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Went with my girlfriend, and a buddy with his girlfriend as well. We went to ride our Jeeps through their trails, obviously camp, fish, and just have a good time.
We camped in the Lee ranger district and it was a little bit more poplated and civilized than I would have liked, or expected. They have working bathrooms, showers, etc. We got in trouble the first night for having two tents on about a 1/4 acre plot by a volunteer ranger. It was obviously just because we were young because every other campground had multiple tents and we asked around and he only said something to us.
Another volunteer ranger made sure to tell us two or three times that this "isn't a party area, and maybe you should move to this area..." when it was just four of us and by 8pm every night we were just sitting in chairs around the fire (Which was noted on a sign to be "Only if necessary" and we were reminded of it by the ranger as well) and talking in quiet tones, definately no yelling or loud noises-- although we did hear plenty from other campsites who didn't get "official warnings" as we got for the tents.
They also lock you in at night. 9pm - 8am they literally lock the gates with padlocks and you're stuck until the next morning. It's definately reasonable to keep noise and traffic down (Although the road right next to camp was busy all night with cars going to and from their homes), but I felt a little like a caged hampster or something... I go camping to get away from it all and to be outdoors and free, and this definately wasn't like that. They kept coming walking into our camp and talking to us, obviously looking around for alcohol and whatever else. He'd watch every move we made and eye everything suspiciously. The rangers were both probably over 65, and just very uneasy about us being there for some reason. You would have thought throwing a football around was the same as doing a kegstand.
The four wheeling is definately fun, albeit not extremely challenging. I'd rate it a 5/10 in terms of difficulty. You need four wheel drive, and atleast some aggressive tires. 2wd with GSAs is going to make you very stuck. If it was raining or snowy, it would actually go from fairly easy to extremely difficult. Many VERY steep inclines, which were easy in the dry would become nearly impossible. I'd go again to explore more trails. We only got to do a few.
Next time we go we're definately going to be camping somewhere WAY more remote, away from all of that garbage. I felt like I was back in highschool raising my hand asking if I could go to the bathroom.
It's only two hours from us here in the Baltimore metro area, so it's definately a great location, I was just so damn dissapointed with the way we were treated by the rangers.
Links for reference:
Four Wheeling Trip This isn't mine, but I found it to be interesting.
GWNF Online Map It turns out some of this is incorrect. Click a section to view their district.
We camped in the Lee ranger district and it was a little bit more poplated and civilized than I would have liked, or expected. They have working bathrooms, showers, etc. We got in trouble the first night for having two tents on about a 1/4 acre plot by a volunteer ranger. It was obviously just because we were young because every other campground had multiple tents and we asked around and he only said something to us.
Another volunteer ranger made sure to tell us two or three times that this "isn't a party area, and maybe you should move to this area..." when it was just four of us and by 8pm every night we were just sitting in chairs around the fire (Which was noted on a sign to be "Only if necessary" and we were reminded of it by the ranger as well) and talking in quiet tones, definately no yelling or loud noises-- although we did hear plenty from other campsites who didn't get "official warnings" as we got for the tents.
They also lock you in at night. 9pm - 8am they literally lock the gates with padlocks and you're stuck until the next morning. It's definately reasonable to keep noise and traffic down (Although the road right next to camp was busy all night with cars going to and from their homes), but I felt a little like a caged hampster or something... I go camping to get away from it all and to be outdoors and free, and this definately wasn't like that. They kept coming walking into our camp and talking to us, obviously looking around for alcohol and whatever else. He'd watch every move we made and eye everything suspiciously. The rangers were both probably over 65, and just very uneasy about us being there for some reason. You would have thought throwing a football around was the same as doing a kegstand.
The four wheeling is definately fun, albeit not extremely challenging. I'd rate it a 5/10 in terms of difficulty. You need four wheel drive, and atleast some aggressive tires. 2wd with GSAs is going to make you very stuck. If it was raining or snowy, it would actually go from fairly easy to extremely difficult. Many VERY steep inclines, which were easy in the dry would become nearly impossible. I'd go again to explore more trails. We only got to do a few.
Next time we go we're definately going to be camping somewhere WAY more remote, away from all of that garbage. I felt like I was back in highschool raising my hand asking if I could go to the bathroom.
It's only two hours from us here in the Baltimore metro area, so it's definately a great location, I was just so damn dissapointed with the way we were treated by the rangers.
Links for reference:
Four Wheeling Trip This isn't mine, but I found it to be interesting.
GWNF Online Map It turns out some of this is incorrect. Click a section to view their district.
A canvas campateer
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