Easy-access campsites
12 of the 99 campsites with a page qualify.
The sites you can reach in an ordinary car without a long committed run down a forest road, and where the pitch is where the car stops.
That filter is the app’s gravel rating — a superset of this list, which also asks for the short run and the parking.
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.
Gravel-rated road in, under two miles of unpaved driving, and the pitch within 100 ft of where the car stops.
- The test
- Drive rating gravel, unpaved approach under 2 miles, and the pitch within 100 ft of the road.
- Where it comes from
- Surface, road class and the length of the unpaved run from OpenStreetMap; the distance from road to pitch and the grade from the USGS 3DEP elevation model.
- What it does not mean
- No campsite here is reached on pavement. “Gravel” is the easiest rating the forest has, not a paved approach, and any forest road can wash out.
All 12, shortest unpaved run first
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Campsite 100
Upper slope, by a creek, easy in, some noise.
- 0.1 mi of unpaved road from the last pavement
- 33 min from headquarters
- You park 56 ft from the pitch.
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Campsite 19
Ridge-top, by a creek, easy in, some noise.
- 0.5 mi of unpaved road from the last pavement
- 11 min from headquarters
- You park on the pitch.
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Campsite 83
Upper slope, easy in, quiet.
- 0.6 mi of unpaved road from the last pavement
- 14 min from headquarters
- You park on the pitch.
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Campsite 18
Ridge-top, by a creek, easy in, some noise.
- 0.9 mi of unpaved road from the last pavement
- 12 min from headquarters
- You park 59 ft from the pitch.
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Campsite 17
Ridge-top, by a creek, easy in, some noise.
- 1.1 mi of unpaved road from the last pavement
- 12 min from headquarters
- You park on the pitch.
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Campsite 2
Hollow, by a creek, easy in, some noise.
- 1.2 mi of unpaved road from the last pavement
- 12 min from headquarters
- You park on the pitch.
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Campsite 16
Ridge-top, by a creek, easy in, some noise.
- 1.5 mi of unpaved road from the last pavement
- 13 min from headquarters
- You park on the pitch.
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Campsite 27
Ridge-top, easy in, some noise.
- 1.6 mi of unpaved road from the last pavement
- 17 min from headquarters
- You park on the pitch.
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Campsite 10
Ridge-top, by a creek, easy in, some noise.
- 1.8 mi of unpaved road from the last pavement
- 14 min from headquarters
- You park on the pitch.
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Campsite 3
Valley-floor, by a creek, easy in, some noise.
- 2.0 mi of unpaved road from the last pavement
- 14 min from headquarters
- You park on the pitch.
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Campsite 9
Ridge-top, by a creek, easy in, some noise.
- 2.0 mi of unpaved road from the last pavement
- 14 min from headquarters
- You park on the pitch.
-
Campsite 77
Hollow, by a creek, easy in, quiet.
- 2.0 mi of unpaved road from the last pavement
- 8 min from headquarters
- You park on the pitch.
The other shortlists
- 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 48
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.