Primitive site · Green Ridge State Forest, Maryland

Campsite 38

1,007 ft upper slope

Site 38 is one of the primitive, first-come campsites scattered through Green Ridge State Forest in western Maryland. It sits at 1,007 ft on an upper slope, with Deep Run 1.3 mi southeast. The drive in is rated “Gravel road”.

Open site 38 in the app See every site on the map

Lay of the land

The ground it sits on

The elevation model puts the pitch at 1,007 ft, on an upper slope — at 1.6° the ground is near enough level that it does not meaningfully face anywhere.

Within the 1.2 km square sampled around it, the site stands 161 ft above the lowest ground in that square, which lies 0.5 mi northeast and 59 ft below the high ground 0.5 mi southeast.

The nearest mapped water is Deep Run, 1.3 mi southeast.

20 ft contours, 1.2 km across, from the USGS 3DEP elevation model. Watercourses from OpenStreetMap. The dot is the site.

Sun and shade

What the ridges do to its light

The tallest ground on this site's horizon stands 3.9° above level, to the east.

On the March equinox direct sun reaches the pitch at 7:40 am and leaves it at 7:14 pm: 11 h 36 m of it, against 12 h 12 m of daylight on an open horizon.

That gap — 36 min — is what the ridges take, and it is rarely taken evenly off both ends of the day.

Across the year the pitch runs from 14 h 14 m of direct sun at the June solstice down to 8 h 52 m at the December solstice.

Direct sun on the pitch, 2026. “Open horizon” is what the same day would give with no ridges in the way.
Date	First light	Last light	Direct sun	Open horizon
20 March	7:40 am	7:14 pm	11 h 36 m	12 h 12 m
21 June	6:14 am	8:26 pm	14 h 14 m	15 h 2 m
21 December	7:58 am	4:48 pm	8 h 52 m	9 h 26 m

Getting there

Gravel road

Forest gravel. Fine in a car, taken slowly.

You arrive on Mertens Avenue, which OpenStreetMap classes as a minor public road with a gravel surface.

4.1 mi of unpaved driving stands between the last pavement and the site.

The steepest stretch of that final approach measures 7.5% on the elevation model, climbing 154 ft in total.

The pitch itself sits 190 ft from that road, which is how far the cooler gets carried.

Measured

Unpaved approach: 4.1 mi
Steepest grade: 7.5%
Total climb: 154 ft
Road to pitch: 190 ft

Character

How campers describe it

Pop-up camper OK
Spaced / private
Good cell service
Level pad
Large / roomy

Private, flat, and spacious. Gun range audible from the site. Cell reception.
Field note from campers who have stayed here — not an official description, and conditions change.

Where these numbers come from

Provenance

Everything on this page is derived from open data at build time. None of it is anyone's opinion, and none of it was measured on foot.

Elevation, landform, slope, aspect, contours, the horizon profile and the steepest grade on the approach come from the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), read from terrain-RGB tiles at zoom 14.
Roads and watercourses come from OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed ODbL.
Sun times are computed from the NOAA Solar Calculator equations against that measured skyline — when the sun clears the ridge, not when an almanac says it rises. Figures are for 2026; they shift by a minute or two from year to year.
Campsite coordinates come from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources campsite GIS layer.
Character tags and field notes 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.

Greenridge is an independent community project. It is not affiliated with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources or any government agency, and the forest's own rules always win.