Potomac Forks Campsite

Is this a cool campsite? Yes! Beautiful and eerie in the best way? Absolutely! Is it good for sleeping? Not really — loud trains come through every few hours. Even with earplugs in, the horns woke me up. While I love trains they are loud and not conducive to deep sleep haha. Maybe have lunch here or chill for a bit, but I’d recommend sleeping somewhere else.

I had lunch at Potomac Forks in the fall of 2024 as part of a long distance bike trip. I avoided staying here on another occasion. It is a very interesting site and probably nice if you don't have heavily loaded bike. The camping area is on the other side of the canal from the trail and you have to get up a pretty steep hill that I was unable to do without help. The hill is not long but was too hard for me to push my bike up alone. Nice place for lunch and probably would make a nice campsite if you can get to it. The camping area is not large, probably one of the smaller on the C&O.

Nice walk along the C&O Canal. Not far from the confluence of the North and South branches of the Potomac River. You just have to take a “side trail” and peek though the trees.

A great place to spend the night after a long ride or backpacking trek. There were two different flat areas for tents, an area to hang hammocks between trees into the woods behind the Lockmaster's house, a porta-john and a water pump. The only downfall would be the trains running the tracks across the river all night. I slept through them, but the two guys I was hiking with said they were up 6-8 times throughout the night because of them.

One of many lock keepers houses on C&O Canal Towpath. Some are in better condition. But thankfully they're still here. Campsite is great.