A co-worker of mine (a former pop-up camper) had camped at Elk Neck State Park years ago and highly recommended it. We've always been impressed with Maryland State Parks, so we decided to give it a shot.

Elk Neck State Park is located at the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay near the town of North East, Maryland. It is situated in a very scenic area on a peninsula formed by the Elk and the North East rivers.

Favorite Sites Here are some that looked good to us: Sites with no hookups: 103, 106, 114, 116, 118, 120, 128, 129, 130, 132, 137, 143, 145, 163, 165, 176, 169, 171, 173 Electric hookup: 223, 232, 244, 245, 247 Full hookups: 22, 31           (Bold = really nice) Sites to avoid: 95, 100, 101, 125, 147, 160

There are plenty of recreational opportunities that we had to pass on due to the rainy weather. A beach for swimming is located on the North East River. There is also a large marina with a launching ramp and boat rentals. There's a two mile hiking trail out to a lighthouse on the point that we had to take a rain check on. We'll have to explore that next time.

Typical of most Maryland State Parks, the campsites are level and well-maintained. We used the online reservation system to reserve a site with an electric hookup. At Elk Neck, the electric sites are located in the Chester Loop. Unlike the other loops, the roads through the Chester Loop are very narrow and the sites are a little too close to each other for our liking. Fortunately, the campground wasn't very crowded. We had an empty site on one side of us and quiet neighbors on the other two adjacent sites.

It was hard to judge the cleanliness of the bathhouse. It started raining while we were setting up and we had some very heavy rainfall during the first night. As a result there was a lot of tracked-in mud and dirt in the bathhouse during the weekend. I'm sure that's not typical.

The Park Store is located just inside the main gate to the campground. The store sells firewood, ice, basic groceries, camping supplies, and souvenir items. There's also a snack bar and a miniature golf course.

All in all, we our enjoyed our weekend at Elk Neck and we'll be returning for sure next year. Hopefully, the weather will be better.

For more information on Elk Neck State Park and camping in Maryland, check out:

• Maryland Department of Natural Resources
• Elk Neck State Park