The best EQUESTRIAN camping near
Lusby , MARYLAND

We stayed one night in a small cabin. It was cosy and warm on a cold night for fall. The cabins are clean and tidy and the campground is well run. It’s small and the sites are quite close together. There is a good trail around the campground, not long because it’s a small park, but the views of and access to the river are lovely.

Only 30 sites, all which have electric/water hookup. We’ve been here twice now, once with an RV and once in a tent. Most sites are shady and level, with lots of space between. The park rangers are friendly and knowledgeable, and there is a LOT to do. Beautiful hikes and bike trails, a small beach for the kids to splash in. We stayed in site 20, with friends across the way in 11, and it was a great way to see friends, but also have privacy. Sites 19 and 20 would be great buddy sites as well. We love it there!

Nice sites, well separated. Campsites are not waterfront, but the park is with a boat ramp and several areas for fishing. A little bit of hiking available. If your visiting it’s close to Denton and Easton.

We chose this campground based on proximity to work. This campground was priced fairly, however, it does come with its downfalls.

PROS

Let me start with the positive, we were 1 of 3 campers in this loop during our week-long stay. This made it peaceful and quiet. 

CONS

It's close to a Naval base, and therefore you constantly hear airplanes, and helicopters at all times. 

Other than the daily bathroom cleaning, this campground lacks maintenance on sites and walkways. They are both overgrown. 

Playground, fishing, archery all seem blocked off at this time. 

Trails seem open but are across and through hunting areas. They are also muddy from the rain. There is even standing water around our site which brings us to…the MOSQUITOS! We tried fans, tiki torches, and many deet free or light deet products before having to buy 100% deet so we could be outside. These things are awful!

Great little campground in Denton, MD. 2 loops each with about 35 sites. Loop B is electric. Loop A is not but they have 3 first come first serve sites with electric. This is on the Choptank River and there is a boat launch. You can crab there too, I believe. Sites were well spaced apart and good sizes. I did not use the Bath house but my hubby said the men’s room was nice enough. There was a little lending library at B loop. Each loop had a firewood shed to purchase logs. Checkin was easy, no contact, no need to even stop at office. There’s no camp store but there’s a Food lion, Walmart, Petco, liquor store, pub, gas, Dollar General and Dollar Tree all just a couple miles away. You pass them to get to campground. This place is very wooded and shady so no night sky viewing but in humidity of summer, shade is what you want. There was a playground and nature center. Great walking, biking area with several paved trails. Walk out to the point of the boat ramp area for great views.

Campsites and bathrooms are clean. Beautiful waterfront great for kayaking and water sports. No real hiking trails. Overall small quiet campground.

I used to live by this park and I visited it all the time with my cousins as kids! There are a couple playgrounds, swing sets, and tons of open areas for children to enjoy. The trails are nice and fairly well kept. The little sandy beach is by far my favorite part of the park though! The water is shallow and warm in the summer. In fact, the water is so shallow that you can wade almost 400 meters out or more! There are often crabs, small fish, and sometimes jellyfish floating about. There is always cool driftwood and shells to collect along the sand. Belle Isle is a great place to visit for day trips or over night camping! I’d definitely recommend it to anyone in the area that wants to get a small taste of the Chesapeake Bay and it’s wildlife and plants.

This cozy park is a great eastern shore retreat. The campground is clean and well kept. Bathhouses are very nice and well maintained. Staff is friendly and helpful. They also have cabins available. The river access for boating and fishing is great. The nature center is also worth a look, especially with kids.

If this campground is convenient - and given that it's open through October and <60 minutes from DC it might well be - this campground is good to go. But without that convenience factor I would not rate this site as worth visiting.

The loop is very small, with all the sites pretty close together. The forest behind the site was sparse, enough so that it was hard to find fuel for the fire and we were basically part of the youth group activities happening. From 8am to 4pm I learned A LOT about what number to dial in case of emergency.

The site itself was very small - difficult to get 2 cars and two tents in - and the fire ring was smaller as well. Though it was cleaner than the average state park site.

We stayed in site 21, which was fine enough except for its proximity to the nearest pavilion and all the small children screaming "stop drop and roll" at the top of their lungs.

But at the end of the day it was $20 (with a $6 booking fee) and for better or worse we never interacted with a single park ranger or camp host. The upside is we could do what we wanted, the downside is there wasn't a sense of community, or regulation.

I'll say I have never been to a site where the firewood is padlocked, and you have to call someone to come unlock it so you can buy firewood. In fact I'm downgrading the review from 3 stars to 2 as I write this - there really weren't many positives about this campground other than that camping is a terrific hobby.

Site Details: We stayed on site#19 in Loop B(the electric loop). Our site was large, very level, and surrounded by pine and hardwood trees. All sites in this loop were fairly spread out, with ample tree separation between each one. I don’t think there was a bad site in the loop. 

Facilities/Overall Park: The loop had a wonderful, heated bath house which was centrally located and a very short walk from our site. It looked to be recently built(or renovated), and was impeccably clean with very nice-looking showers(which we didn’t use this time). However, there were only 3 stalls and 2 showers, so I imagine the lines could get pretty long during peak season. There was also a nice outdoor dishwashing sink on the exterior of the bath house. 

The park itself is rather small, but very pretty and(mostly) peaceful. It’s set on the Choptank River and Watts Creek, with a great amphitheatre and walking trails with beautiful water views. There is also a nature center(which was closed for the season), as well as several pavilions and playgrounds scattered throughout the park. The pavilions were in definite need of a facelift, and the playgrounds were older but decent. 

While the park was very quiet and enjoyable during the day, unfortunately I couldn’t say the same for nighttime and early morning. The first night, we were awoken several times by the very loud firehouse siren from the neighboring town of Denton. It sounded like one of those older air raid-type sirens, with a really loud, jarring windup. My husband looked it up the next day, and discovered that Denton does in fact use that old fashioned alarm system to signal any type of emergency. In addition, we heard very loud gunshots from nearby goose hunters right at sunrise. So, you may luck out if you camp outside of hunting season and there are no overnight emergencies during your stay.:) 

Martinak is a sister park to the larger Tuckahoe State Park(about 10-15 minutes down the road), and the two parks share and co-host many events between both facilities, mostly during peak season. Upon check-in, the(extremely friendly) rangers handed us a map and calendar of events for both parks. 

Surrounding Area/Attractions: The small town of Denton is about 5 minutes outside the park, with a Walmart, a few chain and standalone restaurants, plenty of gas stations, and most modern conveniences. St. Michael’s, a very quaint and popular tourist destination, is about 45 minutes away. 

Overall, while this a very pretty park with nicely wooded and spaced-out sites, we prefer the neighboring Tuckahoe SP for its slightly better trails, nicer day-use area with newer playground, and(most importantly) lack of midnight sirens.