Fifteen Mile Creek Campsite

Best campground!

We've been here twice this fall with our 18' travel trailer; once in site #2, most recently in site #1. We've enjoyed both experiences, and plan to be back next year. The sites are definitely small: in both cases, after parking the trailer at the back of the site, we had to put our car in crosswise in front. Our 9' tall trailer fits through the rail trail overpass with no problem, so we don't have to take the alternate route to get to the campground (which is 1.5 lanes wide at best).

You can't beat the location for bicycling and paddling. And in our experience, it's been very quiet at overnight (although there was noise coming from downriver when we stayed in September). It's also very clean (including during the shutdown): the people who stay here seem to take "pack-in, pack-out" seriously.

The one drawback is the pump: it takes a long time for any water to come out, and takes a lot of pumping to fill even a small bucket. We've seen several people give up after trying the handle a few times without result. Can't comment on the water that comes out of the pump; we just used it to douse our campfire.

As for campfires: Bill's Place (around the corner) may or may not have firewood. When we were there in September they said they were out; we didn't check in October. They directed us to the intersection of Mud Lick Road and Orleans Road, which is maybe a mile south of I-68. There's a pallet of firewood there for $10 a bag, with payment on the honor system. The wood was dry, and a mix of varieties: one time it was mostly hardwoods, one time mostly pine. Each bag was enough for a three-hour fire.

We've been here twice this fall with our 18' travel trailer; once in site #2, most recently in site #1. We've enjoyed both experiences, and plan to be back next year. The sites are definitely small: in both cases, after parking the trailer at the back of the site, we had to put our car in crosswise in front. Our 9' tall trailer fits through the rail trail overpass with no problem, so we don't have to take the alternate route to get to the campground (which is 1.5 lanes wide at best).

You can't beat the location for bicycling and paddling. And in our experience, it's been very quiet at overnight (although there was noise coming from downriver when we stayed in September). It's also very clean (including during the shutdown): the people who stay here seem to take "pack-in, pack-out" seriously.

The one drawback is the pump: it takes a long time for any water to come out, and takes a lot of pumping to fill even a small bucket. We've seen several people give up after trying the handle a few times without result. Can't comment on the water that comes out of the pump; we just used it to douse our campfire.

As for campfires: Bill's Place (around the corner) may or may not have firewood. When we were there in September they said they were out; we didn't check in October. They directed us to the intersection of Mud Lick Road and Orleans Road, which is maybe a mile south of I-68. There's a pallet of firewood there for $10 a bag, with payment on the honor system. The wood was dry, and a mix of varieties: one time it was mostly hardwoods, one time mostly pine. Each bag was enough for a three-hour fire.

Nice view of the Potomac. Close campground to New Orleans

Nice view of the Potomac. Close campground to New Orleans

Perfect spot for getting on to ride the C&O for 2 days.

Perfect spot for getting on to ride the C&O for 2 days.

Very quiet. Did some fishing. Pretty view of the Potomac river. Large campsites. Clean.

Very quiet. Did some fishing. Pretty view of the Potomac river. Large campsites. Clean.

The Campground was very nice. It is a bit longer walk to the site than we had expected. We arrived after dark and it took us a while to locate the site as there are no signs directing you to the site.