cedarville state forest

This was our fourth year at Cedarville State Forest, and we're ambivalent about returning. Let me explain...The campground is wonderfully quiet and peaceful. The forest is mostly unbroken and undeveloped, so the background is pure woods. The campsites are a good size and well appointed - each with a pair of posts for a clothesline, a fire pit, and a picnic table. Sites on the inside of the loop have electric while sites on the outside of the loop do not. There is no water or sewer hookup, but spigots are located between every few sites and there is a dump station. There is one bathhouse in the middle of the loop.While there are no other amenities to speak of - no wifi, no playgrounds, no camp store - the park is close enough to all of those things that you can go get them from time to time if you need to. This is a place to relax, read, hike, bike, explore, photograph, and sing around the campfire. My kids have learned to trailbike here. We have truly loved this campground on our visits.However...Each year the bathroom gets a little worse. Cleanings are less and less frequent, and less effective. Last year, a child's bandaid was stuck to the bathroom floor for four days ... until I complained about the cleanliness. The next day, that bandaid was stuck to the wall just above the garbage can. We are seasoned campers and we know that leaves, bugs, and ground litter track in on a regular basis ... but footprints on the walls? Piles of dead bugs and rotting leaves in every corner and behind every toilet? A ceiling vent so covered in spiderwebs that it doesn't look like its ever been cleaned? And showers that you don't want to step into, even with flip flops on.The kicker this year was when I asked for the handicapped shower to be opened because I have trouble standing for a long time. And yet it remained locked on all weekdays.As it's an otherwise wonderful campground located right where we need to be, we're on the fence, but strongly considering refilling our water tank from the spigot and showering in our own camper if we can. The restrooms have just become nasty.

We enjoyed camping but when we went for a hike we ended up covered in ticks. While ticks were expected, this was excessive.

Cedarville State Forest does not get a lot of attention being in SE Maryland, compared to the parks in western Maryland. The campground will fill up on the weekends when it's warmer, but nowhere near as quickly as Cunningham Falls or Swallow Falls. The campground is fantastic, with one of the nicest bath houses i've seen in a park. The forest itself has a number of trails and it's worth buying the trail map. It may be a hike in the woods instead of out on a mountaintop, but for being so close to DC, not very crowded (especially in the fall), it's one of the best places to find a good hike away from the crowds. Hiking when the leaves are changing colors is fantastic.

Went with my husband and infant. Green trail is relatively wide and flat so we used our jogging stroller. Really easy to find and $5 or less entry fee.