Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Maryland / South Mountain

Appalachian Trail: Pen Mar to Turners Gap

Appalachian National Scenic Trail, South Mountain State Park (Pen Mar to Turners Gap)

The Appalachian Trail runs about 41 miles through Maryland, almost all of it on the crest of South Mountain. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) calls the state’s section one of “wooded, gentle ridges with relatively little elevation gain and loss,” and Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources says a full traverse takes four or five days of backpacking.

This page covers the northern half, from the Pennsylvania line at Pen Mar south to Turners Gap. It’s listed under Maryland, though the northern trailhead sits on the Mason-Dixon Line.

The hike

Southbound from Pen Mar, the hardest climb in Maryland comes almost right away. South Jersey Trails, describing a 2013 trip, calls the 600-foot pull up Quirauk Mountain in under a mile “the hardest part of the trail in Maryland.” Live and Let Hike (2017) adds a boulder field where the trail is hard to follow and a 0.1-mile spur at about 3.1 miles to High Rock, which it calls the highest point on the Maryland AT; the old lookout platform is now covered in graffiti. A side trail drops to the Devils Racecourse, a “river of rocks” with a spring the same writer expects to be “reliable year-round.”

Virginia Trail Guide, which hiked the state south in five days in 2017, reached Raven Rock Shelter at 4.8 miles. The next day it crossed Little Antietam Creek and Warner Hollow, passed Ensign Cowall Shelter at about 5 miles, and then followed what it calls a flat but very rocky 4.8-mile stretch after Wolfsville Road to Pogo Memorial Campsite.

The third day, which that guide calls the highlight, is the most popular stretch in the state. Black Rock Cliffs come at 0.6 mile past Pogo and the 0.25-mile spur to Annapolis Rocks at 1.6 miles. The ATC calls Annapolis Rock “a striking outcropping on the South Mountain ridgeline” and a popular sunset spot. Below it, Pine Knob Shelter sits just off the trail before the footbridge over I-70.

Farther south the trail passes the Washington Monument, a stone tower completed in 1827 that you can climb by a winding staircase, according to Virginia Trail Guide. It ends at Turners Gap, where Dahlgren Backpack Campground sits a few tenths of a mile past the road. The same guide recommends dinner at the Old South Mountain Inn across the road, which lets in hikers who have showered.

Parking fills quickly at Maryland’s AT lots, the DNR warns. The southern half of the state continues on the Turners Gap to Harpers Ferry page. For a shorter overnight in nearby mountains, see the Catoctin Adirondack shelters.

Tips

Camping

The ATC says camping on the Maryland AT is allowed only at designated overnight sites and shelters, and the DNR says those sites are first come, first served for backpackers and thru-hikers. The DNR adds that shelters and backpackers’ campgrounds are spaced about a day’s hike apart.

Overnight options in this half, north to south, are Devils Racecourse and Raven Rock Shelters, Ensign Cowall Shelter, Pogo Memorial Campsite, the Annapolis Rock campsite, Pine Knob Shelter, and Dahlgren Backpack Campground. East Coast Hiker says Annapolis Rock has tent pads, a seasonal caretaker, and a spring that can run low in dry spells. Virginia Trail Guide describes Dahlgren in 2017 as having gravel pads, a picnic table and fire pit at each site, a water tap, and bathrooms with free showers; a 2019 hiker also mentions flush toilets and outlets for charging.

Inside Intel: Virginia Trail Guide calls the campsites near Raven Rock Shelter its group’s favorite, “beautiful and spacious,” with tent pads, a bench circle, fire pit, and picnic table. It liked Pogo least: few flat tent sites, few trees for a bear hang, and a crowded area near the privy, so it camped at the upper end. SectionHiker found the tent sites around Ensign Cowall “just plain awful” and suggests a hammock there.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Tent pads above Greenbrier Lake:

Annapolis Rock's tent pads fill fast on weekends, and a freestanding tent makes it easier to fit wherever's left. See the tents reviewers recommend.

See the picks →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.