River campsites
9 of the 99 campsites with a page qualify.
Green Ridge has one stretch of river camping, and it is the terrace at Bonds Landing where the forest meets the Potomac by the boat ramp. Everything else in the forest is a creek.
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.
On the Bonds Landing terrace, or with a mapped watercourse named Potomac inside 500 m — the app’s own river tag.
- The test
- The app’s river tag: the site is on the Bonds Landing terrace, or the Potomac is mapped within 500 m of it.
- Where it comes from
- The section comes from the Maryland DNR campsite layer; watercourses and their distances from OpenStreetMap. The terrace sites sit at 475–480 ft, the lowest ground in the forest.
- What it does not mean
- River frontage is not a swimming beach, and the Potomac here runs past a working boat ramp. The approach is six miles of unpaved road — the longest drive in the forest.
All 9, by site number, as they run along the terrace
-
Campsite 90
Bench, by the river, rough in, quiet.
- 479 ft, bench.
- The Potomac 659 ft south.
- 6.0 mi unpaved, 51 min from headquarters
-
Campsite 91
Bench, by the river, easy in, quiet.
- 478 ft, bench.
- The Potomac 148 ft southeast.
- 6.2 mi unpaved, 52 min from headquarters
-
Campsite 92
Bench, by the river, easy in, quiet.
- 479 ft, bench.
- The Potomac 167 ft south.
- 6.2 mi unpaved, 52 min from headquarters
-
Campsite 93
Bench, by the river, easy in, quiet.
- 480 ft, bench.
- The Potomac 187 ft southwest.
- 6.2 mi unpaved, 52 min from headquarters
-
Campsite 94
Bench, by the river, easy in, quiet.
- 480 ft, bench.
- The Potomac 171 ft southwest.
- 6.2 mi unpaved, 52 min from headquarters
-
Campsite 95
Bench, by the river, easy in, quiet.
- 480 ft, bench.
- The Potomac 171 ft west.
- 6.2 mi unpaved, 52 min from headquarters
-
Campsite 96
Bench, by the river, easy in, quiet.
- 480 ft, bench.
- The Potomac 180 ft west.
- 6.2 mi unpaved, 52 min from headquarters
-
Campsite 97
Bench, by the river, easy in, quiet.
- 479 ft, bench.
- The Potomac 194 ft west.
- 6.3 mi unpaved, 53 min from headquarters
-
Campsite 98
Bench, by the river, easy in, quiet.
- 475 ft, bench.
- The Potomac 318 ft west.
- 6.3 mi unpaved, 53 min from headquarters
The other shortlists
- Easy-access campsites 12
- Campsites for a low car 12
- 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.