Swallow Falls State Park Campground

Swallow Falls has a great loop trail where you see four waterfalls. You can walk to the loop from the campground. It ma be adds a third of a mile to the hike. 

We stayed in cabin 58, which has a short, easy path to the bathhouse and even shorter to the mud sink. This was very handy when traveling with two young kids. Prior to going, I wished I could have seen the inside of the cabins, particularly to know how big the mini fridge was. I couldn't find any pictures, so here they are.

It is a one-room cabin, was impressively clean, and the beds were very cozy. There are blackout curtains on the windows, so we slept late and it was glorious. There is one small window in the door that does not have a curtain. I taped aluminum foil up over it.

Each bed had a mattress pad on it when we arrived, as pictured. One minor note is that the bunk bed mattresses seem to be a bit too big for the bunk beds. This caused them to not lay perfectly flat and also made me feel uncomfortable having my roly-poly kids sleep on the top bunk, where there were only a couple inches between the mattress and the top of the railing.

I have Verizon and could make calls, but could not reliably send or receive text messages and there was no data access.

Great park. Great cabin. Great stay.

Site Details: We stayed on site#40 in the Garrett Loop. It is one of only three FHU sites in this loop(the rest are primitive tent sites). The site was level, spacious, beautifully shaded, and convenient to the bath house. In fact, almost every site on the inside of the loop had its own little direct pathway to the bath house. The camping loop in general was beautiful, quiet and heavily forested. I don’t think there was a bad site in the whole loop. 

Facilities/Overall Park: This park very quickly rose to the top of our list of MD state parks. The trails to the namesake falls are beautiful and very family-friendly, with lots of helpful signage. However, the parking lots and trailheads were PACKED on the weekend, so if you’re a day tripper, get there early! The bath house was meh, but it didn’t matter much to us since we had hookups.

Surrounding Area/Attractions: The neighboring sister park, Herrington Manor, has full-service deluxe cabins and a nice swimming beach. Also, be sure to hit the nearby Rock Maze trail, especially if you have kids. Swallow Falls is also very convenient to the Deep Creek area, with all the touristy things of a lakeside resort town. Check out Lakeside Creamery for some awesome ice cream! 

Overall, this was a gorgeous, well-maintained park, with plenty to keep us busy in the park and surrounding area. We already have a return trip booked for next year!

The kids had so much fun playing in the water we didn’t have time to hike and see all of it. We spent time in Swallow Falls as well as neighboring Herrington Manor state park where they have a “beach” for swimming and boat and SUP rentals. The prices for rentals were very reasonable and the concession stand was cheap!!! 2.50 for large fries, $1 snow cones, it was nice to splurge on snacks and not drop a small fortune.

We stayed at the camp ground in swallow falls in a pop up camper. The camp ground was quiet and well maintained though it is more suitable for tents and not trailers or RV’s. The bathrooms were decent for public bathhouses, they were cleaned daily but the were outdated. I would definitely come back but maybe with a tent next time and not the trailer. The camp store had the necessities at fair prices. Firewood is sold for $4 a bundle.

We did have a pet friendly site reserved but found out after we arrived that dogs are not allowed out of the campground. In order to hike with our dog we had to access the trail just outside the state park. This would have been nice information to have before arriving with our pet. Pets are allowed within the park Labor Day through Memorial Day.

I have fond memories of camping here is a kid, and was thrilled to finally take my son this year!

We stayed in the Garrett Loop, site 62. We went mid week, and the loop was mostly full, with just a handful of spots open. The other loops only had a handful of people staying in them- so if you are looking for a quiet camp trip, I would go for the other loops. If you want your kid to have access to a playground in the loop and maybe some other kids to play with, stay in Garrett. Our site, 62, was literally right next to a great playground. If you have small kids, and want them to be able to play on the playground, while you set up camp or maybe cook dinner, it was a great site! It also had our own path to the bathhouse- which was also great when traveling with kids.

One thing to note is that Herrington Manor is right down the road AND if you are a paid camper with Swallow Falls, you also have access to Herrington Manor- which has a lake, picnic area & kayak rentals. This to me is a huge benefit of camping at Swallow Falls. You have the great campsites at Swallow Falls, the nice, easy hiking right by the camp store... and then, just down the road is a lake, kayak rentals, etc and it is all included in your campsite fee. We also decided to stay an additional day (and so needed food and such) so we drove into town and got to visit some really cool antique stores and had a nice lunch. It was a great way to spend a bonus day, before cozying up by the fire for another night of roasting marshmallows.

The camp store is well stocked and friendly- so if you forgot anything, they likely will have it. We even bought some souvenirs to remember our trip! We didn't have cell service here, and they were nice enough to allow me to call my husband to let him know we were safe and sound. (We have T-mobile, but some campers with Verizon seemed to be just fine with service)

The bathrooms were kept clean, but were outdated. I'd love to see a new bathhouse, but it was totally acceptable- hot watered, cleaned regularly, etc.

Right off the site of the camp store is access to a very accessible trail- grandma can totally handle it and part of it is even wheelchair accessible. We can't wait to go back!

We have NOT stayed in or photographed the campground at Swallow Falls state park, but I wanted to provide some photos of the park and a brief review of the area as we’ve been there several times.

Swallow Falls is one of my favorite places to visit in the greater Deep Creek Lake area, especially since I find the hiking directly around DCL pretty lacking. The trail between Swallow Falls and Herrington Manor is nice, but the much shorter main trail within SFSP itself is awesome. Muddy Creek Falls - the main attraction of the state park and the highest waterfall in Maryland - is the main reason to do the hike, and a great place to take an amazing photo. The whole trail - though only 2 miles or so - has a lot to offer, though, with a variety of smaller falls, ‘local’ swimming holes, great rock formations and places to fish on the river, and a lot of places where you can still see the path of Hurricane Sandy through the park.

Definitely a great place to check out if you’re camping in or visiting the nearby area, and I’ve heard the campground is quiet and peaceful, I’ve just never camped there myself. If we do, I will post another review with pics of the campground.