Patapsco Valley State Park- McKeldin Area — Attraction in Eldersburg

The low stars is for my experience and NOT for the park itself. I took my 13 yr old son for the 1st time in our 18 years of residing in Eldersburg on a beautiful sunday afternoon in early july. Temps were perfect! Was told to check out the waterfall/rapids so thats where we headed. Trails all about and plenty of areas to play, grill and park but the closer we got to the rapids the more commercialized it began to feel. More people, more grilling smoke until we got to the bottom of the downhill hike. We were disgusted and honestly shocked to find this beautiful admirable area being used as a free hang out and water hole for about 50 to 75 "folks"! We got stared at all the way through as though we were traspassing! The latin music was blarring so loud i couldnt talk to my son 5 feet in front of me. Signs posted NO SWIMMING/DRINKING! I asked the park ranger walking amongst them why they allowed this craziness but he didnt seem to mind or be able to do much about it so we got out of that area quick! He said its better during the week...what??!!! What a shame! To allow people to "camp out" and take over to the point no passer byes can even enjoy it! It looked like a settlement colony had moved in and took over! The area is not that big. After leaving that area we found other trails that brought more peace to your soul but i was already aggravated so we headed out. Not sure i will go back...definitley not to...

recently visited Patasco Valley State Park - McKeldin Area and was very disappointed to find that it was not accessible. Despite the beautiful surroundings, the lack of proper access points made it difficult and frustrating to arrive to the river.

Accessibility for All: The access points that were available were not accessible for people with disabilities which is a significant oversight. Limited Access Points: There were very few entry points to the river, and those that existed were not accessible. Poor Signage: There was little to no signage indicating where to access the river, making it difficult for first-time visitors.

I spent an hour lost and finding an access point with my 37 week pregnant sister and her toddler. We then decided to return back home and asked for a refund and were told because the cash machine was old she didn’t know how to perform a refund (we paid cash) and to call head quarters. What? I’ve never heard of a cash register being “too old” to make a refund possible.

The only reason this review is 2 stars is because 1 of the young ladies (park ranger) were generous enough to give me a ride up steep hills in order to get the car to pick my pregnant sister and my nephew back up.

I hope that the responsible authorities will address these issues promptly, as improving accessibility would greatly enhance the experience for...

We did the 4 mile hike that kept us near the river. It was very pretty with some different views. It's kind of rocky, which I like. For us, it got a little challenging at the end when we hit a big set of stairs built into the hillside. Definitely felt like we had a decent workout when we were done! The trail was a little more crowded than we had hoped, but that usually wasn't a problem. Social distancing made for a few awkward encounters on particularly narrow sections of the trail, but for the most part, people were being responsible, wearing masks when near other hikers and trying to give each other some distance. Lots of people fishing and lots of families with kids at some small beach areas at various points along the trail. As we got closer to the end of the trail, we saw fewer and fewer people. Not sure if that's...