Shortlist · Green Ridge State Forest, Maryland

Sunny campsites

48 of the 99 campsites with a page qualify.

Every pitch in this forest gets about ten hours of sun at the June solstice, because in June the sun is high enough that the ridges barely matter. December is the month that tells them apart: the same ridges take anything from six minutes to four and a half hours off the day.

Compare sun and shade in the app All 99 campsite pages

The app draws the sun on any site for any day of the year.

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.
What put a site on this list

8.6 hours or more of direct sun on the pitch at the December solstice — the app’s own threshold for calling a site sunny.

The test
8.6 hours (516 minutes) or more of direct sun on 21 December. That is SUNNY_DEC_MIN in web/src/lib/siteSummary.ts, the constant the app uses for the same word; under 7.6 hours the app calls a site shaded. Across the forest the December figure runs from 5.0 to 9.3 hours.
Where it comes from
The sun’s track from the NOAA solar equations, against the horizon measured around each pitch from the USGS 3DEP elevation model. Direct sun means the sun has cleared the ridge, not that an almanac says it has risen.
What it does not mean
The model sees terrain, not trees: a pitch under oaks gets the sun this page promises in February and rather less of it in July. Figures are for 2026 and shift a minute or two year on year.
The sites

The first 12, most December sun first

The other 36 that qualify

Same test, same order. Each number opens that site’s page.

Other ways in

The other shortlists

Every list is built from the same data, and a site can appear on several of them.

Where these numbers come from

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.