Camping at Smallwood State Park with the Dogs: A Fun Field Trip

ericamargaret5
Sep 21, 2025
3 min read

Updated: Dec 6, 2025

Smallwood State Park

Map of Maryland — Smallwood State Park-Great for a mini adventure.

As you all already know, Mabel is our most recent rescue and also our most reactive. We were JUST getting the hang of having three dogs, and along came Mabel and tossed up the routine. We found her in October, and after the fall and winter of training and socializing her, we felt like it was time to take her on a small, quick camping trip at Smallwood State Park just to expose her to the experience.

Smallwood State Park in Maryland is two hours from our house in NOVA. Neither of us had been there before, but it was one of the few places I could get a one night reservation at the last minute, so why not?

We geared up and got on the road around 1:00 so we could be there right on time for our 3:00 check in and I was thankful for the pretty drive out there. The drive, in my opinion, is an integral part of the trip. As soon as we hit the road, in my mind, we are on vacation. So if the drive is scenic and pretty, I really value it, and this was a pleasant drive to an area of the state that I had not been to.

Dogs at Smallwood campsite — Mabel at her first campground

My main concern driving there was whether the campsites would be spread out and if they were going to be a lot of dogs. Mabel was very reactive at that point and we were a little worried about taking Mabel out for her first trip. We also knew that we had to keep getting her out there in the world or she would not learn.

But, it turned out that was needn't worry because the campground was nice and small (so not a ton of people or dogs), and the campsites were spaced out. There were lots of trees around each site so the dogs did not have direct sight lines to other dogs, campsites, and people.

After parking and setting up the camper, we went for a walk down to the water where we got to see the tail end of a fishing contest. In the other direction from our campground was a loop through some woods and a field that we enjoyed walking through on Saturday and Sunday morning.

Campsite at Smallwood Park — Smallwood State Park campsite

The night was quiet. The morning was quiet, and this was an uneventful trip. In my book, an uneventful camping trip with all of the dogs is a perfect camp trip.

Mabel was definitely was tired and overstimulated by the time we were ready to leave, so doing just one night ended up being a good idea.

If you need to do some mini camping trips with your dogs before a big trip, this could be a great place for you to practice!! Let us know how your trip went!

Exploring at Smallwood State Park — Exploring the foliage

Overall Rating for Smallwood State Park

	Car Camping It was very easy to find and access the site.
	Campsites have decent space. The sites had nice spacing between them and trees and brush to break up the sight lines.
	6-8 ft wide walking trails accessible from the campground. Some tight spots close to the water, so we stayed in the woods and the field. We felt we could get some walks in without being on top of other dogs .
	Rangers enforcing leash requirements. The rangers were out patrolling the sites. We did not see off-leash dogs on this trip.
	Quiet Nice and quiet!!
	Fire Pit on Campsite .
	Site Cleaned Prior to Arrival