Primitive site · Green Ridge State Forest, Maryland

Campsite 51

984 ft southwest-facing upper slope

Site 51 is one of the primitive, first-come campsites scattered through Green Ridge State Forest in western Maryland. It sits at 984 ft on a southwest-facing upper slope, with running water 1.0 mi southeast. The drive in is rated “Gravel road”.

Open site 51 in the app See every site on the map

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.

In short

Upper slope, easy in, quiet, secluded.

Modeled984 ft, southwest-facing upper slope.
ModeledGravel road, 10.4 mi and 34 min from HQ, 4.6 mi of it unpaved. The pitch sits 135 ft from the road.
ModeledRunning water 1.0 mi southeast.
ModeledOut of earshot of the range, the interstate and the freight line.
CommunityRoom for a pop-up, private, a view.
CommunityDescribed by campers, not yet photographed for Greenridge. Everything else here is modeled.

Modeled from USGS elevation, OpenStreetMap roads and the sun Community reported by campers

Sun and shade

Hours of direct sun

NESWN 11:00 am · on the pitch

The horizon around site 51, east on the left, south in the middle, west on the right, with the sun's path on 22 October: amber where it reaches the pitch, dashed where the ridge hides it. The fainter arcs are the other dates the site’s 360 view shows. Its highest ridge stands 5.1° above the horizontal to the east. Sampled 144 times out to 9 km from the USGS elevation survey. Every sun time on this page is computed against this line.

Hours of direct sun on the pitch by month; the grey behind each bar is the full day the almanac gives with no ridges in the way.

The tallest ground on this site's horizon stands 5.1° above level, to the east.

On the March equinox direct sun reaches the pitch at 7:46 am and leaves it at 7:18 pm: 11 h 34 m of it, against 12 h 12 m of daylight on an open horizon.

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	7:46 am	7:18 pm	11 h 34 m	12 h 12 m
21 June	6:10 am	8:32 pm	14 h 24 m	15 h 2 m
21 December	8:04 am	4:50 pm	8 h 48 m	9 h 26 m

Lay of the land

The ground

The elevation model puts the pitch at 984 ft, on an upper slope tilted about 5.2° to the southwest.

Within the 1.2 km square sampled around it, the site stands 220 ft above the lowest ground in that square, which lies 0.4 mi southwest and 92 ft below the high ground 0.4 mi east.

The nearest mapped water is an unnamed run 1.0 mi southeast. OpenStreetMap maps the channel but has no name for it. Treat any water from it before drinking.

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

Next door

Nearby sites

Site 50 1053 ft away
Ridge-top, easy in, quiet, secluded.
Site 52 0.7 mi away
Flat shelf, easy in, quiet, secluded.
Site 53 1.3 mi away
Hillside, by a creek, easy in, quiet.
Site 54 1.7 mi away
Flat shelf, by a creek, easy in, quiet.

How to choose between them · All 100 sites

On these shortlists: Quiet · Camper van · Sunny · Secluded · All shortlists

Character

How campers describe it

Pop-up camper OK
Spaced / private
Views

Hilltop position with partial privacy; power lines overhead.
Field note from campers who have stayed here. Not an official description, and conditions change.

Evenings here

When the ridge takes the sun

20 MarchSun off the pitch at 7:18 pm, 10 minutes before sunset
21 JuneSun off the pitch at 8:32 pm, 16 minutes before sunset
22 OctoberSun off the pitch at 6:22 pm, close to sunset
21 DecemberSun off the pitch at 4:50 pm, close to sunset

For tonight, with the moon, darkness and the overnight low, open Site 51 in the app.

Where these numbers come from

Provenance

Most of this page is computed from public data; the lines marked Community come from campers. The computed data was last rebuilt from its sources on 28 September 2026.

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 its elevation tiles.
Roads and watercourses come from OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed ODbL, as mapped at that rebuild. A road can wash out or close after it.
Sun times are when the sun clears that measured skyline, computed with the NOAA Solar Calculator equations. They are for 2026 and shift by a minute or two from year to year.
The pin comes from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources campsite GIS layer.
Evenings here are the same sun times, on four dates of the year: when the sun drops behind this pitch's measured skyline, against the open-horizon sunset.
The modeled view and the 360 are rendered from a 3D model of the forest, from the pitch, through a whole day in each of five seasons. The ground is the same elevation data plus lidar. Tree heights come from lidar; the species mix and tree form come from US Forest Service inventory plots in Allegany County, so no tree here was surveyed individually. The tent, table and fire ring are the same stand-ins at every site. When a photograph from the site, ours or one a camper sends, shows the model is wrong about where the pitch is or what the ground is like, the model is corrected and the 360 is rendered again. How the 360 is made.
Character tags and field notes come from campers. They are judgements rather than measurements.
Availability is not on this page because nothing publishes it. The app shows what the last photograph of the sign-up sheet said, and how old that photograph is.

Greenridge is independent and is not affiliated with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources or any government agency. The forest's own rules apply.

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