Maryland

Catoctin National Recreation Trail

27 mi long · in Maryland · centroid 50 mi from Baltimore

This trail traverses Gambrill State Park, the Frederick City Watershed, Cunningham Falls State Park and Catoctin Mountain National Park.

Catoctin National Recreation Trail
Photo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
States
Maryland
Length
27 mi
Network
Regional (rwn)
Maintained by
Potomac Appalachian Trail Club
Centroid nearest city
Baltimore, MD · 50 mi · ~1.4 hr drive
Centroid coords
39.5673°, -77.4677°
OSM relation
6249386
From Wikipedia: The Catoctin National Recreation Trail is a 26.6 mi (42.4 km) hiking trail that traverses federal, state, and municipal woodlands along the northern half of Catoctin Mountain in Frederick County in central Maryland, USA. The hilly terrain is typical of western Maryland with large sections canopied under dense forest cover. Excerpt from the Wikipedia article on Catoctin Trail, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Plan your hike

Practical notes

Maps + permits: long-distance trails like this often require permits for through-hiking, backcountry camping, or specific sections (especially in National Parks). Check with the maintaining organisation listed above and the relevant land manager before booking travel.

Water + supplies: water sources vary seasonally on most U.S. trails. Carry a filter and consult current trail-condition reports — through-hiker journals (PCT-L, AT Reddit, etc.) and the maintaining organisation publish regular updates.

When to go: hiking seasons vary widely with elevation, latitude, and snowpack. Through-hikers traditionally start the AT in March-April (Springer northbound) and the PCT in late April (Campo northbound). High-elevation western trails (CDT, JMT, Wonderland) generally aren't passable until July.

If you've hiked Catoctin National Recreation Trail and have current notes (water sources, trail closures, permit changes), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn.

Stay nearby

Affiliate · disclosed
Driving in? The nearest documented metro is Baltimore, MD — 50 miles away (~1.4 hr drive). See accommodation in Baltimore on Booking.com → RoamFound earns a small commission if you book through this link, at no extra cost to you. How we handle affiliate links.

Other trails within 50 miles

14 nearby

Sources

Public data + curation

Trail data on this page is compiled from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), the maintaining organisation's public-facing materials, and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA where excerpts are quoted). Distance, terminus, and descriptive text for nationally-designated trails are hand-curated from federal land-manager websites and trail-association sources. We do not modify the underlying data; this page presents what is already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page.