Catoctin Mountain Park

This will be a fairly short entry. After leaving Monocacy National Battlefield around 11:30, I turned north toward Gettysburg, just across the Pennsylvania state line. However, before crossing that line, there was one last National Park site to visit in northern Maryland: Catoctin Mountain Park. You may immediately notice the lack of the word “National” in the name. There are a few other park units that leave out that word (Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in Florida being one I’ve visited), but not many.

The park is set in the beautiful mountains crossing this part of Maryland, part of the Appalachian Mountain chain running from Alabama into Quebec (and geologically, to Scotland). The area was used in the 1930s as a CCC base (Civilian Conservation Corps, a make-work creation of the Roosevelt administration). It was later used by the Job Corps, who did some public works in the park, and it was ultimately turned into a recreation site.

There is one road running through the park, with a few side roads to campsites and picnic areas. The entire park is heavily forested and has numerous hiking trails. It’s not terribly large: maybe 5 miles end to end on its long (east-west) axis and less on the north-south one. Nonetheless, in the short time it takes to slowly drive the length of the park, one can enjoy the quiet and the aroma of the woods.

What I am describing sounds much more like a state park than something under the National Park Service. A Maryland state park indeed borders Catoctin, so one may wonder why this chunk of woods has status under the federal government. Read on for a most-likely answer!

One “special” feature located about halfway along the road is a side road leading off to the north. You come upon it fast at the top of a hill, and it can be hard to see with lots of growth around it. What is not hard to miss are the signs urging “Do Not Enter”, “No Parking”, “No Stopping”, “No Standing”, “No Looking” (ok, I made the last one up) plus many “No Photographs” signs. This unmarked side road leads to Camp David, the U.S. Presidential retreat and general hiding place. There are no guards or gates visible, but I would not want to turn onto that side road just to see what happens.

I managed to spend about one hour enjoying the peace of the park before heading back onto the highway toward Gettysburg.

Steve