On our third day of exploring the state parks of Western Maryland we finally found a crowded park. Swallow Falls gets 200,000 visitors a year — probably because it has the word “falls” in its name and people love water even if it ain’t the ocean and there’s no Thrashers fries or funnel cakes. And in summer, the temps rarely exceed 80 degrees.
The trail immediately led us into the dark and forbidding Youghiogheny Grove, a 37-acre area of virgin (never logged) hemlock and white pine, some over three hundred years old. It’s the last stand of its kind in Maryland and has been designated as a sensitive management area where timber cutting and development are severely restricted. It is, in my humble opinion, Maryland’s most unique and beautiful forest.
And the park itself, with its wild combination of primeval vegetation, big stately trees, crumbling rock, waterfalls and thrashing white water is like no other place in Maryland.
I always need to remind myself, especially when I’m hiking around Garrett County, that Maryland has an amazing variety of incredible natural features — from the ocean in the east, to our spectacular wetlands in the south, to the Fall Line forests and rivers in the north, to the ancient mountains in the west — we’ve got it ALL. Way more than most states. BUT, we are also a very tiny state and we have these rich treasures in very small amounts.
Swallow Falls is another one of those “Jurassic Park” kind of places where you might expect to see dinosaurs roaming around amongst the lush ferns. It’s the forest primeval.
There is a loathsome creature called the wooly adelgid that bores under the bark of hemlocks and kills them as it feasts. The hemlocks of West Virginia we’re laid low by this voracious insect. By 2010, they were only about thirty miles from Swallow Falls. And that’s when the intrepid foresters working for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources sprang into action. They hand-inoculated every hemlock tree in the park with small wood bores loaded with a special insecticide, thus protecting Maryland’s last hemlocks for future generations.
We were greeted at the first intersection along the trail with the “scary sign” which read:
The 2-mile trail leads to the park’s three falls: Tolliver Falls, Swallow Falls, and Muddy Creek Falls. The trail runs precariously along the edge of the tumbling & churning white water river through steep, rocky hillsides of time-worn rhododendrons, with breathtaking scenic overlooks and deep swimming holes at the edge of the fast-moving rapids. Like the sign says, BE CAREFUL, you could be swept away in a heartbeat.
Muddy Creek Falls, in addition to being Maryland’s tallest single-drop waterfall at 53-feet-high is also one of America’s most famous campsites. In August 1918, and again in July 1921, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and the writer John Burroughs, drove their Model T Fords down to the falls and camped. Imagine the lively campfire chats at that little historic get together.
Being a water dog, I couldn’t help swimming over to Muddy Creek Falls and sitting under its thundering, wet drum solo for a few minutes. It was cold, but invigorating. And I never miss a chance to get into water and make a fool of myself.
All in all, a trip to Swallow Falls is like walking through Paradise.
Ready for the beach?
Well, four miles up the road from Swallow Falls is another stellar state park called
Herrington Manor State Park.
The two parks share a common boundary and their excellent trail systems are connected with one another, along with those in the surrounding Potomac Garrett State Forest. It’s all one big happy family and these unique public lands can meet all your seasonal needs, from swimming to hiking, camping, birding, biking, boating, snowmobiling, and cross country skiing.
Herrington Manor also rents some tricked out cabins originally constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps. They offer “Twenty cabins with electricity offer bathrooms with hot shower, fully-equipped kitchens including refrigerator and dishes, as well as wood burning fireplaces with inserts, and complimentary firewood. Personal items such as towels, linens, pillows, blankets, dish soap, toiletries and food are not provided. A two night minimum stay is required on non-holiday weekends and a three-day minimum stay is required on holiday weekends. Cabins are available year round.
- Full service cabins: 2-person $76.75
4-person $86.75
6-person $96.75 - Shelter: $16.75 holiday weekdays/weekends; $11.75 non-holiday weekdays (70 person capacity)
- Base rate does not include transaction or other applicable fees”
Jimmy and I parked in the overflowing parking lot by the Lake House where they rent small water craft and have a small snack bar that was doing a land office business on such a warm and sunny July day. Nothing says summer like ice cream.
Next to the Lake House there was a small sandy beach crawling with screaming kids. Bunches of hillbilly swimmers frolicked noisily inside the neck-deep net enclosure. I’m not sure why all of our state parks make you swim inside an enclosure and never extend the far perimeter beyond a depth of six feet, but I’m guessing it’s liability. The lawyers want everyone to be safe. Kayakers drifted on the windy lake like big birds. And families picnicked along the shoreline with that just kicking back in my lawn chair, sun baked, let’s just gossip and talk some trash, contentment that is perhaps the standard trademark of a lazy-hazy summertime outing at the beach — any beach.
We hiked the 2.5-mile Blue Loop Trail that started at the lake and led us up a soft mountain into the woods. We didn’t encounter another soul during the entire hike, and didn’t even see any footprints. The only sounds we heard were made by happy birds.
The trail was like no other I had ever taken before, it was covered in lush, psychedelic green, ankle top, leafy grass that bobbed like a feathery carpet in the light summer breeze.
The trail crested the mountain where one of the main power lines bisected Garrett County from west to east. The view from this man made swath of cleared ground and shiny metal transmission towers was breathtaking, a roller coaster of humming power with brightly colored swamps at the bottom of each hill. And I was reminded once again that Maryland could easily solve its lack of Off Road Vehicle trails by utilizing these already scarred utility corridors that run all across the state.
It’s been a perfect weather growing season in Western Maryland this spring & summer with just the right mixture of rain and sun, and the corn crop across Garrett County, and along the top of the trail reflected the power of seed, good dirt, and fine weather. The cornfields at the edge of the wood line sprouted 7-foot-tall dark green corn nearly ready for harvest.
We christened the area on the other side of the mountain, leading back down to the beach, fern world. The entire hillside was covered in wind-dancing ferns up to our waist. It was so inviting that we decided to take a short nap, using the ferns as a soft mattress.
When we awoke, in a slightly dazed and confused state of happy contentment, Jimmy and I agreed that you can’t beat a fern bed, and the state parks of Western Maryland are dreamy.
