Are you planning a tent camping trip to Columbia? We've got you covered. You can find tent campsites by type, including drive-in, walk-in, and even hike-in for a backpacking adventure. Each spot offers quick access to one or more of Columbia, Maryland's most popular destinations.
Hilton is a place for kids of all ages to play and explore. Located off Hilton Avenue, this area is within walking distance for many residents in Catonsville. A popular spot for afternoon walks and morning workouts, the trails are active with local residents and visitors from far away.
You can also gain access to the Patapsco River by traveling down into the river valley along the Forest Glen Trail. This trail follows the Saw Mill Branch Stream and can connect with several trails to make for very interesting hiking adventures. The area also has a small campground with six mini-cabins and 12 basic campsites.
$20 - $51 / night
The park has two Youth Group Camping sites that are strictly for official youth groups only. The youth group camping sites are open from the beginning of April through the beginning of November. These rustic camping sites overlook the Chesapeake Bay. Each site has a small picnic shelter with two tables and a grill. Download a Youth Group Pass application online.
If your youth group would like to do a service project during your stay, please call the park two weeks before the date of your arrival and speak with the volunteer coordinator to set up a project.
Make youth group camping reservations on-line for Sandy Point State Park or call 1-888-432-CAMP (2267).
The Adventure Park at Sandy Spring is Maryland's biggest climbing and ziplining adventure!
We have 5 campsites on site. Please note, these campsites are only available for scout troops and youth groups who are also taking part in park activities.
$150 - $200 / night
The Marsden Tract Group Campground was built by scouts to provide access to larger campsites within easy commuting distance of the D.C. Metro area. It is located at Mile 11.5 on the C&O Canal Towpath, between the Carderock Recreation Area and Anglers Inn. The group campsites are nestled in the woods between the Canal and the Potomac River and they are a short distance from many recreational opportunities. Fishing, rock climbing, paddling and hiking are but a few possibilities while staying at Marsden Tract.
The most popular activity for Marsden Tract campers is hiking the three sections (A, B and C) of the Billy Goat Trail, one of the most popular and challenging rock hikes in the east. There are also many woodland trails for beginners and experts alike. Fishing is also a popular pastime in both the C&O Canal and the Potomac River. Be sure to acquire a Maryland fishing license for those age 16 or older. Virginia licenses are approved for fishing in the Potomac only.
Marsden Tract Group Campsite is just south of the Great Falls of the Potomac and Mather Gorge. These two stunning features provide an excellent example of local geology while showing the sheer force and power of nature.
Marsden Tract Group Campsite is located about 14 miles outside of Washington, D.C., providing affordable camping near the nation's capital. Many campers will base out of Marsden to see the sites such as the Smithsonian Institution, National Mall, Capitol and The White House.
Cancellations A cancellation is the release of a confirmed reservation prior to the start of the defined late cancellation time frame which results in non-use by the original customer. Camping and Day Use Facilities Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. Late Cancellations or Cancellations within the Cut-off Window Individual Campsites: A customer who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee (not to exceed the total paid for the original reservation). Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee. Group Facility: Customers who cancel a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee. Group Day Use Area: Customers who cancel a group day-use facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will forfeit the total day-use fee.
$20 - $40 / night
The Antietam Creek Campground is located at Mile 69.4 on the C&O Canal Towpath, a few miles south of Shepherdstown on the Maryland side of the Potomac River. The campsites are nestled in the woods between the Canal and the Potomac River and they are a short distance from many recreational opportunities. Fishing, boating and hiking are but a few possibilities while staying at Antietam Creek Campground.
Popular activities at Antietam Creek include boating and fishing. Kayaking the creek and surrounding areas during various times of the year are scenic and ever changing. Nearby boat ramps at Dargan Bend and Snyders Landing provide motor boat access to the river. Fishing is also a popular pastime in both the watered sections of the C&O Canal the Potomac River. Be sure to acquire a Maryland Fishing License for those age 16 or older. West Virginia Licenses are approved for fishing in the Potomac only.
Antietam Creek Campground is just south of Sharpsburg, MD. Antietam Creek is a typically mild and slow moving creek which feeds into the much larger and faster Potomac River directly adjacent to the campsite. River rise and floods can modify conditions quickly here.
Antietam Battlefield, South Mountain Recreation Area and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park all provide additional hiking and history adventures specifically about the Civil War Era.
Cancellations A cancellation is the release of a confirmed reservation prior to the start of the defined late cancellation time frame which results in non-use by the original customer. Camping and Day Use Facilities Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. Late Cancellations or Cancellations within the Cut-off Window Individual Campsites: A customer who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee (not to exceed the total paid for the original reservation). Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee. Group Facility: Customers who cancel a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee. Group Day Use Area: Customers who cancel a group day-use facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will forfeit the total day-use fee.
$10 - $20 / night
Lacy Oasis is a land that is encompasses a history of women who loves nature, family and heart of gold who wants to share her property with others to embrace the benefits of nature specifically clarity of life.
Learn more about this land:
*Welcome to a place that allows you to be in pure tranquility with nature and yourself. Come to connect, share laughter and create endless memories with your family, friends and your pets. The sunlight bursting through tree leaves, to the sound of frogs dancing along the streams to fluttering butterflies of amidst buzzing bees and the birds that whistle will encourage you to embrace the journey that you will embark on at Lacy Oasis. *
*Our space is private property within a tight knit, friendly, family oriented neighborhood. We encourage our guest to wave or simple double tap on the horn on your way in and out of the space. It truly means a lot to our neighbors at the entrance of the property. *
*All parking is provided on our property not at our neighbors house or community. We have ample amount of parking and drive up campsites for you and your guest. *
*We look forward to seeing you soon. *
Come Adopt The Pace Of Lacy Oasis: Patience
$90 - $190 / night
Leesylvania is nestled along the tidal shores of the historic Potomac River. Native Americans lived on this land for thousands of years. Capt. John Smith visited the area in 1608 on his voyage of discovery. Listed on the National Register of Historic Landmarks, Leesylvania offers many land and water activities, including hiking, picnicking, fishing, and boating. A universally accessible fishing pier, playground, boat launch, boat storage area, snack bar and store, visitor center, and gift shop are available. A 20-station fitness trail and canoe and kayak rentals also are available.
$15 - $18 / night
Scout
This is an urban oasis. Traffic can be heard but not seen. Weekdays are pretty quiet in this campground. Living nearby but storing my popup camper elsewhere, I often park my camper here for a few days while I pack it for a trip. It's also just nice to experience that "getaway" feeling without being too far from home. Rangers keep a close eye on things, and there are monthly programs at the campfire circle that I sometimes attend even when not camping here. No electric or hook ups. There is a dump station and water available at spickets throughout the campground. Showers and bathrooms are basic and clean. Oh, and bonus, the American Discovery Trail (ADT) passes through the park. https://discoverytrail.org/
ScoutSites were well-maintained, including lavatories. Plenty of tree cover. NOTE: park service forbade tying lines or straps to the trees at the time of our visit (Autumn 2024), so if you favor hammock camping or deploying tarps/ridgelines, plan accordingly.
Scout
I was only stopping for single night. I could not access water as the spigot was broken. Was not informed next door there was a outdoor concert that went until 10pm extremely loud
Scout
The resort had great amenities for all ages. We stayed in October so there was plenty of activities for kids from crafts, games, dancing, to trick or treating. The resort ensured safety for the kids during trick or treating and closed all vehicle traffic for 2 hours. The location also had golf cars to rent to explore the sites. All employees were easy to talk to, always had a smile and personable.
Ranger
They have renovated the beach and per my friends, the fencing protecting the area is new, but needed. The sites are too close to each to each other and people were blaring their music. The bathhouse needs updating. Not enough fire rings and if you don’t have one and the campground is full, you’re out of luck. Saw an otter one night!
Scout
Pohick Bay Campground in Virginia offers a peaceful escape with beautiful views and a variety of outdoor activities like hiking and fishing. It's an ideal spot for families and nature lovers. Don’t forget to register dito sim to stay connected during your visit!
Guide
Arrived, quickly showed how to get to our site. We setup without issue and spent 3 nights without anyone bothering us on our tent site. The place was quiet by about 11:10, not sure if it was enforced or happened naturally. The out houses could have been cleaned a bit more regularly as it was a busy long weekend. Overall it was a great experience.
Traveler
We arrived at 1am, hadn’t made a reservation, and it was closed and the gates locked. No where on the website does it say it’s closed. Very frustrating, especially as a weary traveler.
Traveler
Did stay here after visting Vicksburg. Nice clean restrooms and showers. Friendly hostess and we had a nice shady spot, what was great with a heat of 94F.
Traveler
Reservations are made through the National parks service "recreation.gov" website. Arrived for tent camping for 2 nights and found a pleasantly prepared raised bed area to pitch my tent on. My stay was quiet and the bathrooms were clean and well stocked. This is a great base camp for getting out to the Gettysburg National park and battlefield. town is less than 10 miles away that has a grocery store and restaurants. FREE split firewood. So quiet i swear i heard a squirrel burp.
Traveler
Pros - Clean Bathrooms, Camp store open 8am - 8pm, Sites 62 - 92 (except #74 and 88) are all pretty good. Security was great, patrol throughout the night. Quiet hours are enforced and campers are polite. Lots of activities, and nice hiking trails. Fabulous historical attractions, great visitor center.
Cons - Campground is in the flight path of Dulles Airport, so planes are flying over head at all hours of the day and sometimes late at night/morning. There is a shooting range nearby. Some noise during range hours. (Not late at night!) Because there had been so little rain, there was not great fishing in the park. (I went to Silver Lake, that was great!)
Traffic! Lots of local traffic on the main roads. (to be fair, it IS a suburb of DC ). Stores are all approx. 20 mins away. (Head towards Haymarket)
Scout
Nice family campground that offers alot. Its very big, only 1 central bathhouse for very large area. Female restrooms has 6 toilets and 6 showers (push button, luke warm water). COME PREPARED WITH LEVELING BLOCKS!!!! Our site was very slanting!!
Guide
Good near by camping less then 90 minutes from me. Relatively quiet campsite, family friendly. We stayed in site 38 on the Acorn loop, which had a fair amount of roots and took some work to get leveled , but was manageable once the camper was leveled. Electric worked great. Hiking trails were infested with yellow jackets and stung myself and my wife while hiking. Also Steppingstone farm was closed , but was not indicated on the website prior to camping. If you like beer I recommend checking out Hopkins Brewery, which is about 8 minutes away from the campsite.
Scout
I've stayed at Cordorus a number of times as it's not too far away for a weekend getaway. Last time was in Sept. 2023 when some tropical storm poured rain for three days. I'm booked for next weekend now in Sept. 2024, so I hope it's a dry one. I pulled up The Dyrt to see if anything has changed, but I see it's still the great place it always is.
I usually end up in a dry site as I book late and the electric sites are all filled.
Traveler
Fun weekend trip very close to DC. Well kept park with lots of activities for kids - jumping pillow, laser tag, pedal carts, arts and crafts. Nice little game room and some outdoor games at the activity center as well. Full hookup spots in the D loop were pretty nice. The spots in the first half of the loop felt a little close together for my taste, but our spot (D61) was nice as we didn’t have any neighbors on one side. Only complaint is that it’s pricey and has a two night minimum on weekends, but felt worth it with all the activities that were available.
Traveler
The campground is adjacent to a very large, very busy train yard. It’s not bothered me but you should be aware.
The campground is also right on the Potomac, easy to get to, reasonably priced, and the sites are spacious. The loops are small, each containing a dozen or fewer spaces. Many sites share a power pole and water faucet, but they are well situated.
There is a small camp store, but the campground is convenient to ample grocery stores, convenience stores, and restaurants as well as many local historic attractions.
Scout
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Traveler
Busiest train corridor I’ve ever experienced, with several every hour all night. To add to the noise, there is a one-way tunnel a few feet from the campground. The practice is for cars to stop, blow their horn to announce their presence, then proceed into the tunnel.
I have a 14’ trailer, and it wouldn’t fit into my site perpendicular to the road. I had to pull past then back in so that I was parallel to the road. Ordinarily no big deal, except that the road isn’t a loop. It’s a single lane straight road in. No place to turn around, no way out except to back all the way out.
LegendI stayed here with my family this summer and the park itself is a perfect spot for nature near DC. My son loved the giant playground and full water park at the campground, they even had discounted entry to the water park for campers. We stayed in site 20 which is an easy pull through and had a direct trail to the water park and the full network of trails in the park.
RangerCodorus state campground provided a comfortable and quiet stay. The trailer sites in loop C are spacious enough with plenty of shades and trees. The open field pet friendly sites are also large but provide no shade and it gets hot! You can feel the difference between these sites and the interior loop sites. No cross winds, no breeze, just hot! The trails from
Campground are ok for a short walk, not much of a lake view but mostly shaded trail. The pool is conveniently located maybe even walking distance for some. But be advised, this is a public pool open to everyone and folks start showing up at 7am, separate entrance road and entry fee was around $10 pp. The lake is great! Lovely areas to relax and explore. No swimming allowed anywhere but you can find places to sneak a dip 😉 just look past marina near state park public recreation area. The park staff won’t give you a hard time they just ask that you don’t go further than waist deep. It is a very large lake. We highly recommend that you rent a pontoon boat to head out and explore! Very worth it! All grounds and areas are clean and kept in great condition.
ScoutAbout 5 minutes off the highway, we stopped here for a night on our trip home. Close to plenty of amenities. Sites are paved and mostly level and pull through. HOWEVER, the sites are very small (short, so you will have to unhook)
TravelerThis campground is pleasant, but the sites are situated quite close to one another. The camping area is away from the main parts of the park through gates, so you won't be bothered by non-camp traffic. A few hiking trails lead to many more extended trails, but it is a steep slope down to the river.
Guide
Great location, amazing amenities(huge pool, game room, snack bar, camp store, coffee shop etc.), and friendly employees, but these are where the positives end. I've never stayed at a KOA/campground where the sites were so unlevel, close together, and the whole infrastructure in need of repair.
The Historic trench section is nice in the trees, but the roads are crumbling and too small for most RV's. If the person across from your site is already parked, good luck having enough room to back into your site. Our site was so unlevel that I was not able to get the RV leveled the entire weekend. Looking at the surrounding sites most campers were jacked high on blocks or sloping significantly. The section of sites were on a curve/semi-circle, which caused the site beside ours to be even smaller. We had to move our picnic table to give space for this person to back his camper on the site. They were unable to get even close to level so they didn't put out their slide. There is a new section to the campground out in the open whose sites are more level, but they are even closer together than the section we stayed in.
In addition to the poor sites, little enforcement was done regarding monitoring the number of people on the sites and the partying going on. A nearby site had 15+ people on Friday night partying and carrying on until 1:30AM until a fight broke out. They had a boombox on the bumper of the camper and blasted music all evening. After hours any vehicle can enter the campground as there is no gate. Cars/trucks pulled up to the party sites, who just drove in to party. I know calls were made to the office as neighboring campers stated to us. On Saturday night, the group wasn't quite as rambunctious, due to a visible presence of staff driving by, but with a campground this size, regular monitoring and shutting down of quiet hour violators should occur pre-actively. Harpers Ferry KOA could be so much more if they would invest in site upgrades and rule monitoring. We will not return.
Scout
If you are a nature lover, a person who loves peace, serenity, and, tranquility, or just need some respite, Lacy Oasis is the place to be. Whether you are an adult or a child, this place will have a positive effect on you. The owners are involved and designed this space with the visitors pleasure in mind. This space is about healing and being grounded with yourself. My agency took about 25 children there last week and they did not want to leave, neither did I. The rates are very economical for what is being provided on the space. There is not enough I can say about this place. It was definitely more than I expected. But my agency has worked with the owner in the past on other community support initiatives and she has always been an overachiever. Please come and enjoy this space. You will not be disappointed. I cannot wait to return.
ScoutWe loved staying at Pohick. We were here to visit DC and it was an excellent spot to stay. It was extremely hot as it was July but the sites had a lot of shade. Site 46 where we stayed was close to the bathrooms and nice and flat. The bathrooms were cleaner than any other campground we have stayed in and they have laundry and a nice stainless sink and counter for washing dishes if needed. About a 40 minute drive into DC and definitely worth it. Also, campers get a discount at the water park which was a very reasonable 5 dollars per person. The weekend tends to be a bit louder but during the week was very quiet.
GuideNot happy about:
Promised wi-fi does not even appear as an available signal Toilet paper roll dispensers empty Grass 8" high No hot water at dishwashing sink Chess board not swept, neat
Guide
We love this campground. The staff really make sure the traffic is circulating and organized during the weekend when it’s crazy busy!! The only negative that stinks is that campers have to drive down and park their cars in the parking lot by the lake EARLY or you won’t get a spot (especially for the campers in the further camp loops like Dogwood, where we stay). I wish the campground had their own access to the lake like at Rocky Gap State Park. Other than that, we love the park. The bath houses & sites are always clean, camp hosts are friendly and park rangers are present and helpful.
Tent camping near Columbia, Maryland offers a variety of scenic spots where nature lovers can unwind and enjoy the great outdoors. With well-maintained facilities and access to numerous trails, these campgrounds provide an ideal escape from the hustle and bustle of city life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Columbia, MD?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Columbia, MD is Patapsco Valley State Park-Hilton Area with a 4.2-star rating from 18 reviews.
What is the best site to find tent camping near Columbia, MD?
TheDyrt.com has all 23 tent camping locations near Columbia, MD, with real photos and reviews from campers.
