shows what the sign-up sheet last showed, with the photo's age.
A named trail from this site’s own trail guide within a quarter-mile (1,320 ft) of the pitch, measured to the nearest point on it.
- The test
- A named trail within a quarter-mile of the pitch. Measured to the nearest point on the trail centreline, not to a trailhead or a car park.
- Where it comes from
- Trail centrelines from OpenStreetMap, matched by name to the trails this site carries a guide for — seven of the nine, the other two being the overlook path and the mountain-bike circuit, which OSM has no named line for. Unnamed paths are deliberately excluded — half the paths OSM has here have no name, and an unnamed line on this ground is as likely to be a firebreak or a gas-line cut as a trail you could walk.
- What it does not mean
- A quarter-mile on the map is not a path from the pitch: there may be no way through the ground between them, and the nearest point on a trail is rarely where anyone joins it. Check the trailhead on the trail’s own page. Blazes fade, and DNR closes trails in hunting season.
The first 12, closest trail first
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Campsite 66
Hollow, by a creek, rough in, quiet.
- Great Eastern Trail (Maryland section) 68 ft away
- 509 ft, southeast-facing hollow.
- Rough road, 6.3 mi unpaved, 42 min from HQ, 15% grade on the way.
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Campsite 5
Ridge-top, by a creek, easy in, some noise.
- Pine Lick Trail 128 ft away
- 1,066 ft, ridge crest.
- Gravel road, 2.8 mi unpaved, 17 min from HQ.
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Campsite 10
Ridge-top, by a creek, easy in, some noise.
- Twin Oaks Trail 164 ft away — 4-mile loop with Pine Lick
- 1,014 ft, southeast-facing ridge crest.
- Gravel road, 1.8 mi unpaved, 14 min from HQ, 13% grade on the way.
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Campsite 11
Hillside, by a creek, rough in, some noise.
- Pine Lick Trail 219 ft away
- 828 ft, north-facing hillside.
- Rough road, 1.0 mi unpaved, 12 min from HQ.
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Campsite 53
Hillside, by a creek, easy in, quiet.
- Deep Run/Big Run Trail 271 ft away
- 1,154 ft, east-facing hillside.
- Gravel road, 3.4 mi unpaved, 29 min from HQ, 14% grade on the way. The pitch sits 95 ft from the road.
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Campsite 90
Bench, by the river, rough in, quiet.
- C&O Canal towpath 345 ft away — 30 miles along the forest border
- 479 ft, bench.
- Rough road, 6.0 mi unpaved, 51 min from HQ.
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Campsite 65
Hillside, by a creek, rough in, quiet.
- C&O Canal towpath 373 ft away — 30 miles along the forest border
- 688 ft, southeast-facing hillside.
- Rough road, 6.0 mi unpaved, 40 min from HQ, 15% grade on the way. The pitch sits 72 ft from the road.
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Campsite 6
Upper slope, by a creek, easy in, some noise.
- Pine Lick Trail 553 ft away
- 1,041 ft, east-facing upper slope.
- Gravel road, 2.7 mi unpaved, 17 min from HQ.
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Campsite 86
Hillside, by a creek, rough in, quiet.
- C&O Canal towpath 687 ft away — 30 miles along the forest border
- 905 ft, southeast-facing hillside.
- Rough road, 1.9 mi unpaved, 21 min from HQ, 15% grade on the way.
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Campsite 12
Upper slope, by a creek, rough in, some noise.
- Pine Lick Trail 691 ft away
- 937 ft, southeast-facing upper slope.
- Rough road, 1.2 mi unpaved, 14 min from HQ, 16% grade on the way. The pitch sits 75 ft from the road.
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Campsite 9
Ridge-top, by a creek, easy in, some noise.
- Twin Oaks Trail 744 ft away — 4-mile loop with Pine Lick
- 1,020 ft, east-facing ridge crest.
- Gravel road, 2.0 mi unpaved, 14 min from HQ, 12% grade on the way.
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Campsite 4
Upper slope, by a creek, easy in, quiet.
- Twin Oaks Trail 793 ft away — 4-mile loop with Pine Lick
- 992 ft, north-facing upper slope.
- Gravel road, 2.9 mi unpaved, 18 min from HQ.
The other 13 that qualify
Same test, same order. Each number opens that site’s page.
The other shortlists
- Easy-access campsites 12
- Campsites for a low car 12
- River campsites 9
- Quiet campsites 69
- Campsites for a camper van or a trailer 14
- Campsites with the most open sky 22
- Sunny campsites 49
- Shaded campsites 17
- Campsites near headquarters 32
- Campsites beside running water 27
- Campsites with a phone signal 7
- Secluded campsites 10
Every list is built from the same data, and a site can appear on several of them.
Provenance
This list is generated from open data at build time, not compiled by hand. Nothing on it is a recommendation: it is a test, run over every campsite, with the test written at the top of the page so you can disagree with it.
- Elevation, landform, slope, the horizon profile, sun times and the steepest grade on the approach come from the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP).
- Roads, surfaces and watercourses come from OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed ODbL.
- Campsite coordinates and sections come from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources campsite layer.
- Pitch tags — room for a trailer, secluded, a view — come from campers, and are the only thing here that is a judgement rather than a measurement.
- Availability comes from nowhere, because there is no source for it. See above.
Independent, free, and built by campers. Not a DNR service. Greenridge is not affiliated with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources or any government agency, and the forest’s own rules always win.