Amazing experience. Beautiful scenes. And as a novice hiker such as myself, the trails were a breeze. So anyone looking for connection with nature this is the place.

Very quiet and large open space with several trails. There are lots of parking spots. My favorite was the swinging bridge. It actually swings a bit! The lost lake could have been better maintained. It has a great location but the water is too stagnated and there are no fish in it. The history of the place is depicted through various signboards and pics along the way which is quite nice!

Prepare your walking sneakers 👟 and 📷 camera , lots of trails to walk or hike. Here is the important stuff: $2 per vehicle, 👍🏼💫clean 🚻 restroom, you can bring your own food and snacks ‼️ MUST TAKE YOUR 🗑 TRASH WITH YOU‼️They have a area for rent with grill and tables near a running river.

Lovely park tucked away right next to BWI! We did the cascades trail. The waterfall was cool and the trail was highly trafficked. Needed better stream crossings. If they had boards they had disintegrated. Otherwise I enjoyed myself and would be interested to come back and check out other areas. Wear your hiking shoes and bring water!

It's a nice place. I could not explore most of it due to lack of time and excess heat. But I would definitely love to go back and explore the whole park.

This park has well maintained trails that lead to the river. I appreciate the variety of difficulty depending on my mood. There are short, steep and flat hiking trails available. There’s a clean bathroom facility, camping ground. Plenty of grills, and large pavilions for rent. Also, there’s a children playground near the entrance with plenty of parking spaces.

The trail is a bit difficult but it just provides a better workout! We love seeing the river at the bottom of the hill. I can't wait to see how it looks in the Spring.

Love everything about this state park. We've explored Cascade Falls, several trails, and sat by the river on the beachfront. There is something for every nature lover here.

Patapsco Valley State Park, I wonder why they called it a "Valley?" Very nice park to visit. Peaceful, tranquility is excellent here. Nice trail. We say an hundred year old tree fall to the ground. Awesome. No hunting, please. Lot of space to wander with hour best friend, and there are many trails. Don't just take my word. Go there, see for yourself.

It's a Trash Free Park meaning there are no trash cans available on site. So take away what you brought into the park. Less than 10 mins of walk to the water. There's a sandy area where kids can play. Unfortunately, there's no shade but can cool off in the super clean water

Very pretty, I am glad I had the time to stop by. Was not busy, I hiked the Union dam trail down to the water and railroad tracks. Beautiful, I will have to come back to check out the rest of the park.

Tremendous park, very nice trails, beautiful creek, along with history, ruins and waterfalls. this is why i pick this spot to be my first spot of a 12 state, 32 day winter tour.

A Thrilling Escape into Nature As a tourist seeking a break from the urban jungle, Patapsco State Park and River in Maryland was a breath of fresh air (and the kind without car exhaust!). Spanning over 16,000 acres along the Patapsco River, this park is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts like myself. Hiking Trails for Every Level: My adventure began with a hike on the Grist Mill Trail in the Avalon area. This moderate 3.5-mile loop hugged the riverbank, offering stunning views of the water cascading over rocks and lush greenery carpeting the hillsides. Tips for Tourists: The park is divided into seven sections, each with its own unique character and amenities. Choose the area that best suits your interests. Wear comfortable shoes and bring plenty of water, especially during the warmer months. Be prepared for mosquitoes, especially near the water. Insect repellent is a must! Check the park website for closures and special events before your visit. Overall Impression: Patapsco State Park and River exceeded my expectations. It's a place where you can reconnect with nature, challenge yourself physically, and simply relax and soak in the beauty of the outdoors. Whether you're a seasoned adventurer or a nature newbie, Patapsco has something for everyone. I left feeling rejuvenated and with a newfound appreciation for the natural world. So, if you're looking for an escape from the city and a chance to create lasting memories, add Patapsco State Park and River to your travel list. You won't be disappointed! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This is an amazing park. It has a swinging bridge and waterfalls. They have some easy trails that are great for those out of shape or short on time. The Rangers were friendly and great. Veterans are admitted free with I.D. I definitely want to go back.

Beautiful walkway along the river. We had a picnic right beside the river. Lovely area.

Nice peaceful park with trail to the river. This Google map point is the Hollofield area entrance according to my receipt for the $2 fee. I drove straight in and ended up at the Union Dam Trail. It's an easy downhill 10 min trek to the river. There are several short trails to different places on the river. The hike back is all uphill of course.

I do so love Patapsco State Park. One of the largest I was in the Elkridge side and it is simply beautiful, relaxing, and scenic. You can swim in the River at your own risk because there are no lifeguards and for me it is like bringing back a piece of my childhood. There are families there with their children swimming, cooking out, hiking, biking or just enjoying the scenery. We got to swim today and watch a heron fish for its dinner. And if you stay still enough in the water the fish come and nibble on your toes 🥰. Always a wonderful time. Need to decompress after a long days work, come on out. A wonderful family outing, bring your cooler and the family. I love this park.

$2 Honor box at the entrance This was just what I needed to reflect and bring in my birthday. The trail was easy to navigate, especially going down. Very rocky trail. Boots/shoes with good grip should be worn as some of the rocks can be a little slippery. The river! 😍🥰🤩 Tranquil & Serene!

This place is beautiful!! It's also a huge park so unfortunately we weren't able to explore the entire park, didn't get to see all the trails. I will be coming back and continuing to explore the rest of the park!! I do recommend visiting this park. It's $2.00 per vehicle.

Great park and pretty campground. I would like to rate this much higher. Bathhouse is in bad shape, badly in need of renovation.

Came for the oldest geocache in this state, kids had fun, challenging terrain. Awesome play structures for the little ones

Good for hiking. I know you're probably surprised because no one else has mentioned that there are hiking trails here that you and your friends and your family can hike. But it's truly true. Put on your hiking gear and drive down here and go for a hike. Out in nature where they have bushes and trees. Also rocks and leaves. These are all things you can see if you go to the park and walk around on the trails, which some people call hiking. It sure beats the mall! And it's good exercise plus you can bring your camera along and take pictures of yourself and your friends and family hiking together. You don't even need to lug around a big old-fashioned camera (unless you want to) -- you can just use your cellphone camera. That will probably take great pictures of your hiking crew. Then you will remember the time you went for a hike in the woods and had a good time. Even if it rains a little. Well, what are you waiting for!?! (If it is currently night time then it is good for you to wait until the park opens in the morning, but in the meantime you could get ready by packing water and some snacks. Everyone loves snacks! When you bring out the snacks your hiking crew will give you a high-five or a big hug or an infinitesimally small nod of approval, depending on how emotionally demonstrative they are. But it will be worth it).

Nothing much to see just a narrow trail. The river is too far away. Maybe there’s a better view from the campsite but not everyone is allowed. $2 entrance fee for Maryland residence. There is a playground and benches and also bbq grills.

Nice short walking trial. Very steep. Need to be careful while going down. Not much crowd on Sunday 🙂. With children you should be careful with steep.

Awesome, cozy, well maintained, friendly rangers. Pet friendly, great place to hike for the whole family.

We love this park. Clean, full of barbecue grills, kids Park And lots of trails to do. We did the river one. 20 minutes hiking 🥾🥾 and get in to a hot river water 💦💦💦 we love it ... Have to pay 3 dollar 💵 per person on the entrance but worth every penny. We will be back soon 🔜.

Good luck trying to find parking at any of the trailheads.. too busy, not enough parking, horribly maintained by our inept government... Edit: to add, since I cannot reply to the copy and pasted response post below, I drove around for over an hour to 4 different trailheads. Finding them is not the issue, parking at them is. We drove down many long and wide roads with "no parking" signs every 10 feet, to end up at a "lot" with spaces for no more than 10 cars.. And at the cascade falls trailhead, which is a popular one, everyone was lined up on the side of the road with a cop there writing tickets. No thanks! Please provide parking for us so we can actually go out and enjoy the huge park!!

Very large park. I recommend the trails going down to the water only if you are careful and have strong ankles and good shoes - it's a great workout for legs and cardio! But it can be very rocky. Drink plenty of water and make sure you've eaten well beforehand. Use "common" sense. Has a medium sized playground and a smaller one not far from the entrance where you pay a small fee (weekdays are cheaper, as expected). There are supposed to be waterfalls, but with high temperatures, limited time (and consequently, not a lot of exploring), I was unable to find any very far from the parking lot. I will need to return again once I do a little more advance research...

Wonderful experience for young kids to learn nature, see local animals, and take short hikes. The park has many trails, streams, and waterfalls. We love camping here too, just a gorgeous, beautiful, clean park.

Good park with couple of trials, and a tiny waterfall along small picnic area.

This is my second time here first was just me and my husband came back this time with the children. It's so beautiful here and nice trails to walk. Check out a few of the ruines along the way

Great Place

Walking bridge, water, waterfalls, trails, trains, train tracks, skipping rocks, etc. You can do sooo much at this awesome park. Don't miss it!!!!

There was no one there to check us in at around 4:30pm but were were still able to get into our cabin. It was organized and ready. Bathroom/Shower house were also clean! We will be back!

Beautiful. Wonderful hiking trails. If you're quiet, you might see some deer!

It was fairly good! Except one of the trails was nice but we got lost due to possible lack of proper tagging (I believe it wa the blue trail) after reaching the power lines kind of setup, we had no idea where to go! Cost us about 1 hour extra ! We somehow Emerged the highway! But it is something you must go with family!

For u who's love to work out and close to nature, come over this is an owsome place.!!

A good cardio to do! The way down has its little difficulties and especially if it has rained. Wear appropriate clothing and shoes, a nice place. The entrance was only 2USD per car. Smelly restrooms, it also has an area if you want to have a bbq with friends and fam.

Too crowded

We camped here and the facilities are long past overdue for an upgrade. Worst State Park bathrooms I've ever experienced was there. Will not be returning. Camping area very wooded and difficult to maneuver the truck and 30' camper. Seemed to be popular with locals in their tents. Group across from us were up most of the night partying.

We went walking around Ilchester Bridge area. But be warned - there's NO parking by the bridge (as the dozens of signs state). Clearly no one was listening to the signs, however, we did see one person get towed bc they were blocking someone else in. Nice area along the river, plenty of people were swimming. Just be cautious of the no parking zones, which seem to be everywhere.

Came to Patapsco Valley State Park to join a business associate's family reunion at a pavilion/shelter in the Hollofield section of the park. Must say that first impressions DO matter when entering the forest. The Park Rangers were courteous. I mean Extremely courteous. So courteous that I noticed how courteous they were being!! They were directing two long lines of traffic from two directions into the park, telling people which way to go. During the festivities, a heavy downpour came. The spacious pavilion provided good shelter, keeping the rain at bay. After the event, I attempted to leave the park. But the forest called me back. No kidding! It wanted me to go deeper, just a little deeper, to find an "unsheltered" area in the woods. I walked across the asphalt parking lot, pass the parked cars and down a dirt and grass path toward an overlook spreading a view of the valley. Wow! These are a few of my pictures and videos showing a view just above the valley after the storm. -Bill Curtis/ New Mark Ad Specialties & Flags

Had a wonderful hike. Lost the trail at the train tracks so had to back track. Still worth it.

Love hiking here. Taking the day in the snow was different than usual. Walking along the river was very peaceful and quiet.

Nice park with a lot of good hiking! The pictures and videos are from the River Ridge Trail. The parking is usually $3 but is close access to trails. Some of the trails are step and rocky.

Good walking trail. Saw some deer and they didn't think anything of our presence and did not scatter like roaches. Trails were muddy but relatively easy to maneuver around. Enough elevatiom changes to keep the heart rate at a decent pace. A peaceful creek toward the start of the trail but would like to see it roaring during a heavy rainstorm! Several finger-trails scattered about the main trail so plenty of places to explore.

Our family of seven took our 30 ft RV here to stay the weekend. Absolutely a beautiful park, amazing river and 30 miles of trails. BUT be sure to bring a means of transportation other than an rv. Also, if camping you have to walk very far and sharp turns on a road, so not good for little ones to get to playground or to the river. You MAY NOT PARK AT ANY DAY USE AREA if you are a camper. This could be an issue for anyone with small children or anyone with physical limitations. Because of this I did three stars. Other than that this is an awesome park with lots to do and really cool history! Like hosting the first rail road in all of America from the 1800. You can look for river glass and dishes from a past town of Daniel that burned down and still has remains from the residents that washed down the river. Our children love looking for the river glass!

Easy hike, 3 refreshing waterfalls close by.

Had an awesome time! Could not wait to share with friends and family! Thank you for this great experience!

Beautiful hiking, but littered with trash everywhere.

Good outing. Only 4 trails available. Fall colors have not yet come out fully. But nice places for good photos. The train track is beautiful

Nice local park. Pretty sites, plenty of parking. Nice trails.

It's a beautiful park. My little girl loved the trail we visited. It's nice that they make a point of stopping by to personally welcome visitors and to tell all of the visitors not to plan on playing loud music. The area we reserved was clean and easy to access. The bathrooms were well kept.

I like to hick it.!!!!

No water

I love PVSP because there are so many trails and vistas along the Patapsco River to explore. Many adventures to be had.

Nice park. There is a $3 per person entrance fee. I as a 30 y/o male had little trouble with the trails but they were Rocky and could potentially be slippery under certain conditions. There were quite a few people so our group wore masks as the trails are also narrow.

Love this park beautiful and relaxing

Answer all your questions no hidden fees and reasonable price since mva by appointment only

It was a wonderful park.

It's provides a great feeling of adventure. It feels good going this this valley if you love challenging yourself to climbing hills to get joy from nature and physical fitness. One thing you must do is ensure you watch for yourselves to not miss a step on the Stones.

While I understand the importance of funding out parks I didn't realize it was a pay to play park. Only $3 which isn't a big deal but I wish I new before checking it out. Went on a Saturday AM and got there right as the park opened at 9am and there was a line from just off the highway. So if you plan on going during the weekend get there early. They were turning away cars when I left around noon. In the park there are plenty of trails and a couple of public picnic areas with charcoal grills so I could see it being a good place to bring the kids and chill by the river for a day. Trail was okay in marking. But there was a wash-out erosion on one side of the river so that park of the trail was all sun and new trees but overall it was beautiful and not too crowded! Recommend going during the off season or a week day more than a summer weekend.

You will see lol but it has a huge waterfall. Dont be like everyone else and leave trash. Lleva tu basura todos los dias

I love this Park!! At times it can get pretty crowded (mainly weekends & holidays) but its beautiful and people come here to find peace. So much to do if you like to be outdoors in nature. You can walk the various trails. You can also bike other trails. Some trails are hiking ONLY! I love this because it keeps people safe from unnecessary accidents on trails. There is a playground for children. The many different pavilions are available for rental to host parties. The different setups offer tables, grills & some have overhead shelter which protects your group from the sun. The trees offer so much shade on the trails which makes it easier to endure on hotter days. Some trails are paved which make skating/roller blading an option. There are public restrooms on the premises. This park is well maintained & patrolled daily. The park rangers can be friendly while others not so much but that's human nature. Its best to have cash to pay the reasonable entry/parking fees. It's worth the money it keeps the park open & accessible. There's a train track near one of the trails its so cool to see & hear the train passing by if your lucky enough to be in the area. Overall this park brings me immense joy every time I visit. This place has been my sanctuary of peace during this Covid season.

The camp host was so helpful at providing advice for having a good fire in the somewhat damp conditions. The facilities and park are well-maintained and comfortable. Coming back for another visit soon!

Very nice state park, well kept. No water hook up but there is a water station close by. Lots of hiking trails ... surrounded by nature. We saw squirrels, chipmunks and deer. Worth checking out.

Really nice trails but finding parking is biggest headache! Not much trash on trails & people are respecting the mask rule or keeping their distance! Some trails may be a bit challenging for little kids so be prepared!

Very good and green park and nice place to taking photo~~ having so much fun with my cousins in the stream. Taking good photo On the Bridge, the train track.. There are some pavilions and playground nearby the stream. Due to the time limit, I don’t have chance to see other beautiful views.. Will coming back soon~~ PS: parking fee only charge $2 for whole day🤩🤩🤩 ....

My son's wedding was there at the Avalon area. Very pretty with 2 large pavilions. Minutes from the BWI Hotels.

Serine hikes.

Always a new path to find. I especially love hiking in the fall and winter with my dog. The park is well maintained and quite big. The weekends get super crowded and the park closes by 10am a lot, especially in the summer.

Great place was here recently to attend a birthday party the Pavillion was clean benches in good shape and all ectrical outlets worked

Only thing is where are the bike trails?

Our Happy Place

Most beautiful park I have been to in maryland!!!!

Great place for a hike.

I love Patapsco. It's not very big or filled with amazing features, but it's close and well maintained.

This park is a hidden gem, with really nice hiking trails and scenic creek and river views. The trails are well maintained while still staying a bit wild. I did a 6 mile hike with my daughter, son-in-law, and Australian Cattle Dog. There was about 900 feet of elevation change (total uphill, not deducting downhill). So nothing really challenging, but not a flat path either. The suspension bridge over the river is really nice. I was looking for poison ivy, but did not see any at all, which is a plus. Put on your hiking boots, take water and a first aid kit and you'll have a great time!

Beautiful scenery, trails, brooks and streams

nothing special

Love it

It's always a great place to have b-day party's , alot for the kiddo's to do and actually not have a screen in there face..

Walking trails, deers, rest rooms available,

This is a lovely place for hiking and seeing the fall trees especially.

A great outing for the whole family. Many trails for hours of fun.

Has trails of all distances! Had a great time hiking.

Wilderness with close distance from Baltimore and Washington DC

Friendly staff!