Rocky Gap State Park

Beautiful area, nice facilities. Playground and beach area are AWESOME for kids.
We stayed on a Friday night and when we arrived at 4, it was nice and quiet. By 7pm, it was different story. Very loud and populated — noise just travels and echoes everywhere. Even though we thought we were getting a quiet camp site, we were still by a bunch of
RVs.

Let me start by saying that I am not a camper. My husband grew up camping, and since the start of our relationship in 2001, we have camped 1 night with our 1 year old and it was not fun. So when he said he wanted to take our 3 and now 6 year old camping, I wasn’t excited but just went with it.
Major problem that I have with this campground is, (at least what my husband said to be true) you MUST stay a Friday and Saturday night. So because of this, we had to pay for Friday and Saturday even though we were going Sunday to Tuesday — thankfully the daily rate is only around $ 20 but still. It was a really quick drive from Montgomery County and very pretty. The campsite provided parking, a picnic table, a fire pit, and a wood poll with a hook where we hung our trash. They also offer tiny cabins if you don’t want to stay in a tent. We were at campsite 152 which was 20 feet from a water source, very close to the bathrooms, and a short walk to the beach, playground, store, and nature center. The loop one over (251, etc) have actual lakeview, though their walk to the bathroom seemed a bit too far for me, so I was very happy with our location.
The bathrooms are VERY clean. They offer a family bathroom which was great for showering. The shower was AMAZING! And not just campground amazing. It had hot water immediately, excellent water pressure, and a handheld option. The regular bathrooms had 2 showers and 5 bathroom stalls with outlets… I actually saw a lady blowdry her hair… is that allowed when camping? :-) The bathroom ALSO includes a KITCHEN SINK!!! I didn’t have to wash my dishes in a stream, or water bucket! It was AWESOME! I’m definitely not a camper, so having this option to actually clean stuff easily is a reason to come back!
The location is beautiful, with a lakeside loop trail that my kids were easily able to navigate. It’s definitely hilly, so my daughter had some difficulty riding her bike up the hills. We went to the Aviary where we saw some owls, vultures, and a bald eagle. The beach was very wet, and a bit rocky, but the water was clear and the kids had fun. Kayaks are only $ 5/​hour.
The resort has a nice golf course. We went to LB’s and had lunch which was good. Their honeyberry bread was amazing! I had the crabcakes and brussels sprouts — you can skip the brussels sprouts — they looked better than they tasted. My husband had the chicken salad which was delicious. The kids shared the flatbread, but it was the cracker kind, so they didn’t really eat much.
Knowing that I could survive 2 nights there, I’m willing to venture out again and go for 4 or 5 nights. We had a great time.

Well worth a visit for the beautiful scenery, even in the off season!

Came here to camp during labor day weekend. The entrance is gated (kind of) and only those who are camping can enjoy the facilities and trails inside. I watched as a ranger turned away an unsuspecting family trying to find a beach.
The park is relatively clean and sites are generously spaced out. Facilities (bathroom, water, shop) are modern and not too crowded at peak hours. Most visitors seem to have bicycles and you’ll see masses of children and teenagers playing at the beach area, which seems to be the center of attention. Not exactly quiet.
The three stars comes from the management at the site. On a busy weekend, you’d expect there to be more people manning the canoe/​kayak rentals. We were unfortunately greeted with an answer — «no one can man the station, so no rentals will be given out». On the next day when we wanted to rent kayaks, the wait was ridiculously long as the rangers somehow disappeared for a good amount of time (almost 30 minutes) before coming back.
We enjoyed the trails next to the lake, but they could definitely benefit with signs about the name and distance.

A very nice State Park with incompetent State Park management. The camp site is more of a free for all with Park Rangers either afraid to or unwilling to do their jobs. For instance– rules listed on the camp site web page and posted in the park clearly state no more than 6 campers at a site, and quiet hours from 10 pm till 7am. And let’s not get caught up on being too strict, but 25 people jammed into one site (all night loud people) seems a bit out of the norm. Oh, and what about the guy that feels the need to strum his guitar and trying to sing folk music till one in the morning? (Btw, person in. Camp site 211 on August 26 — don’t quit your day job!). A little leadership and Park Mgmt by the MD DNR could quickly lead to a better experience. Please exercise my tax dollars better than what you are!

They definitely need better signs around the trails! However, the views are gorgeous and we got a great workout. We stumbled onto the camping grounds and it appeared that they had ample facilities (we didn’t stay there so I can’t say for sure). There really may be nothing better than taking a few hours and realizing just how gorgeous Maryland really is!

Go here on a weekday to avoid the crowds, and you’ll more or less have the place to yourself. A beautiful place to take a break from your drive for a picnic by the lake. I only wish we had more time to spend here.

We were there last saturday, June 22^nd.
Although the park is very clean, I would say on this weekend, it was filled to capacity with the kids.
For a state park, this seems more like a KOA to me. I think the big draw for families with small children must be the lake and beach area.
It’s great that families can get away, but little kids screaming, just isn’t our cup of tea.
There was this family next to us, that had this whining, screaming little kid of maybe five, and when they had visitors over, the father of the family had to make sure the whole park could hear him when he talked. I have to say the experience took away from nature some how…
The Campground:
Nestled in among the trees, and beside route 68, and lake Habeeb is the very large camp ground where most of the slots, are underneath a consistently tall, mature canopy of trees. There are very few, if any shorter bushes or trees, which would help the spots feel more secluded. Although the spots aren’t really that close together, you can easily see, AND HEAR your neighbors. At least we could hear ours in the spot we were in.
Amenities:
Plenty of clean bath houses, with clean shower stalls, a large lake beach, a snack bar by the the beach, and a 1.6 mile walk takes you to the very busy Smokey Gap Casino and Resort.
The swimming area had a life guard on duty, and there is a kids play area right near the beach.
There are few hiking trails.
You can rent canoes to paddle out into the large Lake Habeeb, that has a nice view of the Resort.
The Resort:
The resort, although crowded, is very nice. The restaurant didn’t open until 5pm, and they had no reservations available until 9pm
The casino although small, had a new look to it, with lots of neat slot machines.
I would say for us, this last minute trip was more about just getting out of the house for a night. This isn’t a camping trip we planned, just went last minute on a Saturday.
We ate lunch at the resort, and had Mountain house freeze dried food for dinner, and cooked eggs for breakfast.
Although the stretch of forest this camp ground sits in is very nice, I would say this camping trip didn’t make me feel nestled in the trees.
If you want to watch my review, check out the video I made at the link below
It was still worth while though…

Very pretty landscape with no overhead power lines (buried below ground, huge bonus). There is a golf course adjacent to the park, which takes away from the rugged feel. Overall, perfect spot for a picnic or to fly a kite. 2 – 2.5hrs from DC (depending on your lead foot).
We stayed in the chalet (3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms). Plenty of space for 7−9ppl, and the house has a great flow to it. Love the main floor with the fireplace front and center (another one is downstairs). Huge kitchen with plenty of appliances/​dishes/​pots, and the deck comes equipped with a gas grill. My only complaint is that the house is very 1970s Brady Brunch and needs renovation (wood paneling, old carpets in the bedrooms, and dated baths). Not an issue for 1 – 2 nights though (it beats a tent).

Great place, quiet, private large campsites (not sure where the folks below camped who thought the sites were small, really?). Only complaint is that the sites with the best views of the lake do not have electricity. Also to Karen below about the cancellation policy, that is standard policy.

We drove from DC to Rocky Gap on a July Saturday to escape the heat and humidity of the city. It took exactly 2 hours from upper NW, going 270 to Frederick then 70 and 68 to the park. It’s easy to find since it sits right on the highway and there’s an exit right into the park.
We swam in the lake, which has roped off sections, beaches (the sand is a bit course and gravelly) and lifeguards. The deepest you could go was about 2.5 feet, so it’s perfect for kids. They let you have floats, balls and tubes in the lake, and they weren’t uptight about dads throwing kids into the water, or kids playing rough.
After swimming, we rented paddle boats. It was $ 20 per boat per hour, or $ 15 for half an hour. They also have kayaks and canoes. The boat house staff was very friendly and willing to hold on to wallets, keys or other items if you’re worried about falling in.
My husband and sons then walked past the lodge to try fishing. I think I saw that the lake is open ²⁴⁄₇ for fishing. Toward dusk we saw a number of row boats on the lake but we never saw anyone catch anything.
The lodge/​conference center was beautiful and we used their facilities a number of times even though we weren’t staying there. We had dinner outside by the pool at their casual restaurant and were stunned that the total bill for 3 kids and 2 adults was only $ 44. There’s a fancier restaurant that was serving a prime rib buffet that seemed busy. Next time (when we’re not in our swimsuits) we’ll try that.
We saw a board full of activities in the lobby of the lodge that looked amazing. There’s even a «kids night out» from 6 – 8 so parents can have a nice dinner on their own. They had arts and crafts, hikes, an evening campfire and «glo putting» on the golf practice course at 9pm. Each activity was about $ 15 – 20. There’s an 18 hole golf course, and the posted prices seemed amazingly high — $ 90 for a round on the weekend if you’re staying at the lodge and $ 125 if you’re not. They also had fishing tackle and bikes and bicycle carts available to rent.
A couple of tips: when you enter, follow the signs to park near the lodge. That puts you close to the boat rental and lodge activities and you don’t have to pay the park entrance fee. (Although even for us out-​of-​staters on a peak summer weekend it was only $ 6 for the carload.) The restrooms at the lodge are also much nicer than the ones in the park by the lake. Also, be sure to pick up any supplies you need in Frederick, Hagerstown or Hancock since there are few restaurants, grocery stores or gas stations within 20 miles of the park.

We visited Rocky Gap Resort over a Saturday, Sunday, Monday. We were very happy with the service, cleanliness, and comfort of the resort and our room. There are a lot of outdoor activities that we enjoyed, specifically canoeing, a Segway tour, and a 6-​mile hike to the top of the mountain where we saw one of the original Mason-​Dixon line markers and a beautiful view. Their Sunday morning breakfast buffet was good, but a bit overpriced at $ 15.
The only reason I’m not giving the resort 5 stars is that we had reserved a «Lake-​view» room, but ended up on the 2^nd floor, so while it was on the side of the lake, we couldn’t actually see much of the lake being that we were so low to the ground. If you want to actually get a good view of the lake, I’d recommend getting to at least the 4^th floor.
The park in general was very busy on both Saturday and Sunday, but really cleared out on Monday. The next time we go, we’ll probably try to make it a mid-​week trip to take advantage of the lower price.
The pool was nice, but as many have mentioned, it is a bit small.

For my first tent camping experience, I thought this place was great! I had been to the lodge before and it was nice, but this review is strictly for the campgrounds.
There’s gorgeous Lake Habeeb that basically all the activities are centered around. There’s a few small beaches with roped in areas for swimming, several biking/​hiking trails of various difficulties and canoe rentals. There are many campground loops available with around 10 or more camp sites off of each loop. Three of these loops allow pets and there are also electric loops and a bathouse at each loop. Never having been here before, I just took a shot with Loop A since it was a pet loop and lucked out with it also being electric.
I am such a camping fan now after going here! The campsites were clean with a gravel pad at the end of a driveway. Each pad had a picnic table on it and firepits off to the side. Some of the sites were u-​shaped with this stuff in the middle of the U. We had a pull in site and were lucky because our truck could hide us from the street. I found that the campsites were private enough with lots of tree coverage and a cool little path to one of the hiking trails 20 steps away, but still secure and hidden.
We brought our dog, hiked, biked and even went canoeing. We couldn’t go to the beach bc of our dog, but enjoyed everything else. The main 5 mile trail was hard for me to bike since I’m a relatively new biker and scared of heights, so when the path had a slope down to the lake on one side, I walked. There were nice pathways through the forest, along flowery meadows and lakeside. We took a little break next to the lake and let our dog run in the water.
Overall, it was a great experience. We saw that some campsites were less private, bigger/​smaller than others, so if you haven’t gone before you just have to study the map, pick one out and hopefully you get lucky. Another great thing was that each camp loop has a camp host with firewood for sale and answers to questions you might have. I think they also clean the bathhouse bc it was always very clean and is in very good shape. Of all the times I went, it was only dirty one time from wet, beachy feet.
I definitely recommend camping here :-)

Rocky Gap is a large park in a beautiful part of Western Maryland — just the drive out there is worth making to see all the mountains and small towns. Overall, I’d give it 3.5 stars.
The good:
–Beautiful, mountainous area with breathtaking views
–Trails to hike
–beaches on the lake to swim
–Boat rentals in a very large lake
–Campgrounds all around the park
–Wildlife is very abundant! On my way out of the park, I even saw a raccoon climbing up a tree!
Needless to say, you can have a good time here. But, even with all this fun stuff, there’s still a few not-​so-​good aspects that hold me back from giving it a GREAT review. First of all, like with a lot of parks, they really dumb it down and make way too many strict rules. You aren’t supposed to swim past the rope, you can’t go here, you can’t do this at a certain time. I thought the point was to be free out in nature! I guess not. I realize the importance of making things safe for kids, but I think there is a point when too many rules limit one’s enjoyment of nature and remind us of the very society we are trying to escape on vacation.
Anyway, all of that aside, when I was here, it must have been the «off-​season» in early June, because there was no one at the boat house when I wanted to rent a boat. This was really disappointing because the water looked so nice and pleasant.
I camped here for a couple of days. The campground facilities were OK — you check in with a ranger at the front and then drive in. They were VERY small plots though, and totally paved over, with just enough room for your tent and a picnic table. I recall signs telling you not to put your tent on the grass. I see the point in trying to preserve what little grass there was, but that totally takes the fun out of camping honestly. All in all, my experience here was not bad, but it could have been better.