Elk Neck State Park — Attraction in Havre de Grace

My first stay at Elk Neck State Park began in a Camper Cabin in the Chester Loop. It had a very large built into the wall air conditioner that was capable of making the temperature in the single room Cabin COLD which was extremely welcomed as it was late August 2018 and was still summer (hot). My NFL Philadelphia Eagles blanket kept me comfortable as I prefer a chill in the air during sleep on the queen sized bed. Also in this “Camper” Cabin was a set of twin sized bunk beds too. There was a forest green Venetian blinded window next to the front door (that had a much smaller window in it too) that had a deadbolt key lock on it (the Check In Office gives you the key when you check in). There was also one other Venetian blinded window on the wall opposite from the front and only door representing the only entrance and also exit from this single room that was roughly around 20’ by 20’. There was a porch outside the front door too with a wooden railing, and you had to step up to get onto it, the one I stayed on (211 Robin) didn’t have a ramp, but the single step was easily traversed. There was a BathHouse in the Chester “Loop” that was very close by, with Bathroom stalls and showers therein. It has always been very well lit, clean, and pleasant in every way. The water in the shower was warm very quick and could get hot if you wanted it to. There also was multiple sinks with running hot and cold water with mirrors, and two electric hand dryers for drying your hands. One shower was handicap accessible with an included sturdy bench for sitting down while showering, a nice shelf near the bench for placing your showering needs, and a sitting bench across from the shower itself for sitting again once out of the shower. The BathHouse inside itself was very spacious and clean. The outside was well lit as was the building itself when approached from any side. There was a Camp Host residing directly across from the BathHouse doors too which was comforting, with a large mobile home parked there. The BathHouse said it was closed for cleaning every day at 1 PM. There is a Campground Store too that opens at 3 PM and closes at 9:30 PM just inside the Campground after the Check In building that has firewood, ice, and water with candy, ice cream, soft drinks, and snacks too. Best of all there is a Chesapeake Bay Beach area that I really love if you leave the park and take a right then the first left and follow it until you reach the Check In building. It is a very large Beach with numerous picnic tables located under shady trees. I have really enjoyed myself, every one has been very friendly and courteous, I would recommend Elk Neck State Park to anybody looking to have a really...

Couple things before coming here....

For camping specifically

A. Make sure you bring a cot or some sort of comfortable bedding to supplement your sleeping bag. You have to bring that or it will be a very long night.

B. There are raccoons that get active around. 2-3 am, please put away your food away where it would be hard for animals to get to and throw away your trash promptly into the dumpsters before you go to sleep. Raccoons are very cunning and patient animals, they will stay around to get the job done no matter how many times u tell them to go away and while you’re sleep deprived, it gets annoying and a lil bit scary.

C. My plastic tent pegs don’t get the job done for keeping the tent secured to the ground. Please bring metal and extremely narrow tent pegs and they will work perfectly in the rocky soil of tent grounds. In a pinch there’s a guy that comes around, I think his name is Paul who cleans the bathroom into pristine conditions and provided the metal tent pegs. Pretty helpful guy ask for him if u need assistance I think he runs the place for the summer.

D. Please bring plenty of bug spray, and something to soothe itchiness, and if u can some of those flaming torches u can just post up that send bugs away. Sometimes u can forget to put bug spray on or sweat it off so that could help in general keeping the bugs at bay, but they do bite 24/7 and won’t stop itching.

E. Kind of separate from camping but I did swim in the water and it feels amazingly warm. The first 20-30 steps off the shoreline is straight rocks. Bring water shoes or prepare to gut out the walk farther into the water where soft and sandy bottoms are waiting. The depth of the water is not too deep so that’s a plus.

For a good camping experience it’s all about the details, make sure u triple check your list on what u think is necessary, it’s better to...

Ticks!!!!

This is a GORGEOUS park, don't get me wrong. It is nestled between the Bay and river and offers many walking trails. There are places to boat, a beach, awesome views, an a beautiful historic lighthouse. I had a great time. However, there are some other things you should know.

1. this area is a high risk for ticks. We hike at a lot of parks, so ticks are nothing new, except there were more than I expected. My pants were so covered by nearly invisible larvae that I had to strip them off and change in the car. My boyfriend and I both picked at least a dozen off each other that night. It took about an hour to check every crevice :( We went to a doctor for preventitive medicine against Lymes, which I also recommend for multiple bites. So by all means go, but make sure you bring extra repellent with you and check yourself fully! Just a kind warning :)

2. this park is very difficult to navigate. We got to where we wanted and back, but I'm still not sure how. We had a map, but the map wasn't always labeled in a way that was consistent with the trails. In addition, the trails are marked by colors and names, but the map is numbers, with a key on the side, so you have to constantly reference the key to figure out if red trail is trail 1 or 2 and where are we exactly. Some trails were also absent from the map (blue for example). Know where you are going, and if it's your first time, consider speaking to someone at the park office first.

3. This park charges admittance to areas that access the beach. That price is $3 per vehicle for in state on weekdays.... $3 per person on weekends. That price jumps to $5 for out of state. They take checks. If you are down to walk, you can access the beach from the trails without paying warning it's a pretty long walk to do this, so pack...