Antietam Creek Campsite
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- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:48 UTC
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 20All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Antietam Creek Campground is located at Mile 69.4 on the C&O Canal Towpath, a few miles south of Shepherdstown on the Maryland side of the Potomac River. The campsites are nestled in the woods between the Canal and the Potomac River and they are a short distance from many recreational opportunities. Fishing, boating and hiking are but a few possibilities while staying at Antietam Creek Campground. Alcoholic beverages are prohibited. Keep reading
Recreation
Popular activities at Antietam Creek include boating and fishing. Kayaking the creek and surrounding areas, the scenery changes at various times of the year. Nearby boat ramps at Dargan Bend and Snyders Landing provide motor boat access to the river. Fishing is also a popular pastime in both the watered sections of the C&O Canal the Potomac River. Be sure to acquire a Maryland Fishing License for those age 16 or older. West Virginia Licenses are approved for fishing in the Potomac only.
Facilities
The campground has 20 single campsites each with a picnic table, fire ring and grill. Each campsite will accommodate up to eight campers. Protected pit toilets are located between campsite #6 and campsite #7 adjacent to the towpath. A second set of chemical toilets are available down the towpath. Potable water is along the towpath at pumps (may not be available during cold winter months). No vehicular traffic is allowed on the towpath and access to the campsites is by foot only. Parking is allowed on the shoulder of Canal Rd only.
Natural Features
Antietam Creek Campground is just south of Sharpsburg, MD. Antietam Creek is a typically mild and slow moving creek which feeds into the much larger and faster Potomac River directly adjacent to the campsite. River rise and floods can modify conditions quickly here.
Nearby Attractions
Antietam National Battlefield, South Mountain State Park and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park all provide additional hiking and history adventures specifically about the Civil War Era. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (301) 739-4200.
What the agency tells you
Water and Hygiene: Bring a backup supply of potable water as pump handles may not be in place at all times. Restrooms will be cleaned twice weekly. Please bring your own hand sanitizer, soap and toilet paper as these items have been the subject of theft.
Fires are permitted only in established fire rings. Please ensure that your fire is extinguished completely each time you leave the area. The cutting or defacing of any live growth is strictly prohibited. Kiln fired or dried wood may be brought into the park. Fallen dead timber in the park may be used for on-site firewood. Bring handsaws to cut fallen wood. Chainsaws are prohibited. Park Rangers reserve the right to ban all fires during periods of drought.
Quiet Hours. Please observe quiet hours between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
No Alcohol or Drugs. Alcoholic beverages are prohibited. Marijuana is illegal on federal property.
Pets. Pets are allowed in the campgrounds. They must be restrained by a 6 ft. leash at all times and their waste must be picked up and taken with the owner.
Carry Out Trash. The park is a 'Trash Free Park' and trashcans are not provided. Trash must be picked up and the area left in a clean condition before the group departs.
Check-in and Check-out. Check-in time is 1:00 p.m. EST and check-out time is 12:00 noon ET.
Parking and Vehicle Access. No vehicular traffic is allowed on the towpath and access to the campsites is by foot only. Parking is allowed on the shoulder of Canal Rd only.
Emergencies. If someone is "squatting" in your campsite OR for emergencies, please call the National Capital Region Communications Center at 1-866-677-6677.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 20 · 20 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Portable Toilets - year round
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 30 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 29 km away
- Minimal color
Full this Saturdayread 16:48 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
3 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:39 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 20 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 19 are free on Tue, Oct 20. read 16:48 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $20 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 3
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:39 UTC
- McCoy's Ferry CampgroundChesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 18 mi · 3 of 26 site-nights open
- Owens Creek CampgroundCatoctin Mountain Park · 22 mi · 5 of 95 site-nights open
- Camp Misty MountCatoctin Mountain Park · 22 mi · 1 of 57 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:48 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
20 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 20 mapped sitesAll 20 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 20 of the 20 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 001 | tent only nonelectric | 72 ft | 64 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 002 | tent only nonelectric | 71 ft | 74 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 58 ft | 72 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 58 ft | 72 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 63 ft | 77 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 006 | tent only nonelectric | 72 ft | 79 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 007 | tent only nonelectric | 117 ft | 81 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 008 | tent only nonelectric | 82 ft | 85 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 009 | tent only nonelectric | 82 ft | under 10 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 010 | tent only nonelectric | 94 ft | 83 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 011 | tent only nonelectric | 104 ft | 109 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 012 | tent only nonelectric | 95 ft | 110 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 013 | tent only nonelectric | 92 ft | 111 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 014 | tent only nonelectric | 85 ft | 112 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 015 | tent only nonelectric | 85 ft | 105 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 016 | tent only nonelectric | 91 ft | 99 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 017 | tent only nonelectric | 74 ft | 96 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 018 | tent only nonelectric | 74 ft | 93 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 019 | tent only nonelectric | 78 ft | 96 ft | $20 |
| Antietam Creek Campsite | 020 | tent only nonelectric | 86 ft | 93 ft | $20 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Rohrbach Group CampgroundAntietam National Battlefield · 3.8 mi
Killiansburg Cave Hiker-Biker CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 3.9 mi
Horseshoe Bend Hiker-Biker CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 4.9 mi
Huckleberry Hill Hiker-Biker CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 5.4 miBig Woods Hiker-Biker Overnight (HBO) CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 5.7 miOpequon Junction Hiker-Biker Overnight (HBO) CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 9.0 miFrom Hagerstown MD: Take MD-65 to Sharpsburg. Make a right on Main St. then left on Harpers Ferry Road for a few miles. Before you cross the Antietam Creek bridge, make a right on Canal Rd. Campsites are across the canal and towpath from Canal Rd.
From West Virginia: Take WV-480 through Shepherdstown across the Potomac River. Make the first right after the bridge on Canal Rd. Follow Canal Rd a few miles until you see the campsites on your right before Antietam Creek.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Antietam, MD
Typical weather
Typical October night 43°F, day 67°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 23°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Antietam Creek Campsite is in Maryland’s 6th congressional district. Its representative, April McClain Delaney (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 4
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The office that runs itChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical ParkNational Park Service unit
- The member who votes the moneyApril McClain DelaneyU.S. Representative · Maryland’s 6th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAngela D. AlsobrooksU.S. Senator · Maryland
- Your senator, on the same appropriationChris Van HollenU.S. Senator · Maryland
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks the National Park Service to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up, and to post what that share is.
Subject Hold back a share of sites at Antietam Creek Campsite for campers who drive up
To the National Park Service, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park: I tried to camp at Antietam Creek Campsite in Maryland and couldn’t. All 20 sites at Antietam Creek Campsite are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 20 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Antietam Creek Campsite keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m asking for one specific thing: set aside a published share of the sites at Antietam Creek Campsite as first-come, first-served, and post what that share is so it can be checked. Somebody who drives up has no way in, and no way to find out whether they might have had one. Sent about Antietam Creek Campsite (Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Maryland) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Antietam Creek Campsite, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Maryland
Dear April McClain Delaney, I’m a constituent in Maryland’s 6th district. I tried to camp at Antietam Creek Campsite, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Maryland, and couldn’t. All 20 sites at Antietam Creek Campsite are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 20 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Antietam Creek Campsite keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Antietam Creek Campsite. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Antietam Creek Campsite (Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Maryland) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Antietam Creek Campsite, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Maryland
Dear Angela D. Alsobrooks, I’m a constituent in Maryland. I tried to camp at Antietam Creek Campsite, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Maryland, and couldn’t. All 20 sites at Antietam Creek Campsite are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 20 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Antietam Creek Campsite keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Antietam Creek Campsite. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Antietam Creek Campsite (Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Maryland) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Antietam Creek Campsite, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Maryland
Dear Chris Van Hollen, I’m a constituent in Maryland. I tried to camp at Antietam Creek Campsite, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Maryland, and couldn’t. All 20 sites at Antietam Creek Campsite are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 20 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Antietam Creek Campsite keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Antietam Creek Campsite. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Antietam Creek Campsite (Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Maryland) via campanac.com