Greenbelt National Park

[Lifeangel1]

Hi! I'm going to be camping in Greenbelt National Park outside Washington DC. Has anyone stayed there? I know there are no hookups and I'm fine with that but are there water spigots to fill my water tank up. I hate towing with a full water tank for weight reasons. I looked on the campground map and they don't show any on the map. We plan on staying there for 4 nights and take the metro into DC everyday and take in the museums and other sites.

[Used 2B PopUPTimes]

Cherry Hill Park is a safer place to stay

[tlhdoc]

Shebantam stayed there a few years ago.  You might want to drop her a line.

[Tim5055]

Yes, water is available.  We stayed there in November of 2001.

The campground, while actually in Greenbelt Maryland is inside the Washington DC beltway.  For anyone visiting our nations capitol this is the closest campground.  But there are NO electric or water campsites.  
 
If you do decide to use this campground as a base to visit Washington DC I would recommend driving to the nearest "Metro" (the DC subway system)  and then riding the subway into the city.  Parking inside Washington is lousy and driving can be harder!
 
While the park web site boasts 174 camp sites, we found many are unusable for pop-up campers.  Many of the sites are no more than a bump out in the pavement, parallel to road traffic.  While this would be marginally acceptable on the right side of the road (other than traffic passing on your left all day) about half of these "bump out sites" are on the left side of the road, meaning your front door would open into traffic.  A very poor design indeed.  Other sites were too shallow for a pop-up and tow vehicle while others had the fire grill and table on the wrong side of the camper.  I would guess that no more than 25% of the sites are acceptable for our use.
 
All sites are in a wonderful wooded setting but there is little cover between camp sites.  On most sites, you will see a lot of your neighbors, a feeling I am more accustomed to in a private campground not a public park.  While this is a wooded oasis surrounded by the city, you will hear traffic noise and trains from the campground, but this did not disturb our sleep.
 
An interesting event during our stay was the arrival of 20 motor homes visiting from Germany.  Many were Mercedes Benz but others were of unknown manufacture.  Very nice looking rigs.  We went for a walk around 9:30 Saturday night to try to talk with some of the visitors but all were in bed at this hour.
 
The bath houses were clean with hot water available.
 
For a camper with sufficient battery available, this would be a good base to visit Washington DC but it is not a destination campground.

[Lifeangel1]

Cherry Hill Park is a safer place to stay

After your post I stopped and started thinking about the possibility that it may not be the safest place in the world to camp. I thought about vagrancy issues and related problems. I emailed the NPS in Greenbelt and asked them about safety. I got a reply praising the safety of the park which is great but expected. I decided to go one step further and email the Greenbelt Police Department and see if they  had anything to  say. I figured they would be more willing to be honest with me.....Here's the email I sent and the reply I got back ...


Good Day Sir:
 
I was planning a trip to your area soon. I plan on camping at Greenbelt National Park. I am a camping with my daughter and 2 grandsons and was concerned about being safe in that park. I emailed the park service and they, of course, assured me it was very safe. However just to be sure I wanted to check with your department. Are there any major issues with the park like vagrancy, campers being harassed or theft problems. I camped there many years ago and simply loved it. I'd appreciate any input you can give me on this subject.  Thank you for your time.  Sherry


Here's the reply:  

Hi Ms. Smith:
 
Thanks for contacting me regarding your trip to Greenbelt Park.  The park is a beautiful oasis in an otherwise overcrowded, noisy metropolitan area.  While no place on earth can claim to be totally safe, Greenbelt Park is about as close as you can get.  The United States Park Police have a substation right at the entrance to the park.  Their officers routinely patrol the park in vehicles and on horseback.  The US Department of the Interior also has Park Rangers at the location.  For good measure, our officers sometimes patrol there as well.  As a result, there likely is more police protection in that small area than anywhere else you could stay, that is unless you are friends with George Bush and he could give you the Lincoln Bedroom.
 
Relax and enjoy your stay.
 
Chief Craze


The man definitely has a sense of humor.  I wanted to post this in case anyone has any reservations about staying there. I feel better about it. I do plan on taking all the precautions necessary to keep us safe but I don't think I'm going to worry about it. I stayed in a nice hotel once in DC and there was a shooting around the corner. I guess no place is entirely safe but I plan on having fun. I'll report back after our trip!!

[CajunCamper]

Have fun, it sounds like your safety issues have been put to rest.

CajunCamper

[tlhdoc]

Thank you for posting the reply.  I plan on camping there.  Possibly this fall.

[Tim5055]

The primary law enforcement agency in the Park is the US Park Police.  They are different form "Park Rangers", in that they are a full time law enforcement agency.  They perform the full spectrum of law enforcement activities including cruiser, scooter, foot patrol, bicycle and plainclothes patrol.  Patrol Branch duties include crime reduction and prevention, drug enforcement,  public assistance,  and a wide variety of traffic duties to include enforcement, traffic control and accident investigation.  Just a little more info on the Park Police at Greenbelt:

U.S. Park Police DC 24 hour Emergency Number  (202) 619-7300

District Four Substation - Baltimore-Washington Parkway District (301) 344-4250

District Commander  -   Captain Patrick Smith

Station Commander   -  Lieutenant John Dewey

The Greenbelt Station was established in 1953 when the United States Park Police began patrolling the partially completed Baltimore-Washington Parkway. The Parkway originally stretched from Route 175 to Route 197 until its completion, reaching the District of Columbia line. The Greenbelt Station was the first decentralized district in the Washington metropolitan area because of its distance from Headquarters where, prior to its establishment, Park Police officers reported to duty.

 From 1954 to the early 1960

[Lifeangel1]

We're going there over Easter for 4 nights. I'm buying an extra battery and bought an extra heater to supplement the furnace. I never dry camped 4 nights before only 3 and we didn't have any trouble. My youngest grandson is in Kindergarten and has an intense interest in the government and history. I know he is going to be thrilled with everything we see. My other Grandson in in first grade and loves dinosaurs and airplanes. He'll love the museums. I only live about 1 1/2 hours from DC so if all goes well I'm sure we will be camping there more often.

[tlhdoc]

We're going there over Easter for 4 nights. I'm buying an extra battery and bought an extra heater to supplement the furnace. I never dry camped 4 nights before only 3 and we didn't have any trouble. My youngest grandson is in Kindergarten and has an intense interest in the government and history. I know he is going to be thrilled with everything we see. My other Grandson in in first grade and loves dinosaurs and airplanes. He'll love the museums. I only live about 1 1/2 hours from DC so if all goes well I'm sure we will be camping there more often.

If you have the time would you please take notes of some of the "good" sites.  I don't need to be near the bathrooms.  Also any bad sites.  Ones that would not work with a PU.  If you have a digital camera photo's would be even better.  Have a good trip.

[Lifeangel1]

If you have the time would you please take notes of some of the "good" sites.  I don't need to be near the bathrooms.  Also any bad sites.  Ones that would not work with a PU.  If you have a digital camera photo's would be even better.  Have a good trip.

Yeah I should be able to that. I want to make note of good sites for my own information and seeing the weekend I go shouldn't be too busy it will be a great opportunity to do so.

[tlhdoc]

Yeah I should be able to that. I want to make note of good sites for my own information and seeing the weekend I go shouldn't be too busy it will be a great opportunity to do so.

Thank you in advance.

[pricerj]

We are also planning on 4 nights in the DC area this summer. Based on the info I gained thru this site we're going to Pohick Bay just south of Ft Belvoir in VA. Nice wooded sites, electric & water. Just a short drive to the Franconia-Springfield stop for the metro so I never have to drive inside the beltway.

I spent 3 months at Belvoir a few years ago and learned just how valuable using the metro in DC is. Plus I like my campsites to have some "camp" in them.

[Lifeangel1]

had a great weekend in Greenbelt National Park. they only had the D loop open for camping and we practically had the place to ourselves. Even though the beltway is a short distance away ther was little traffic noise. However there was air traffic noise, helicopters and planes. Nothing that kept us awake however. When there are leaves on the trees this will be minimized even more.

the bathrooms were what you would expect for this time of year. Not as kept up as in the peak season but they were warm and not bad.

I get the feeling the park was originally set up for tent camping. A lot of sites are backwards ( not awning side). there are also slight cut outs in the road for pulloff areas like for a car with a tent. Not big enough for a trailer in most instances. I was in site 159. It was nice and spacious. i have pics in the link under my signature. Other sites to consider:
 D-loop: 159,160,111,113,114,116,128,133,134,138,140,139,145,146,158,173 is a little small but doable and 174 uphill front to back but leveling still wouldn't be a problem.

Loop-C 87,94,95 best in C, and 101

I only included sites where there was room for an awning. I never found
B loop and A loop seems to be a scouts only area.

There is a trail that leaves Dloop and says it takes you to the metro.....well after a long hike it dumped us off at an intersection of two major roads with no indication as to where the metro might be so we hiked back with crying kids and got in the car and drove to the metro. It was about a couple of miles down the road and I still have no idea where that trail dumped us off at.

Anyway if you like a no frills campground that's only 16 dollars a night to use as a sightseeing camp than this the place. I would go back in a heartbeat.

[dthurk]

This looks like an interesting campground and one we may try when visiting DC in the future.   I looked into reservations, you cannot reserve a specific site.  It appears reservations are for various lengths of campers and a site will be assigned at check-in.  Most likely, the later you arrive the fewer sites you would have to choose from.