It was another beautiful spring weekend, the first weekend of June, and Becca and I were long overdue for some quality couples camping time. Because we only had Saturday/Sunday to skip town, we decided to pay a visit to Green Ridge State Forest in Western Maryland for some fire-road driving, camp cooking, and stargazing!
Driving the fire roads to our camp spot!
Green Ridge State Forest encompasses nearly 50,000 acres in the Appalachian Mountains of Maryland (near Flintstone) and borders the Potomac River. Up until about ~3 years ago there was a good little off-road trail network open both to 4x4s and OHVs, but sadly Maryland closed it permanently following a controversial environmental impact assessment. Damn shame.
Enjoying the overlook at the Green Ridge State Forest Headquarters
Despite the tragic loss of the trail network (grrr), Green Ridge still has a good network of fire roads (some of them are rough enough for 4wd) as well as 100 designated primitive camping spots. All of this only 2.5 hours away from home in Northern VA!
Setting up camp! More than enough room for multiple tents and vehicles
We arrived later in the afternoon on Saturday, and given the beautiful weekend weather, about 70 of the 100 designated camping spots were already taken (there is a reservation board at the GRSF Headquarters – you’ll need to swing by to a reserve a spot: first come, first serve). We chose one far away from others, dropped our $10 in the money slot, and headed down the network of fire roads, taking the “scenic roundabout route” to our spot so we could check out the other campsites.
We had a great fire, and really comfortable nighttime temps!
We were pleasantly surprised that each of the sites we passed had plenty of privacy (some were more than 5 minutes drive apart), each had a picnic table, and space for multiple vehicles and tents. Not too shabby! We noticed there were also a few designated group spots. The one downside (depending on your perspective) is that almost all of the sites were wooded and didn’t necessarily have the spectacular views that some of our favorite primitive spots in George Washington National Forest boast.
Becca made some delicious blueberry pancakes in the morning
After a great night at the campsite Becca and I continued exploring GRSF in the AM, finding that some of the fire roads were pretty darn rutted – finally an excuse to drop the 4Runner into 4hi! Turning onto the main road we came across a guy with a dog waving us down. We stopped to see what the deal was.
Thumbs up from Ray after we got his FJ jump started!
Turns out that Ray (the guy that waved us down) was stranded — the battery in his FJ Cruiser went flat overnight and he was hiking out. We ended up giving Ray (and his French Bulldog, Pierre) a lift, scavenged a set of jumper cables from a local (shame on me for not having any in my truck!), and got him back on the road! All in a days work!
Huckleberry and his new friend, Pierre
If you’re looking for a quick getaway that’s a “sure bet”, Green Ridge can provide that much-needed dose of primitive camping and time away from the hustle.
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