Best Tent Camping: Maryland. Evan L. Balkan
OPERATED BY: National Park Service
OPEN: Year-round
SITES: 11
EACH SITE: Grill, chemical toilet, picnic table, pump well water (but plan for the possibility of a pump not working)
ASSIGNMENT: First come, first served
REGISTRATION: None
FACILITIES: Varies by site; see text
PARKING: Vehicles must be left at the nearest parking area; see text for individual sites
FEE: Free
RESTRICTIONS
■ Pets: None
■ Quiet Hours: None
■ Visitors: Maximum 8 people/site
■ Fires: In fire rings or portable grills only
■ Alcohol: Not allowed
■ Stay Limit: 1 night/site/trip
■ Other: Only dead wood can be collected for fires.
For general information on hiker-biker sites, read the introductory material in the previous profile. What follows is a continuation of those sites, moving northwesterly along the C&O Canal toward Cumberland.
After Antietam and Killiansburg Cave comes the Horseshoe Bend hiker-biker site (Mile 79.2). This area is closest to the city of Hagerstown, where you can get whatever supplies you need. From Hagerstown, take MD 65 south from I-70 about 8 miles to a right at Taylors Landing Road to the boat launch. Horseshoe Bend is 1.7 miles downstream.
Big Woods (Mile 82.7) shares the same parking as Horseshoe Bend but sits 1.6 miles downstream. The canal’s midpoint is here, just before the next hiker-biker site, Opequon Junction, and Lock 43. The Big Woods hiker-biker campsite enjoys a reputation for privacy, as it sits down a little trail from the canal towpath, while most others sit just off the towpath. The area between Big Woods and the next upstream launch at Big Slackwater, at roughly Mile 87, is susceptible to erosion and damage from flooding, sometimes rendering portions of the towpath impassable, so be aware of that possibility. Opequon Junction (Mile 90.9) has parking 2 miles downstream at McMahons Mill. To get there from I-70, take Exit 28 and head southwest on MD 632 (Downsville Pike) 5.5 miles. Take a right onto Dellinger Road, and then the first left onto Avis Mill Road.
For the next hiker-biker site, Cumberland Valley (Mile 95.2), park 4.1 miles downstream at Williamsport, which has a visitor center, boat and bike rental, phone, picnic area, food (I recommend the Desert Rose Café), and a boat launch. Take I-70 to I-81 South and immediately exit onto US 11; travel south 3 miles to the river. Williamsport itself is worth a look around. Most Marylanders like to boast that Annapolis was once the national capital and is still America’s oldest continuous state capital. But few Marylanders are aware that George Washington once considered tiny Williamsport for the national capital (it was rejected because it lacked a deep-water port). Loads of historical canal structures still stand in and around Williamsport. Jordan Junction hiker-biker site (Mile 101.2) also uses the parking area at Williamsport, 1.4 miles downstream. A word of warning if you’re boating in this area: Dams above and at Williamsport mean you have to portage on the West Virginia side.
North Mountain hiker-biker site is next, at Mile 110. Parking is 0.4 mile upstream at McCoys Ferry, which is a drive-in campsite. The section between this campsite and the previous is nicely wild, with little evidence of humanity, either modern or historical. But just a couple of miles beyond North Mountain hiker-biker site is Fort Frederick, a 250-year-old treasure that is worth a half-day’s poking around. (For information on camping at Fort Frederick). Then, things start to get rural again.
Next up is Licking Creek hiker-biker site (Mile 116). I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, as it sits very near I-70 and you can hear the traffic at night. In fact, the parking area for this campsite is adjacent to the I-70 exit ramp at Indian Springs (Exit 9), 0.7 mile upstream.
The next four hiker-biker sites all share the same parking area at Little Tonoloway, which has a boat launch, restaurants, groceries, phone, and the visitor center in the town of Hancock. Unfortunately, the first of those four campsites, Little Pool (Mile 120.6), also sits right next to I-70. But if you can stand the noise, the site is 3.9 miles downstream of Little Tonoloway. To reach Little Tonoloway, take US 522 toward Hancock from I-70 (Exit 3) to W. Main Street in Hancock. Take the first right onto S. Pennsylvania Avenue.
White Rock hiker-biker site (Mile 126.4) is next. Just a mile upstream is what remains of the Round Top Cement Mill. While the redbrick mill remains only as an intact smokestack and some crumbling walls, the nearby kilns, eight of them total, still look great and are largely intact. By all means, check them out, but be aware of the three bat species (big brown, little brown, and Eastern pipistrelle) that hibernate there.
Leopards Mill hiker-biker site (Mile 129.9) is 5.4 miles upstream of Little Tonoloway, one of the longer hikes to reach a campsite in the C&O Canal system. But an even longer hike is the one to Cacapon Junction (Mile 133.6), which is a solid 6.8 miles upstream from Little Tonoloway—no terrible haul if you’re on a bike, but a bit of a slog if you’ve got all your equipment on your back. Cacapon Junction is the area where the Cacapon River, a simply beautiful Potomac tributary, meets the Potomac on the West Virginia side.
:: Getting There
Varies; see text.
GPS COORDINATES
Horseshoe Bend: N39°28'16.5" W77°47'33.1"
Big Woods: N39°29'35.6" W77°47'28.3"
Opequon Junction: N39°31'08.4" W77°51'46.9"
Cumberland Valley: N39°33'41.4" W77°52'43.0"
Jordan Junction: N39°36'37.9" W77°51'42.2"
North Mountain: N39°36'17.9" W77°58'22.9"
Licking Creek Aqueduct: N39°40'14.7" W78°04'36.3"
Little Pool: N39°41'04.1" W78°06'38.2"
White Rock: N39°41'06.2" W78°11'49.4"
Leopards Mill: N39°39'42.5" W78°13'31.6"
Cacapon Junction: N39°37'18.9" W78°16'55.1"
7
C&O Canal: Hiker-Biker Campsites from Indigo Neck (Mile 139) to Evitts Creek (Mile 180)