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Maryland Campground Reviews

Of course you're welcome to look around. But the campground reviews on these pages are not highly refined. It's a rough collection of notes primarily intended for my own future reference. You'll notice I like pet-friendly activities, pinball and trains. By 2020 we had transitioned almost exclusively to state parks. The parks rarely have full-hookups, but the space, seclusion and quiet are so worth it. Click any link within the text for corresponding picture.

Brunswick Family Campground. 2019/October - Another stay in C5. 2017/September - This was our first time in site C5 which now may be our favorite site. The river view is a bit better than C4, but the awning faces south which can be a bit harsh at times. The C4 trail down to the river was clogged with debris and basically no longer exists. This year was the lowest I've seen the river. New for 2017 were four cabins at the far east end of the campground. Also new were gravel pull-throughs in area D. It's no longer the open field free for all it once was. 2016/August - We typically stop by for a few nights once per year. This place is pretty rough around the edges. It's dusty when it's dry and muddy when it's not. There are no full-hookup sites. Water and electric connections are located at every other site. Be prepared to hookup curb-side. Be prepared to share a water faucet with your neighbor. Areas A and D are open fields and could accommodate any size rig. Areas B and C are shaded but have smaller sites. C4 is the best site. It's of moderate size, shaded and has a direct river view. But it has curb-side hookups. C5 would be a close second choice and has street-side hookups. In 2014 we witnessed some flash flooding. While probably rare, I'd stay away from sites B4-B7, C1, C2 and C8. The river was high during our 2015 visit. I like this place for the nearly non-stop train action. The MARC station is just a short drive (or bike ride) back to Brunswick. This campground is not the place to be if you're bothered by 24/7 train noise. The big local attraction is the C&O Canal Towpath for biking and hiking. In fact you have to drive down a portion of the Towpath to get to the campground. The Brunswick Heritage Museum is great with a huge HO train display. But it's only open Friday-Sunday. As of 2012 the campground is now managed by River & Trail Outfitters, not the town of Brunswick.

Castaways at Ocean City. 2018/September - We had site 273 since 278 was unavailable at the time. 273 was at the end of the canal. I wouldn't go any lower. I'd pick 278 and then 275-273 in that order. All three sites have a big "backyard" between the site and the canal. 273 was getting too close to the playground. Between 273 and 274 was some sort of underground septic tank with an alarm that would momentarily go off at times. Seemed to be related to rain or someone dumping. No smell. All of these sites that are close to the water are weather dependent. They're great when the weather is great and not so great when the weather is bad. Crab Alley had good takeout with onion-free crab cakes. Last visited October 2016. 278 is a great site right next to the canal and bark beach. Yet it's far enough away from Jackspot to escape the nightly bar noise. On the downside, the site is a bit of a squeeze and it needs to be reserved well in advance. And you'll be sandblasted when the wind is blowing hard across the beach. If we go back again we'll try one of the water view sites in the Club Castaways area. Sites 12B and 31B look to be the best in that area. Actually those sites seem impossible to get. As of 2016 the arcade had moved to a standalone building by the welcome center, but there was no pinball. During our 2012 visit the arcade was in the camp store building. In 2012 there was a Whirlwind, but it was dirty and non-functional. Before that there was a working Stern Harley Davidson. Of course there's always pinball at Playland and some other arcades off the boardwalk. As of 2010 there was a really nice Ripley's pin in the Ripley's museum, but you have to pay to get in the museum. Dog-friendly activities include Micky Finn's in West OC, Bayside Skillet at 77th street, Macky's restaurant at 54th street and Bayside Boat Rentals at 54th street. We also did a sightseeing plane ride from the OC airport.

Cunningham Falls State Park at Thurmont. 2022/August - Our first visit. We stayed in the upper William Houck Area in the Addison Run Loop at site 1. Site 1 is probably the best with a deep woods view and a partial view of incoming traffic. Awning faces north with lots of trees and good shade all day. Sites 5 and 7 may be an okay second and third picks. Electric only. Addison Run Loop is probably the best for both power and pets. Hydrant at site 4. Clockwise traffic so all hydrants are curbside. Probably need 50' of hose to reach both fills. Strong cell signal all around. Odd security with coded entry gate and tire spikes if you go the wrong way. Dump station lane is at the campground office beyond the tire spikes. Apparently the day use areas down at the lake get packed out. Guess the campground area needs to be "defended". The campground map is pretty abstract. The loops are separated by distance and elevation. No level strolling. Trail map. We hiked the Campground Trail to the Cliff Trail to Cunningham Falls which was only about a mile, but brutal with steep rocky terrain. So there's a general lack of hiking and strolling options without driving elsewhere. There aren't really any moderate hiking loops (our stay slightly predated the new Lady Slipper Trail). Drove down to the lake (doesn't open till 8:00) and did the Lower Trail back up to the Falls (bad picture). Pleasant easy hike. Manor Area notes: Seemed a bit hotter and steamier down there. Some highway noise. More of an honor box mentality without all the nutty security up at the Houck Area. Only a few electric sites. 15 had a isolated view and was in hose range of a hydrant. 9 and 6 may be okay second choices. No dump station. Avery and Visitors Center. The Furnace Trail is neat. But again, limited hiking and strolling options. Maybe okay for a couple of nights, but not a week. The campground at nearby Gambrill State Park may be worth a look.

Gambrill State Park at Fredrick. 2024/August - Another good stay in site 22. This time I got closer to the edge, which made leveling worse. Five layers of levelers under the rear wheel and four under the front. I still say site 22 is the only site worth having, but setting up is a chore. Gates are locked over night, but they provide the padlock combination to get out hiking before 8:00 am. Again, we did most of the southern loop trails. And we did the northern Headless Hollow trail, which was worth the drive. Another good outing to Dutch's Daughter. Spinner's was between locations, so no pinball this time. Maybe we'll try Greenbrier State Park next time. 2023/August - Our first visit. We stayed in site 22 which was probably the best. All sites were small. Site 22 was moderately sloped back (consider pulling the spring bars up top), but way off from side to side. Plan on four layers of levelers under each streetside wheel. The site faced east toward cabins 4-6. But there was enough underbrush in between that it wasn't overly annoying. Lots of big trees and good shade all day. The hydrant for the 12-23 loop was by site 13 (not shown on many maps). The other five electric sites 1, 12, 13, 20 and 23 were more exposed and faced the road or other sites. Full-hookup sites 28-29 were for the camp hosts. Why two? Only 28 was occupied by a host. Check in paperwork was on the bathhouse bulletin board. Honor box firewood ($6 or 3 for $15) was in the little doghouse by the bathhouse. Great hiking. The campground had direct access to the red trail. But the thing to do was drive to the parking lot between Rock Run and High Knob. That lot provided direct access to most trails. We did the red, green and white loops plus the lower lobe of yellow and a few segments of black. The campground is only a short drive to Dutch's Daughter and Spinners. Overall we liked Gambrill better than last year's stay at Cunningham Falls.

Happy Hills Campground at Hancock. Last visited October 2013. The population was mostly seasonal. Site choices seemed limited to not much more than the F and D sites along Ashwood and the E sites up by the barn. Ashwood was the main road between the office and the barn and was always busy with traffic. We had site F1 which wasn't so great. It was right at a busy intersection with lots of cars, golf carts and ATVs running back and forth. The fire ring was streetside. Choices appear limited, but it would be better to get as far up the hill as possible and off Ashwood if possible. The higher F sites would be better. The higher D sites would be better still. The E sites would be good if there's no activity going on at the barn. Our trip wasn't as fun as it could have been because of some bad timing. Their end of season Halloween bash was in full swing and the campground appeared to be at capacity. Activities up at the barn contributed to the non-stop traffic. The campground was on a huge piece of property with a substantial network of hiking trails. But the property was also open to hunting. Hiking was not advised at the time because of bow season. There's a ¾ mile trail from the barn down to the Western Maryland Rail Trail and C&O Towpath. The terrain all around the campground is hilly and there's no practical way (at least for us) to bike from the campground to the Rail Trail. But it's easy enough to drive back to Hancock and access the Rail Trail directly. We enjoyed strolling the Rail Trail as well as the town of Hancock. The Hancock Antique Mall was worth the drive. We'd give this place another try with some better planning.