By:
Submission
Deep Creek Lake State Park is located in Western Maryland’s Garrett County. The park encompasses over 1,800 acres and adjoins Deep Creek Lake Natural Resources Management Area and its 3,900-acre man-made lake. Deep Creek Lake camping lies just west of the Allegheny Front on a large plateau known as the Tablelands or Allegany Highlands. Its location at the southernmost end of Meadow Mountain places it west of the Eastern Continental Divide and within the Mississippi River watershed. The park gets its name from the lake, which was a hydroelectric project, constructed on Deep Creek in the 1920's by the Youghiogheny Hydroelectric Company. The Deep Creek Lake State Park Complex also includes Sang Run State Park and the Youghiogheny Wild River Natural Environmental Area. Deep Creek Lake Camping offers 112 campsites, 26 electrics sites, a picnic table, fire ring, lantern post, and a wildlife resistant food storage box on each site. They also have heated bathhouses, a dump station, freshwater fill up spot, free boat trailer parking, overnight dock slip use, and even some mini cabins and other lodging options! The park itself offers a sandy lakefront area, fishing areas, bathrooms, playgrounds, and hiking and biking trails. All in all, the park encompasses 1,800 acres!!
Features include:
86 basic sites and 26 electric sites
Two Mini Cabins - The mini cabins sleep six people and have electricity, heat, (no water) and beds. Users must provide their own linens. Pets are not permitted. Includes a picnic table, fire ring and lantern post
One Yurt - The yurt sleeps six people and has electricity, heat, (no water) and beds. Users must provide their own linens. Pets are not permitted. Includes a picnic table, fire ring, and lantern post
Bear Den - A three sided Adirondack-style shelter with the open side facing out into the forest (Site 72). Includes a picnic table, fire ring, lantern post, wildlife box, stone fire place and raised sleeping platform
Delphia Brant is a pet-free loop
Heated bathhouses
Dump station
Freshwater fill up
Free boat trailer overnight parking registration
Overnight dock slip use
My husband and I came here for the long weekend for a much-need break away from our busy jobs. The state park is very clean, I'm very impressed that they kept the park very clean.The beach was open for Memorial Day Weekend. I didn't see any trash on the beach or in the water. There are many bathrooms, picnic tables, and playgrounds in the park, and they have many trails for those interested in hiking. They also have a lot of parking. They do have a boat launch and dock. I sat at the lake side and just enjoyed the scenery and breeze. Very worth coming here!
Great State Park for camping. Stayed on site 13 with a 30ft trailer , arriving on a Monday evening til Sunday late October. The grounds at the campground, the beach area were all very well maintained. Monday thru Friday earlier afternoon was perfect camping. Gated camping area with code, not a lot of campers during the week, but come Friday evening, I felt HORRIBLE for the rangers on duty. Parents, parent your kids and teach them to be respectful! We used the bathhouse all week and not one reason to complain, not even a bug. But it took less than 2 hrs for someone's to trash the men's bathroom. They literally peed all over the floor from the urinals to the sinks, the stalls to the showers and the back to the door. Foot prints on the toilet seats...ugh. My hubby doesn't usually complain about anything but coming out of there, he was ticked. We did call the ranger on duty and she said she'd be up to take care of it. :( We did see MANY checkins by the rangers the rest of the weekend. Sad it takes just one thing to sicken a visit. Fortunately for us, we had a bathroom in our camper & never stepped foot in there again. That said, campers were very nice, dogs were leashed and picked up after. Shared a pic of the site, definitely not my favorite backing for our size trailer and we went out the one way in to leave...sorry! but plenty big enough otherwise. There was a fresh water spout 50ft or so away so we could've filled on site but we stopped on our way in.
Beautiful park and beach area! We saw lots of deer. We were disappointed that many of the parking areas were closed and we could not get to hiking trails the week after Labor Day.
We go camping two or three times a year and are always looking to see other areas of the state, we generally go to state park campgrounds. Deep Creek lake was about a three hour drive from home, further than we have travelled in the past for a two night camping trip, but it was an experiment.... will it be too far to travel to set up and break down camp for a two night trip? We did well and it opens up the radius of our camping options.
The campground is huge. The sites are spread out for the most part. We chose site 64, it was on the outside of the loops, in between both loops. We had a lot of privacy. There was a trail that ran along the outside of the campground, but we literally saw five people the whole time. It wasn't an issue at all. The site was clean and had a bear box, of which we used.
The campground was not full, but we were there prior to Memorial Day, and for what we enjoy, this was perfect. It got chilly at night, but we had jackets, so we were fine - and prepared. It did rain, a lot, on Saturday afternoon and through to about 8pm. We didn't let it put a damper on our trip (pun, get it?) though.
The Deep Creek Lake area is pretty touristy, which could be good or bad. Again, it was before memorial day, so it was quite empty. The other good thing is that there are restaurants in the area, and we went out to dinner on Saturday night, which was a bonus because it was raining. We went to Brenda's Pizzeria. Hot and cheesy pizza, no complaints here.
The ONE complaint that we had was that there were only two bathhouses. It was a huge campground and it was quite a walk to the bathroom. We've never had that experience, so it took some thought regarding middle of the night trips to the bathroom.
The bathroom was clean and the showers had HOT water! I usually do not take a shower when we are camping, especially when the weather is cool, but I was pretty cold and wet from the rain, so we showered before dinner on Saturday and it was so refreshing.
On the whole, this was a great park with plenty of amenities. The hiking trails are picturesque and well marked. You'll have a nice time if you choose Deep Creek Lake. We didn't partake in any lake activities because it was cold and just not on our agenda, but if that's your thing, you will have plenty of options.
Happy camping!
Perfect little camping cabin, no frills except base board heating and an awesome little covered porch. Quiet and lovely. Toilet holes nearby and a yert too!
