GENERAL INFORMATION
There are two Adirondack-style shelters (like those on the Appalachian Trail) within Catoctin Mountain Park that are open for primitive camping. Hiking is required to reach the shelters. There is no charge to camp, but reservations are required. Group size is limited to five campers per shelter.
LOCATION
The Adirondack shelters are located at the northwest end of the park along the Orange Trail. There is a small, gravel parking lot on Mount Zion Road, and from there the shelters are about a mile walk. However, you might not want to park your vehicle overnight on a public road, so the best place to start your journey is from within the park. It is a 2.3-mile walk from the parking lot near the Owens Creek Campground. This is where I started my hike on the Orange Trail, though I did not camp at the shelters (see the Orange Trail North Loop Hike review for details). The National Park Service website for Catoctin Mountain Park states that it is a 3-mile walk from Camp Round Meadow, which also has parking.
CAMPING SEASON
The Adirondack shelters are open year-round. However, Park Central Road is closed west of Manahan Road during the winter, so you may have a longer walk to the shelters during this time.
TYPE OF CAMPING
Tents are not allowed within the shelters or on the surrounding grounds. Campers sleep in their sleeping bags on the shelter floor. Sounds like a fun way to spend a summer day until you get there and are bombarded with gnats and mosquitoes. There’s no way I’d want to be camping out in the open air anywhere within Catoctin Mountain Park during the summer. Fall and early spring are probably the best times to camp.
AMENITIES
Each shelter has a couple of benches positioned around a fire pit. A cooking grate is available at each pit, but they are pretty nasty. There is also an outhouse–not a plastic portable toilet, but an actual wooden outhouse with a pit toilet inside. There may be toilet paper, but I highly suggest bringing your own just in case.
There is a hitching post for use by those arriving on horseback.
There is no drinking water at the shelters.
RESERVATIONS
Reservations are required, so no walk-ups are allowed. Reservations can be made up to six months in advance at Recreation.gov or by calling (877) 444-6777. You can camp at the shelters for up to seven consecutive days, and fourteen days total in one year (if you make the reservations under your own name).
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Last updated on April 24, 2024