Cedarville State Forest
Cedarville State Forest is a peaceful and accessible park located just 30 minutes from DC, offering beautiful easy hiking trails, including the longest Orange Trail and a scenic Cedarville Pond popular for birdwatching. The park is dog-friendly, wheelchair accessible, and family-oriented, featuring amenities like picnic tables, barbecue grills, playgrounds, and well-maintained restrooms. Visitors appreciate its natural beauty and tranquility for camping, biking, and wildlife observation.
Reviews
Went down there for my birthday. Man had an awesome time down there first time camping. I will be back. I didn’t wanna leave very peaceful and quiet.
The natural beauty of the area was spectacular. The only reason for four stars instead of five was that the personnel was not there. We arrived around 3 PM on a weekday and posted on the Ranger station/gift shop were hours till 5 PM. But it was closed. Our check-in information was in a box. That in of itself wasn’t terrible but I noticed a campsite very near mine that had random junk all over it. The fire pit was full to overflowing of trash. The picnic table had all sorts of items, including a suitcase piled on it with a tarp over it, there was a plastic clothes basket with various clothing items stuffed in it and there was no tent or car or anything else. It looked abandoned. If there had been some staff around, I think they would have dealt with this. Later on that night, a vehicle did pull up but again no camping equipment.
Good park outside DC. Only a 30 min drive from the city this park offers a relaxing walk through the woods with all easy trails. I recommend the orange trail that is the longest trail but take you around everything this park has to offer. Dog friendly! Make sure to carry out your trash – There are no garbage cans
My son and I had a great time here. The trails were nice for walking or bike riding. The animals in the office were cool to visit. Showers didn’t have a lot of hot water but were well maintained. The sites are large and spread out, and the playground was great too!
I go here for birding. Cedarville Pond way in the back is a fantastic spot for this. Check the eBird hot spot map for “Cedarville State Forest (Charles Co.).” I would love it if they groomed the trail around the pond a bit more. You can’t get down to the south side of the pond without walking through brush that’s overgrown the trail but it’s absolutely worth it to go back there.
Last time I went I found 17 species in a 2 hour walk around the pond that included shore birds, warblers, vireos, tanagers, thrushes, flycatchers, and even a banded osprey.