gambrill state park

Popular park right outside of Frederick with well marked, rugged trails open to hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. The terrain is steep and rocky with several great overlooks. The Tea House, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps is a great rental for parties or weddings. Camping is available as well as paviliion rentals.The park is popular on weekends when it is nice, but if you want to experience it at it's best, go in the winter when there is snow. You'll have the park to yourself and the snow really brings out the beauty of the place

This is my go to weekend hiking spot. The trains are nice, and there are several to choose from. I often take my dog and kiddo along and they love it too!

I have many fond memories over the years at Gambrill State Park. The trails are well maintained and offer a variety of challenges depending on your skill and fitness level.

The park has a couple overlooks that are nice with views of Frederick and Myersville/Middletown valleys. I haven't been on many of the trails yet, but enjoyed the ones I have been on - were well marked. Plan to go back many more times! I like the building there that I guess is rentable but I have not yet taken advantage.

These hiking trails are well maintained and marked. The ranger at the nature center is over informative and kind. The campground is quaint with clean bathrooms and showers. Firewood can be purchased at the camphost site for $5/bundle or $13/for 3. Plenty of kindling around for pickup and rangers drive by frequent enough but not invasive. At night, the campground was quiet and had a great mix of families, couples, solo campers , very dog friendly. Naturalist will enjoy the diverse bird and tree/flower population. Tented at site 34, very level but farthest away from bathroom but still walkable. Downside: by Sunday the bathroom could use a quick sweeping but still nothing terrible.

I rented one of the mini camper cabins for two nights (Fri and Sat). Very simple set up. Two beds, one bunk, one double. Stayed with my husband and brother as we were in town for a wedding nearby. The sites are clean and so are the bathrooms. When you get there, go to the bathroom area to sign in. The host's site is right next to the bathroom (#28). He will give you the lock combo for the cabin and you can also buy firewood from him. I reserved online, which was very quick and easy. Any cooking is to be done outside of the cabin. They have a fire ring, picnic table and lantern post. It was a nice campground, no hassles from anyone (host, rangers, etc.). Alcohol is prohibited, so if you plan to imbibe, keep it on the downlow and use a Solo cup or other container. I would definitely go back to see more of the park.

This park is shared between hikers and Mountain bikers. If you want to hike you might want to go somewhere else if you are bothered by bikes nearly running you over. There is a nice lookout where you have a fairly good view of Ft. Detrick and part of Frederick. There are a nice selection of long and short trails. But some parts of some of the trails run along the side of the road, which does distract from the beauty of the Park. The part is closed at dusk, and it is best to get out of there since sometimes men meet at the lookout for various activities you probably don't want to see, and you definitely won't want your children to see. Catoctin Mountain Park is a much better alternative for hikers.

Went to Gambrill to take some fall foliage pictures and it was beautiful! The overlooks are really nice and you can see far off in to the distance.

It's a bit off the beaten path and you have to know how to find this place, but considering that it's only a 5 minute drive from one of the main shopping areas in Frederick, you won't believe how picturesque and scenic the views are and that you'll feel like you are at some mountain retreat!

There are many places to see in Gambrill and the neighboring Catoctin Mountain Park. The hiking trails connect, the waterfalls at Cunningham are MUST SEE on hot summer days, and the folks you meet up with are always nice.And, it gives you a little more exercise than sitting around watching the clouds!Check out the swimming area at cunningham falls lake and the boat launch off Catoctin Hollow Road.

If you want a nice scenic overlook of the Frederick valley, go here. It is also a nice quite place for a picnic.

rented a primitive 1 room cabin for a weekend trip. The Park was very nice and conceniently located. Bathhouse was clean. Cabin was spartan but in good shape. There was a small fishing pond and nice hiking trails. We hiked up to the overlooks, they were very impressive. There was lots of reference to the park's history with the CCC. There was a nature center but it was not open that weekend. We would go here again for a weekend trip.

Went to Gambrill State Park for 2 nights in a mini-cabin this week. Being mid-week in October, the campground was pretty empty. On Tuesday night, we were the only ones in our loop, but several other people came on Wednesday night. The mini cabin was sparse but adequate – just beds, a light bulb lighting fixture, and electrical outlets. You are permitted to take a portable electric heater. A picnic table, fire ring and lantern hooks were included on the site outside. Arrival was confusing and a little frustrating. We had registered in advance online. We went to the cabin around 5 pm, entering the park but passing no one. The cabin was padlocked with no further instruction. The state park office was closed; the phone number on the office door was not answered. The “emergency” number went to a different park, causing confusion. Just as we were pulling out of the office lot, the ranger pulled in. He was just coming on duty, so I don’t know if anyone was on duty prior to that. Turns out that I think you can also ask the firewood guy at campsite 28 for help (he changes all the locks regularly), but we didn’t know that.We very much enjoyed the hiking trails, generally following the hike from midatlantichikes.com, although we left from the campsite rather than the parking lot described in the hike (red trail has a trailhead from campground). We come from a pretty flat and rockless coastal area, so this was a nice step up from our regular trails. The bathhouse did not have hot water when we were there. Other than that, it was fine.Even though I outlined a couple of issues, we really did enjoy our time in this beautiful park. We would love to hike more trails in this area.

Was looking for an alternative to Shenandoah National Park camping when the government shut down and found Gambrill State Park. We had been camping at Catoctin National Park just a few months beforehand, and really loved the area, so we decided to check out this part of the park. Gambrill is a 34-site park that is well-maintained and quite nice. While it wasn't as nice as Catoctin (Owen's Creek campground), it was what we were looking for- quiet, wooded area super close to a trail that meets up with several others that circle the High Knobb area and Rock Run area. Our campsite #34 was probably the most secluded. The site was flat, although we noticed several other sites were not. And, llke another reviewer warned, a few of the sites are in the sun, but not all of them and certainly not ours. I don't know what Cunningham State Park campgrounds look like, but I chose this one because it sounded less crowded and it was. There were only a two other tent campers there Wed-Friday. There were 3 other RV couples. The site has about 20 RV sites with electric hook-ups, about 4 cabins, and about 10 strictly tent sites. The women's bathroom was great- very nice and clean compared to Owen's Creek more rugged bathroom. I had a hot shower and the bathroom with flush toilets to myself every time i went in. Each campsite has a fire ring with a removable grate overtop, a lantern post, and a picnic table. Firewood can be purchased for $5, or just bring your own small axe and go to town on the dead wood. There's plenty of kindling laying around. There's no campstore here like at Cunningham state Park, but I didn't really want nor need a campstore...I think people have different opinions on what camping should be like. Regardless, the site is just 5 mins up from Rte 40, which has a Kmart, grocery store, Home Depot, liquor stores (although it's prohibited in the park), every fast food spot known to man, gas stations, diners, etc. For Maryland residents, drive-in fee is $23. Bring cash.The hiking is great. Our camping site #34 was right next to the trailhead that led up to all the other trails, which offer great views of the area from native-stone overlooks. Unfortunately, the lookouts were overrun with those pesky stinkbugs. I recommend the Black Locust trail if you're looking for a workout through the beautiful woods. The High Knobb area has plenty of tables, so bring a picnic and feast on your goodies after one of the long, beautiful hikes. Enjoy!

Walking trails are enjoyable, great scenic overlooks. Nice to visit on a hot day as there is usually a nice cool breeze up there.