McCoy's Ferry Campground
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- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:41 UTC
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 13All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
The McCoys Ferry Campground is located at Mile 110.4 on the C&O Canal Towpath, between the towns of Big Pool and Big Spring on the Maryland side of the Potomac River. The campsites are drive-in, large enough to park a very small fifth wheel/travel trailer/RV/pop-out with a 20' ft. (6.1 m) maximum. McCoys Ferry has a tunnel access which limits vehicle height to 10' 3" (3.12 m). Alcoholic beverages are prohibited. Keep reading
Recreation
The most popular activities for McCoys Ferry campers is boating and fishing. The campground has a boat ramp for easy access to the Potomac River for kayakers and fisherman alike. Be sure to acquire a Maryland Fishing License for those age 16 or older.
Facilities
The campground has 12 single drive-in campsites. Each single will accommodate up to eight people. Single campsites have a picnic table, fire ring and grill. There is one group site available with space for two vehicles and a small trailer or support vehicle less than 20 ft (6 m). The group site can accommodate 30 people and has four picnic tables with grill and fire pit. Protected pit toilets and accessible portable toilets are available. Potable hand pump water is available April 15 - November 1. No motor vehicle traffic is allowed on the towpath. Parking is allowed in the drive-in campsites and the adjacent parking lot for vehicles with trailers.
Natural Features
Tucked in the mountains of Western Maryland and adjacent to Fort Frederick State Park, experience the history and culture of the area as well as its natural beauty, which is plentiful all times of the year, but especially during autumn.
Nearby Attractions
Fort Frederick State Park is located nearby, a rare pre-Revolution stone fort from the French & Indian War. Living History programming is available weekends in the summer. 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
McCoys Ferry has a tunnel access which limits vehicle height to 10' 3" (3.1 m).
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.
Winter. Especially during winter, bring ample water and food. Surrounding towns may offer minimal or no supplies.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
Campfires. Fires are permitted 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.
No Alcohol or Marijuana. 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.
Remove all 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 Out. Check in time is 1:00 p.m. ET. Check out time is 12:00 noon ET.
Vehicles and Parking. No motor vehicle traffic is allowed on the towpath. Parking is allowed in the drive-in campsites and the adjacent parking lot for vehicles with trailers.
Emergencies. If someone is "squatting" in your campsite OR for emergencies, please call National Capital Region Communications Center 1-866-677-6677.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 13 · 1 group
- 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
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Fall color · reported 2 days ago, 37 km away
- Near peak
Full this Saturdayread 15:41 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
2 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 15:35 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 13 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 12 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 15:41 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 · 13
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 · 2
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 15:35 UTC
- Owens Creek CampgroundCatoctin Mountain Park · 26 mi · 1 of 48 site-nights open
- Paw Paw Tunnel CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 27 mi · 7 of 10 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 15:41 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
13 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 13 mapped sitesAll 13 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. 13 of the 13 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| McCoys Ferry Campground | 001 | standard nonelectric | 86 ft | 92 ftPotomac River | $20 |
| McCoys Ferry Campground | 002 | standard nonelectric | 68 ft | 79 ftPotomac River | $20 |
| McCoys Ferry Campground | 003 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | 73 ftPotomac River | $20 |
| McCoys Ferry Campground | 004 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 66 ftPotomac River | $20 |
| McCoys Ferry Campground | 005 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 62 ftPotomac River | $20 |
| McCoys Ferry Campground | 006 | standard nonelectric | 81 ft | 73 ftPotomac River | $20 |
| McCoys Ferry Campground | 007 | standard nonelectric | 69 ft | 63 ftPotomac River | $20 |
| McCoys Ferry Campground | 008 | group standard nonelectric | 166 ft | 127 ftPotomac River | $40 |
| McCoys Ferry Campground | 009 | standard nonelectric | 80 ft | 128 ftPotomac River | $20 |
| McCoys Ferry Campground | 010 | standard nonelectric | 69 ft | 113 ftPotomac River | $20 |
| McCoys Ferry Campground | 011 | standard nonelectric | 85 ft | 129 ftPotomac River | $20 |
| McCoys Ferry Campground | 012 | standard nonelectric | 58 ft | 123 ftPotomac River | $20 |
| McCoys Ferry Campground | 013 | standard nonelectric | 68 ft | 136 ftPotomac River | $20 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Licking Creek Hiker-Biker CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 5.1 miJordan Junction Hiker-Biker CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 6.2 mi
Cumberland Valley Hiker-Biker Overnight (HBO) CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 7.0 miOpequon Junction Hiker-Biker Overnight (HBO) CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 8.7 mi
Little Pool Hiker-Biker CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 9.2 miFrom Hagerstown, MD: Take I-70 W to Exit 18 towards Clear Springs. Make a left onto U.S. Route 40. About a mile (1.6 km) later make another left on Martin Street. This road will head out of town for a few miles. Make a right on MD State Route 56. Then a few miles later make a left on McCoy's Ferry Rd. The road will dead end at the campground after passing under the tunnel.
The weather
the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
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
McCoy's Ferry Campground 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 McCoy's Ferry Campground for campers who drive up
To the National Park Service: I tried to camp at McCoy's Ferry Campground in Maryland and couldn’t. All 13 sites at McCoy's Ferry Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 13 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. McCoy's Ferry Campground 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 McCoy's Ferry Campground 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 McCoy's Ferry Campground (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 McCoy's Ferry Campground, Maryland
Dear April McClain Delaney, I’m a constituent in Maryland’s 6th district. I tried to camp at McCoy's Ferry Campground, Maryland, and couldn’t. All 13 sites at McCoy's Ferry Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 13 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. McCoy's Ferry Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run McCoy's Ferry Campground. 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 McCoy's Ferry Campground (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 McCoy's Ferry Campground, Maryland
Dear Angela D. Alsobrooks, I’m a constituent in Maryland. I tried to camp at McCoy's Ferry Campground, Maryland, and couldn’t. All 13 sites at McCoy's Ferry Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 13 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. McCoy's Ferry Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run McCoy's Ferry Campground. 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 McCoy's Ferry Campground (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 McCoy's Ferry Campground, Maryland
Dear Chris Van Hollen, I’m a constituent in Maryland. I tried to camp at McCoy's Ferry Campground, Maryland, and couldn’t. All 13 sites at McCoy's Ferry Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 13 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. McCoy's Ferry Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run McCoy's Ferry Campground. 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 McCoy's Ferry Campground (Maryland) via campanac.com