Best Campgrounds near Dowell, MD

We came from Pa/De and wanted to look for sharks teeth. It was beautiful here so we decided to stay the night. We only have a small tent and some snacks. Lol but we are having an amazing time. Beautiful and relaxing.

We came into the park at 2:00 on 3/9/25 our site had a broken power circuit breaker. There is no way to contact a person. So we moved to a site #1 so we could call someone, maybe see a ranger drive by. Had to move out as the site was occupied by someone who had arrived so we moved to another empty site for the night . Tried contacting anyone to help us out but no answers at the phone numbers. When we did get in contact with a lady , she was only a phone answer person with no information or help.

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/

Unfortunately, there was a fire ban and extremely windy conditions, which is out of the parks control so I didn't get to enjoy it as much. From what I have experienced, it was amazing! The hike trails are so beautiful and being by the water was a complete experience! I got to see the sunset for the first time in a long time. Park was clean and well maintained. Bathroom was clean and WARM! they also have showers. They sale firewood at the cabin store but the store is only opened Thursday- Sunday

Sites 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.

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!

I love this campground very much. I called the office book my reservation, the representative put me in Acorn loop.

When I arrived by the late evening, there are only two camper in a huge site. Then I drove to Butterfly loop, this site have much more peoples, some camper tell me, the Ranger will coming soon; finally the ranger help me move my site into the Butterfly loop. From my experience, better book campsite by yourself online, then you have an idea this site how many occupancy.

Cottage 4 stars- clean but floors needed some attention, a bit cramped, somewhat outdated, large porch Campground 5 stars- bustling on weekends, quiet throughout weekdays, clean and well maintained Amenities 5 stars- great weekly activity schedule, great pool, putt putt etc. Staff 5 stars- Very friendly

Stayed one night in our camper van, walked down to fossil beach which was the perfect amount of hiking for a two year old, great playground with plenty of other kids, camp store is well stocked and had decent hours. Our site was right next to bathrooms which was also great with the kids but we didnt hear or smell them. Cleanest campground bathrooms we've ever seen. Gravel parking and pebbles in the picnic table area, which my 2 year old enjoyed and my 9 month old tried his hardest to ingest. Loved it, would def go back.

This is a fairly nice, bare bones NPS campground. If you are really looking for somewhere to feel far away from civilization and see some beautiful scenery, this probably isn't it. Helicopters and planes fly over regularly, and you can hear sirens from neighboring college park. The campsites are pretty close together, we could see probably about 10 or so other campsites from our campsite. And there is not a ton to do within the park itself -- there are a few picnic areas, a pretty unimpressive small playground, some nature/walking trails, and that's about it.

But it is a pretty nice campground -- campsites and showers seem clean and well maintained, bathrooms are fine and you're never far away from one. Rangers come around regularly to check on things and every one we interacted with was extremely friendly. I don't think there's anything comparable so close to DC, so if you're in the DC area and just want someplace close by for a short camping trip, or are looking for an affordable outdoors-y option to stay while you're visiting DC from out of town, this probably fits the bill. As soon as you leave the park you are in College Park with Metro access close by, and very close to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.

Quick one night stop on our way south. While the sites are pretty exposed, it was a cold night so there were only a few other campers!

The bathroom was clean and extremely warm which was much appreciated after a cold night.

While we only camped here for one night, we enjoyed the park from check in to checkout!

Since we tent camp our site was dry and had no amenities but there were full hook up sites available. Our site was nestled in with the full hook up sites so it was as far away from the bathrooms as possible, not a big deal just something to note.

Since we visited in March, the trees did not have much foliage so the sites were more exposed than I tend to prefer and lots of the campers around left their outside RV lights on all night.

Being in campground A, we were only a short walk to the trail leading to fossil beach which was beautiful!

Did a fourth of July visit and it was such a blast! We stayed in camp loop C and we had plenty of space for our 10-person tent and we stayed up pretty late enjoying the weather, laughing, and eating lots of fun camp snacks. The Canoe trails are absolutely beautiful and the horizon seems to go on endlessly. When we were there the day's canoe outings were cancelled due to weather and storm forecasts. We were able to enjoy the state parks edu series on how to catch soft crabs and ofc went out and got soft crabs and ate them at a local restaurant before we left. There are also some modest walking trails - but the main attraction are the canoe trails of course that go all the way out to the ocean for those with that level of expertise.

Jake from the Dyrt here! We're excited to have this campground on the Dyrt and ready for you to book, check them out and make sure to leave a review!

State in a cabin with the family for New Year's Eve had a great time

Beautiful campground, fairly large with 4 separate loops. Loop A is for organized groups/youth/scouts, Loop B is for tents and RVs under 30 ft, Loop C is for tents, and Loop D is for tents and RVs under 35 ft. No hookups at any of the sites.

There’s a dump station and drinking water fill in loop C (sorry tenters who wanted to avoid RVs). The water fill was a little annoying in that there’s a handle you have to hold down the whole time, but we used a rock to prop the handle down. 

The bathhouses are ok, happy to have free showers with hot running water. Faucets allow you to control the temperature and there’s continuous running water (no button to push). There’s only one large shower per bath house, and you only have a curtain (no door and no lock). Sites vary in levelness, some are fairly level and some are on a mini hill. Driveways are all very narrow. Most have too much tree cover for solar or starlink, but some sites are more open and you might be able to make it work. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. Cost is $20/night, must reserve on recreation.gov, and you can do that when you arrive and pick a site (no service fee for this site)

Cell service is pretty good for Verizon and ATT. 

No alcohol allowed in the park. 

GETTING TO DC: There’s normally a walking path from the campground to the metro station that takes you into DC (the green line takes you to the National Mall), but as of Oct 2023 the bridge is out due to a storm, and by the looks of it it’s been out a while and it doesn’t appear that it will be fixed soon. So what we did, since we don’t have a tow car, and just have our 26ft motorhome, is we packed up and drove to the Greenbelt station about 5 miles away, parked there for the day, and took the green line into town. The lot there is huge and open and free on weekends. Weekdays it’s about $5/day if you take the metro, and about $9 if you’re just parking there. The College Park station is closer but is apparently a parking garage (can’t confirm because we didn’t go to that station). This worked very well for us. You can pay for the metro with an app or get a card, either way it costs you $2 to buy the card, and then $2 each way on the train. Everyone over age 5 needs their own card, no sharing one card. The train ride from the Greenbelt station to the national mall is about 30 min. Get off at the Archives station to be in the center of all the sites.

Lo primero es lo primero: soy unávido pescador y cangrejero. Tengo licencias para DC, Md y Va. Llevo más de 4 años viniendo a Tide Mill Resort, ahora llamado Endeavor Point. Aquí no ha cambiado mucho, excepto el propietario. El muelle todavía necesita reparación o está en necesidad, muchos pierden tablas, grandes pilones están dañados y todavía no hay barandillas de seguridad, por mencionar algunos. Conocía al dueño anterior y ahora a los dueños actuales.¡Que diferencia! El propietario anterior también era unávido deportista acuático que sabía todo sobre pesca, pesca de cangrejos y cualquier deporte acuático relacionado. Los actuales propietarios son 100% lo contrario. No saben nada sobre pesca o pesca de cangrejos y esperan que"no quieran que pesques demasiados". El propietario anterior permitió a sus clientes/invitados que pagaban pescar y hacer cangrejos a voluntad(por supuesto, todo dentro de los límites legales). Los actuales propietarios intentan restringir e intimidar a sus clientes. Durante los años que llevo viniendo aquí, nunca me han dicho cuántos cangrejos o peces puedo conservar. Ahora, los propietarios actuales tienen un límite de dos docenas de cangrejos, independientemente de tener una licencia en Maryland que diga que se pueden pescar hasta un bushel. Para empeorar las cosas, se apresuran a llamar a la policía del parque o a los guardas de juegos de sus clientes si creen que usted ha excedido sus límites personales. Esto es una locura. Debido a que los propietarios ignoran las leyes que rigen la pesca y la pesca de cangrejos, se indignan cuando aquellos de nosotros que las conocemos intentamos educarlos. Para mí, este asunto se volvió personal. Uno de los dueños mintió y dijo que estaba pescando tantos cangrejos porque los estaba“vendiendo”. Esa fue una mentira descarada. Escuche, si pudiera comer cangrejos todos los días, lo haría. Los amo mucho y mi esposo también. Por cierto, la mayoría de la gente que viene aquí son españoles, asiáticos y negros. Seamos realistas, llaman a la policía del parque con tanta frecuencia que es sólo cuestión de tiempo antes de que estos“nuevos propietarios” comiencen a llamar también a la policía de inmigración.

Don't Come Here: Park Police today, Immigration Police tomorrow

First things first, I am an avid fisherman and crabber. I have licenses for DC, Md and Va. I’ve been coming to Tide Mill Resort, now called Endeavor Point for more than 4 years. Much hasn't changed here, except the owner. The pier is still  in need or repair, many lose boards, massive damaged pylons and still no security rails, to state a few. I knew the previous owner and now the present owners. What a difference! The past owner was also an avid watersport man who knew all about fishing, crabbing and any related water sport. The present owners are 100% the opposite. They know nothing about fishing or crabbing expect they“ don’t want you to catch too many.” The past owner allowed his paying customers/guest(s) to fish and crab at will,(of course all within legal limits). The present owners try to restrict and intimated their customers. Over the years of coming here, I’ve never been told how many crabs or fish I can keep. Now, the present owners have a 2-dozen limit on crabs regardless of having a license in Maryland that says you can catch up to a bushel. To make matters worse, they are quick to call the park police/games wardens on its customers if they believe you have exceeded their personal limits. This is insane. Because the owners are ignorant about the laws governing fishing and crabbing, they get incensed when those of us in the know, try to educate them. For me, this matter turned personal. One of the owners lied and said I was catching so many crabs because I was “selling” them. That was a blatant lie. Listen, If I could eat crabs everyday, I would. I love them that much and so does my husband. By the way, the majority of the people coming here are Spanish, Asian and Black. Let’s face it, they call the park police so frequently that  it’s only a matter of time before these “new owners” start calling the immigration police as well.