Poplar Grove offers youth groups and organizations enjoyable year-round primitive tent camping. Located just steps away from the Catoctin Mountain Park portion of the Catoctin National Recreation Trail in the rolling hills of Thurmont, Maryland. Poplar Grove allows youth groups to experience traditional wilderness camping in a beautiful, natural setting.
As a primitive camping area, Poplar Grove encourages youth to use healthy doses of imagination while surrounded by the natural landscape. Nature hikes and campfire circles are popular activities. Catoctin Mountain Park offers 25 miles of trails for additional hiking opportunities.
Poplar Grove allows youth to connect with nature in a rustic campground setting. Three (3) group sites can accommodate up to 25 visitors. There are (2) two vault toilets, with no handwashing facilities. A shared potable water spigot and pavilion are centrally located. Site campfire circles and grills exist at each of the three camp sites. Firewood is provided onsite, dead wood may be collected for fires. Each group site is limited to (2) two vehicles or (1) vehicle and (1) utility trailer (unhooked) parked in designated spaces. Additional vehicles need to be parked at Camp Round Meadow. Overnight parking is not permitted on Manahan Road. Due to seasonal road closures, hiking access is required to the campground from Winter through Spring.
Campground inquires: please call the Visitors Center between 9 am – 5 pm at 1- (301) – 663- 9388
During your stay 24 hr dispatch (after hours): 1-866-677-6677
Poplar Grove offers tree sheltered, flat tent sites. The campground is surrounded by a hardwood decidious forest.
Whether blanketed in snow in winter months or blooming with wildflowers in the spring, Poplar Grove offers beautiful scenery all year. Since the site is located in a remote area, it is accessed by a gravel road during summer months, and is a hike-in only facility during winter months.
The Catoctin Mountain Park Visitor Center is located four miles away and offers interpretive programs. Just three miles away, visitors can enjoy fishing and canoeing at Cunningham Falls State Park. Cunningham Falls charges a daily entrance fee.
Poplar Grove is located on Manahan Road in the western portion of Catoctin Mountain Park. From Route 15, exit at Catocin Mountain Park/Route 77. Travel approximately six miles west, passing the Visitor Center and Park Central Road. Turn right on Foxville-Deerfield Road and bear to the right onto Manahan Road at the fork. Poplar Grove is located about a mile ahead on the gravel road.