Rohrbach Group Campground
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:28 UTC
- Sites
- 10All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
THIS IS NOT A PUBLIC CAMPGROUND. ONLY SCOUTS AND CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS MAY USE ROHRBACH CAMPGROUND. Antietam National Battlefield is the site of the bloodiest one day battle in American history. After twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862, 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's first invasion into the North and led to Abraham Lincoln's issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Rohrbach Campground is part of the Antietam National Battlefield. Keep reading
It is a walk-in, primitive camping area available to scouts and civic organization groups only (see "Know Before You Go," below, for individual camping options in the area). The campground has 10 sites, each of which is provided with a fire ring and picnic tables and space to accommodate a maximum of 30 people. The campground is typically open from April through November.
Recreation
Recreational activities in Antietam National Battlefield include hiking and attending a park ranger program or pre-arranging a ranger led activity. There are 15 miles (24 km) of trails to explore with the Bloody Lane and Final Attack Trails being the most popular. Biking the battlefield tour road is another popular activity while visiting Antietam. Riders under the age of 16 are required to wear helmets.
Facilities
All sites are available for advance reservation only. There are no first-come, first-served sites. Each campsite offers a fire ring and picnic tables and space to accommodate a maximum of 30 people. Pit toilets and handwashing stations are available at the campground and indoor facilities are located at the Antietam National Cemetery and the visitor center. Bring your own potable water. Drinking water is not provided at the campground, there is access to a spicket with drinkable water for filling containers located behind the park visitor center at 5831 Dunker Church Rd. Sharpsburg, Maryland 21782.
Natural Features
The battlefield, located in the Cumberland Valley of western Maryland, encompasses over 3,250 acres of farmland, pastures, woodlots and limestone forests. Antietam's diverse landscape provides a noteworthy habitat for wildlife observation. During a typical day at the battlefield, visitors are most likely to see woodchucks and white-tailed deer. The open fields provide great habitat for a range of birds such as Eastern Bluebirds, Horned Larks and Grasshopper Sparrows. Small stands of trees and wooded areas attract Pileated Woodpeckers, various owls and Red-Tailed Hawks.
Nearby Attractions
Visit the park's Things to Do page.
Charges & Cancellations
A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change your reservation. Cancellations more than 48 hours in advance of arrival date incur a $10 cancellation fee. Within 48 hours of arrival, a $10 cancellation fee and the first night's fee are charged.
What the agency tells you
Scout and Civic Groups Only. Rohrbach Group Campground is available for Scout groups and civic organization groups only. Family and individual camping is not available at this facility.
Bring your own potable water. Drinking water is not provided at the campground. There is a spicket with drinking water located behind the park visitor center.
Individual Camping Options. For visitors interested in family/individual campsites (not available at Antietam National Battlefield), try Antietam Creek Campground, located approximately 15 minutes from Antietam National Battlefield. Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park offers several other campgrounds while Catoctin Mountain Park, approximately 45 minutes away, offers Owens Creek Campground and other overnight facilities.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Campfires. Campfires are only permitted in the provided fire rings at each campsite. Fires may only be ignited using fuel sources designed and commonly used for warmth or preparation of food, such as charcoal or natural firewood. Lighting or maintaining a fire with other materials such as flammable liquids, garbage, fireworks, aerosol, lighter fluid, or other manufactured or synthetic material is prohibited.
Alcohol Prohibited. The consumption of alcoholic beverages is prohibited.
Entrance Fee. Antietam National Battlefield charges an entrance fee separate from camping fees. You may pay the fee upon arrival or purchase in advance. The park also honors America the Beautiful - the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands (interagency) passes (e.g., annual, senior, access, 4th grade, Golden Age pass etc.). For more information visit the park's Fees & Passes web page.
Firewood Restrictions. Antietam National Battlefield and the Rohrbach Campground will no longer be providing firewood to groups. If you bring your own firewood, it must be from the state of MD or USDA certified 'bug-free' firewood.
STOP THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE SPECIES. Remove plants, seeds, animals, and mud from boots, gear, pets, and vehicles. Clean your gear before entering and leaving the recreation site. Stay on designated roads and trails, and follow local guidelines for firewood . CLEAN, DRAIN, DRY boats and any other recreational equipment that contacts water. Dispose of unwanted bait, worms, fish parts, or other organisms into the trash and not into the environment. For more information visit the National Invasive Species Information Center.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 10 · 10 tent-only, 10 group
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- “…to accommodate a maximum of 30 people. Pit toilets and handwashing stations are available at the…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “Bring your own potable water.”
Around the campground
- Biking
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Ranger programs
- Fall color · reported 4 days ago, 30 km away
- Minimal color
Full this Saturdayread 15:28 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
1 campground has sites open within 30 miles, read 15:35 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 9 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 10 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 15:28 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 · 17
What you actually pay
“A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change your reservation. Cancellations more than 48 hours in advance of arrival date incur a $10 cancellation fee.” · this campground’s own terms
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 · 6
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 1
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 15:35 UTC
- Owens Creek CampgroundCatoctin Mountain Park · 19 mi · 1 of 48 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 15:28 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
10 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 10 mapped sitesAll 10 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. 10 of the 10 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Rohrbach campground | 001 | group tent only area nonelectric | 177 ft | 584 ftAntietam Creek | $25 |
| Rohrbach campground | 002 | group tent only area nonelectric | 218 ft | 604 ftAntietam Creek | $25 |
| Rohrbach campground | 003 | group tent only area nonelectric | 218 ft | 554 ftAntietam Creek | $25 |
| Rohrbach campground | 004 | group tent only area nonelectric | 294 ft | 282 ftAntietam Creek | $25 |
| Rohrbach campground | 005 | group tent only area nonelectric | 108 ft | 174 ftAntietam Creek | $25 |
| Rohrbach campground | 006 | group tent only area nonelectric | 90 ft | 213 ftAntietam Creek | $25 |
| Rohrbach campground | 007 | group tent only area nonelectric | 90 ft | 228 ftAntietam Creek | $25 |
| Rohrbach campground | 008 | group tent only area nonelectric | 110 ft | 208 ftAntietam Creek | $25 |
| Rohrbach campground | 009 | group tent only area nonelectric | 110 ft | 241 ftAntietam Creek | $25 |
| Rohrbach campground | 010 | group tent only area nonelectric | 177 ft | 407 ftAntietam Creek | $25 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Horseshoe Bend Hiker-Biker CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 1.8 miBig Woods Hiker-Biker Overnight (HBO) CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 2.9 mi
Killiansburg Cave Hiker-Biker CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 3.0 mi
Antietam Creek CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 3.8 miOpequon Junction Hiker-Biker Overnight (HBO) CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 6.8 mi
Cumberland Valley Hiker-Biker Overnight (HBO) CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 8.4 miThe visitor center is located at 5831 Dunker Church Rd. off of MD Rt 65, ten miles (16 km) south of I-70 and one mile north of historic Sharpsburg, Maryland.
The campground is located at 18316 Burnside Bridge Road, Sharpsburg, MD 21782.
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
Rohrbach Group 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 · 3
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 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 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 Rohrbach Group Campground, Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland
Dear April McClain Delaney, I’m a constituent in Maryland’s 6th district. I tried to camp at Rohrbach Group Campground, Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland, and couldn’t. All 10 sites at Rohrbach Group Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 9 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. Rohrbach Group Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Rohrbach Group 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 Rohrbach Group Campground (Antietam National Battlefield, 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 Rohrbach Group Campground, Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland
Dear Angela D. Alsobrooks, I’m a constituent in Maryland. I tried to camp at Rohrbach Group Campground, Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland, and couldn’t. All 10 sites at Rohrbach Group Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 9 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. Rohrbach Group Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Rohrbach Group 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 Rohrbach Group Campground (Antietam National Battlefield, 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 Rohrbach Group Campground, Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland
Dear Chris Van Hollen, I’m a constituent in Maryland. I tried to camp at Rohrbach Group Campground, Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland, and couldn’t. All 10 sites at Rohrbach Group Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 9 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. Rohrbach Group Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Rohrbach Group 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 Rohrbach Group Campground (Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland) via campanac.com