Spring Gap Campground
4Heads uppark alerts
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:49 UTC
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 14All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Spring Gap Campground is located at Mile 173.3 on the C&O Canal Towpath, near the city of Cumberland on the Maryland side of the Potomac River. Alcoholic beverages are prohibited. Keep reading
Recreation
The most popular activities for Spring Gap campers are hiking the local trails, biking the C&O Canal Towpath, paddling and fishing. The campground has a boat ramp for easy access to the Potomac River for kayakers and anglers alike. Be sure to acquire a Maryland Fishing License for those age 16 or older.
Facilities
Spring Gap Campground offers 12 single drive-in campsites and two drive-in group sites. Campsites 1, 2, 8, 11 and 13 can fit a single vehicle (i.e., car/pickup/van). Campsites 3-7, 12, 14 can fit a small 20 ft. length or smaller RV/trailer/pop-up. Single sites can accommodate up to eight people. Each single has a picnic table, fire pit and grill. Campsites 9 and 10 are group sites capable of holding 30 people each. The group site has room for two vehicles. The group site has four picnic tables, a fire pit and grill. Pit and portable toilets are available. Hand pump water is available April 15 - November 1.
Natural Features
Tucked in the mountains of Western Maryland and adjacent to Cumberland, MD, 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. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (301) 739-4200.
Nearby Attractions
The C&O Canal National Historical Park Cumberland Visitor Center is in Cumberland, MD, open seven days a week. Also in Cumberland, MD: the Allegany Museum, Gordon-Roberts House, Gilchrist Gallery and the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad are all worth a visit.
What the agency tells you
Water and Hygiene. The hand pump well is turned on April 15 - October 31. Please bring water for use if camping between November 1 - April 14. 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.
Campfires. Fires are permitted only in established fire rings. Please ensure that your fire is extinguished completely each time you leave the area.
Firewood. 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.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Quiet Hours. Please observe quiet hours between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
Alcohol & Marijuana. Alcoholic beverages are prohibited. Marijuana is illegal on federal property.
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 trash cans are not provided. Trash must be picked up and the area left in a clean condition before the group departs. Bring trash bags.
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
- 14 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 20 ft
- 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
- Night sky · 27th darkest of 62 in MD
- Bortle 4
22 of 28 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:49 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:49 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
14 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 14 mapped sitesAll 14 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. 14 of the 14 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Spring Gap Campground | 01 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | 34 ft | $20 | |
| Spring Gap Campground | 02 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | under 10 ft | $20 | |
| Spring Gap Campground | 03 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 46 ft | 30 ft | $20 |
| Spring Gap Campground | 04 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 68 ft | 78 ftNorth Branch Potomac River | $20 |
| Spring Gap Campground | 05 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 68 ft | 58 ftNorth Branch Potomac River | $20 |
| Spring Gap Campground | 06 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 56 ft | 54 ftNorth Branch Potomac River | $20 |
| Spring Gap Campground | 07 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 61 ft | 49 ftNorth Branch Potomac River | $20 |
| Spring Gap Campground | 08 | standard nonelectric | 68 ft | 65 ftNorth Branch Potomac River | $20 | |
| Spring Gap Campground | 09 | group standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 97 ft | 103 ftNorth Branch Potomac River | $40 |
| Spring Gap Campground | 10 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 68 ft | 133 ftNorth Branch Potomac River | $20 |
| Spring Gap Campground | 11 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 98 ftNorth Branch Potomac River | $20 | |
| Spring Gap Campground | 12 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 22 ft | 114 ftNorth Branch Potomac River | $20 |
| Spring Gap Campground | 13 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 122 ftNorth Branch Potomac River | $20 | |
| Spring Gap Campground | 14 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 68 ft | 132 ft | $20 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Irons Mountain Hiker-Biker CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 1.8 mi
Evitts Creek Hiker-Biker CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 3.7 mi
Pigmans Ferry Hiker-Biker CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 4.0 mi
Potomac Forks Hiker-Biker CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 7.3 mi
Town Creek Hiker-Biker Overnight (HBO) CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 10 miPurslane Run Hiker-Biker Overnight (HBO) CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 14 miFrom Cumberland, MD: Follow MD State Route 51 South/East Industrial Road for approximately 7 miles (11 km). Spring Gap Campground will be directly off 51, on the right side of the road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Spring Gap, 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
Who answers for this land
Spring Gap 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 →