Cedarville State Forest

Forested campground with fairly lengthy but level (and thus beginner friendly) hiking just a short distance away from Washington, DC.

If you’ve forgotten anything you can pop on by the Target or Costco right outside the forest.

Also, you can purchase wood while checking in and the Rangers don’t mind if you take a bit extra. Just bring your own starters and kindling (or a small hatchet/saw).

Planes do occasionally fly over the area so consider bringing earplugs if you are a sensitive sleeper. The noise wasn’t really noticeable when I went on a Saturday (the neighboring campsite’s dogs were louder).

We stayed here in the family campground for 3 nights in mid-October. The sites are very small and you sit very close to the camp loop road. Our site was #16 and it was very flat and easy to back a 30’ RV into. Most of the sites have very little distance between them. You’re really on top of your neighbors at this place! We didn’t see a camp host until we left on Monday. The bath house was pretty clean but out of TP frequently (both mens and womens rooms.) There is no camp sink, which was a bummer. There are lots of water spigots around the loop, however. Plenty of firewood when we arrived Friday night, but was totally gone by Saturday morning when we took the dog out at 7am. It was mostly replenished by Saturday night. No kindling, however, just the logs. $5 per crate (honor box, cash only of course.) The ranger station was closed when we arrived and when we left so we couldn’t check out the nature center. There are some really nice trails accessible from the loop. Dog friendly! We’ll stay here again if nowhere else is available, but it’s just too tight of a campground for our taste.

We arrived on a Sunday. Very quiet, many open RV spots around us. We had site 18. Which is next to one of the water spigots. The idea is to use it to fill up tanks. Ranger let us know not to stay hooked up to it. 30 amp electric. No issues there. Lots of trails but in June at least the ticks were waaaay too plentiful.