Searching for the best camping near Idlewylde, MD? Idlewylde is a great camping destination for everyone. There are tons of nearby hikes, adventurous activities, and sights to see. Search nearby campsites and find top-rated spots from other campers.
$20 - $51 / night
"The Hilton area campground is unique because, unlike the Hollofield area of the park, it doesn't allow RVs and its tent sites are non-electric."
"Another negative was after the storm for the next few days we heard trees falling nearby."
$21 - $50 / night
"This is a great campground in Susquehanna State Park. The campsites are separated more widely than many other parks in Maryland (Cunningham Falls, Ft. Frederick, Pt."
"I was a walk-up with no reservation and since it was a weekday the ranger gave me a great rundown of the best spots in the camp and let me drive through to check them out before going back with my decision"
"We stayed in one of the cabins, which had 2 beds and a bunk bed, sink and toilet, refrigerator, microwave, dining table and sofa. There was also a front porch with picnic table and fire pit."
"Lots of activities available. We were in a secluded spot. Wifi and cable were poor on the weekend. Large campground with some good trails.
Will definitely return!"
"They have a nice area for kids (pool, playground, jumping pillow, basketball courts, giant chess, etc)."
"After a peaceful protest,my sister, nephew and I stayed in a cabin for 1 night. We all slept well in the clean and comfortable cabin. The campground is a safe place for families."
$21 - $55 / night
"I didn't notice it when I was in my tent, but I did as I was walking around.
The campground is well-wooded, offering reasonable privacy given the space constraints. "
"Our go to State Park for camping as it is pretty close to home. Standard State Park with all the amenities you need. We are tent campers/ non electric (no pets/ no kids)."
$30 - $70 / night
"We stay at Ramblin Pines because it is close to family and a good proximity to visiting Baltimore and Frederick."
"It has a pool, jump pillow, mini golf, fishing pond, barnyard with goats, and multiple playgrounds. I really like all the trees. Space between sites seems to be standard."
$282 - $999 / night
"Located less than 3-miles from I-95, about 40-minutes drive time from downtown Washington, DC, and about 35-minutes from Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, this park is ideally situated for a capitol vacation."
"We had another great stay at Cherry Hill Park in College Park, MD. "
$24 - $247 / night
"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. "
"Nice big flat sites, lots of shared common areas. Heavily wooded in the sites we stayed in but there are some that are out in the open without many trees."
"Nice clean restrooms and showers. Friendly hostess and we had a nice shady spot, what was great with a heat of 94F."
$24 - $89 / night
"The lake is large and gorgeous. There are a lot of lake side campsites which are amazing. The hosts are all very friendly."
"All sites had a paved pad, varying in size depending on the location, with tent site being smaller. Most sites have electric and there are 22 full hookup sites in the camping area."
LegendSite Details: We stayed in the Dragonfly camping cottage (quick weekend trip without the husband, and I’m not quite up for towing and setting up the popup by myself with 3 kids!). It was a standard rustic-type state park cabin, with one double bed, one single twin bunk, and one regular set of bunk beds, so it sleeps 5-6 comfortably. There was also a sturdy dining room table with chairs and an oscillating fan inside. Electricity/lights and heat, but no AC. Very clean inside. The cabin also had a really nice front porch, picnic table, and fire ring, and was situated with a beautiful lake view. The area we were in contained both rustic cabins and yurts (which looked really neat).
Facilities/Overall Park: Multiple bath houses were scattered among various loops, and each one we visited was very old, dim and drab, but they were also spacious and reasonably clean. Showers all had old rust and water stains. However, it was nice that there were so many of them, because this is a very large state park with multiple camping loops. Most tent and basic RV sites were shaded and private, while the newer FHU sites were more open (but still nicely spaced). Hosts and rangers were nice, but not very helpful or proactive when they needed to correct a reservation mistake they made (but it worked out in the end). There is a beautiful lake with a really nice day area in the center of the park, with a great playground and concession stand. The lake is popular for fishing and swimming, although there is oddly no sand beach; swimmers just entered the water straight from the grass.
Surrounding Area/Attractions: Not much going on in the immediate vicinity, but Harrisburg, Amish country, and Hershey are all doable day trips from the park. We were here just for the Hershey RV show, and it was an easy 40-minute drive.
Overall, this was a very pretty park with site options for every type of camper, but certain elements are in need of updating. I don’t think I’d go out of my way to make this park a destination, but it’s a nice option as a base camp for visiting the RV show or other attractions (with a much cheaper price tag than the private CGs closer to the action).
GuideOlive Green cabin, owned/operated by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club is a two floor primitive cabin near Frederick, Maryland. It's a log cabin that was built around the mid-1860's. The last private owner, Olive Green lived in it until the 1980's (I think) when she was still living primitively without electricity or water. She grew her own food and had livestock on her property. The cabin itself is stocked with various cookware (including cast iron), bed frames, tables, chairs, books and games. We went in December after a storm and needed to shovel our way to the outhouse. Manual labor is not a bad thing! The opportunity to stay here and live primitively for a weekend was nice. The only downside is that the cabin is not effectively insulated, with numerous holes between the logging that lets a good amount of cold air in at night. There is also a wood burning stove on the first floor that's great for cooking on, but doesn't produce a lot of heat that needs to make its way to the sleeping quarters in the loft.
GuideWhat a wonderful place! The resort is spacious, scattered throughout the woods. The RV sites are comfortable with all the amenities. And the customer service is impeccable.
We stayed during a few weekdays in October and we almost had the whole place to ourselves. We stayed in one of the cabins, which had 2 beds and a bunk bed, sink and toilet, refrigerator, microwave, dining table and sofa. There was also a front porch with picnic table and fire pit.
Honestly, the beds were not very comfortable and way too small for a couple to sleep in one. It was a VERY dark walk to get to the bathhouse for showers. And the fire pit had no grill, so we ended up having to use the stoves of some RV camping friends for meals. Otherwise the stay was great.
I would strongly recommend camping there in the summer months or during weekends in the shoulder season if you have social kids like mine. There were tons of things to do there for adults and kids alike. The activities — such as putt-putt, jump zone and the playground ended up being kinda boring for them without others to share it with. Obviously that would change with crowds. And advance reservations are a must — this place books up fast!
I would highly recommend staying at Merry Meadows, especially if you have an RV and a group of friends to join you!
GuideLarge campground with electric RV/camper sites as well as non-electric tent sites. Several bathroom and shower facilities. Lake-side sites are available and each site comes equipped with a picnic table, fire ring, and parking spot. Friendly staff, decently maintained. There were several planks missing from our picnic table and the parking spot was a mud hole. Some pet friendly sites are available as well. A snapping turtle stopped by for a visit at our campsite and ended up laying eggs! Quite a sight to see, there is plenty of wildlife around to enjoy during your stay.
TravelerThe Hilton area campground is unique because, unlike the Hollofield area of the park, it doesn't allow RVs and its tent sites are non-electric. However, a tiny cabin experience with electricity is available... within the same loop as non-electric tent camping. My non-electric tent campsite was surrounded by brightly lit cabins, even unoccupied all of their porch lights stay on all night. It doesn't make the upper half of the campground ideal for stargazing. The other reviewers are correct that the lower half of the loop is situated lower in the valley which will make any rain you get more difficult, so avoid booking a site at the very bottom. Overall the campground and state park deserve 4 stars because from what I could see tent pads were level, firepits had grill gates, showers were hot, and staff were cleaning and maintaining the grounds everyday. But be safe; prepare detailed offline navigation if you use the trails surrounding the camp. I definitely got lost relying on blazes for what I thought was supposed to be the Charcoal Trail.
GuideDeer Spring Loop is near the top of the mountain.
This is not a pet friendly loop.
Site 112 is level, mostly shaded, backs up to the woods and has electric.
The site is between two cabins. Not a problem except the cabins were empty and the ac was running. Noisy and kind of wasteful.
There are lots of good hiking trails in the park. It’s a nice walk to the lake. Note that the hike back is 2/3 uphill.
They sell ice at the camp entrance, which is nice.
The bathrooms were moderately clean and had plenty of hot water.
I was not aware that there was a camp host until the third morning as I was readying to leave. I approached another camp to ask a question and they said they were the “camp hosts”.
LegendCunningham Falls State Park - Houck Area, (http://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/Pages/western/cunningham.aspx) is pretty big and has much to offer...but part of the beauty is it is literally 5 miles down the road from Catoctin Mountain Park, a National Park Service with additional trails to enjoy.
Nestled away in the Catoctin Mountains, it lands further away from Camp David, so the likelihood of it being negatively affected during dignitary or presidential visits is slim. Unlike the trails at Catoctin Mountain Park which will see closings.
There are 149 sites to choose from, yes...149...in five different loops that continue to wind their way up the mountain. There are very few electric sites on the three lower loops, the fourth loop is all electric sites, but water is relegated to water spigots...3 to 4 spaced out in each loop. Be mindful that on some loops, one side of the upper loop can look down onto some of the sites on the lower loop... but they are spaced out. There is some ground cover between sites but you still have line of sight with your neighbors. There are also Camper Cabins available too. Each site provides a picnic table and fire ring. Gathering downed firewood is permitted.
They also permit up to 6 people and two tents on a site...a rarity indeed!
Showerhouse/Restrooms are placed in the middle of each loop and are modern facilities. Fairly clean and maintained. Electric outlets are a plus.
This campground is pet friendly...must be leashed and not permitted on the sandy beach area during season. Cell service was fairly consistent.
Unlike the National Park Campground a few miles down the road, Cunningham Falls State Park requires you to pass through a staffed office at the entrance and a gate.
The 43 acre Hunting Creek Lake offers great (and busy weekend) fishing. Trolling motors are permitted, but ideal for paddling.
There are plenty of trails, including the Catoctin Trail, but all the trails I was on do not permit biking.
Another big draw is Cunningham Falls itself. The trail is an easy six mile loop to and from the falls.
This is a very busy campground and I was advised it normally sells out on weekends, so securing a site in advance is wise.
TravelerPerfect rustic cabin in the woods. It gives the illusion of being secluded even though the road is just on the other side of some trees. You'll get some car sounds for sure, but mostly quiet after dark.
The loft really only slept 2 unless you are ok sleeping on the floor. No running water or electricity. You'll need to bring plenty of flashlights and lanterns as well as water. Everything was clean and nice, including the outhouse.
The porch of the cabin was our main hangout and cooking station as it does get very dark inside. There were still a few nice, late-season pears left under the tree that we very much enjoyed.
LegendSite was heavily wooded and very private; we were surrounded by woods on three sides, and could only see our neighbors across the narrow loop road. Site included a picnic table, fire ring, grill grate and lantern post. Pad was nice and level; didn’t need to use any blocks. Drive way was just long enough to accommodate our truck. Site was a little farther from the bath house than we usually prefer, but didn’t really matter as we were camping sans kids this time. I loved the privacy of this site, so I didn’t mind the little bit of extra walking. Almost all the sites looked relatively private, with a fair amount of trees in between, but our was on of the only sites that was truly surrounded by forest. Since we were here in November, the leaves were especially beautiful. Bath house was large, heated and extremely clean; looks recently renovated. There was also a nice large dishwashing station on the Men's side, which I love. The park itself is very quiet, pretty, and easy to get around. Lots of multi-use trails, which i believe are mostly flat, so maybe not the best for die-hard hiking enthusiasts. We took the Lake Trail down to the day-use area, and it was a very pleasant, scenic hike that took less than 20 minutes. The lake/day-use area is beautiful, with a pavilion, picnic tables, boat launch area, volleyball and large recycled-tire playground for kids. There were quite a few people out and about, more than I would have expected during November. The lake is popular for fishing, kayaking and canoeing (no swimming allowed). During the on-season, canoes and kayaks are available for rent to explore the lake and water trails in the adjacent Tuckahoe Creek. Would love to come back in the summer to check them out. There is also a disc golf course, challenge course, and archery range on-site.
Overall, we really enjoyed this park. It has all the major elements we typically look for: privacy, lots of trees, electric hookups, clean bath house, large playground, and a place to fish. The fact that it’s only about an hour’s drive from us is a bonus. We can’t wait to come back in warmer weather with the kids!
Cabin camping near Idlewylde, Maryland offers a unique blend of outdoor adventure and cozy accommodations, perfect for families and nature lovers alike.
Frequently Asked Questions
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According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular cabin campground near Idlewylde, MD is Patapsco Valley State Park-Hilton Area with a 4.2-star rating from 19 reviews.
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