Swallow Falls State Park is located in Western Maryland. We stopped at the park during a road trip to Shenandoah National Park. After our hike, we visited downtown Oakland with stops at the Oakland B&O Railroad Museum and Vagabond Taproom for lunch.

Although we made this a road trip stop, we are fortunate that we can easily make this a day trip and we wouldn’t hesitate to visit during a weekend getaway to the nearby Deep Creek, MD area.

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Summary

  • Hike– We hiked a roughly 1.5 mile loop hike to Muddy Creek Falls, Lower Swallow Falls, Upper Swallow Falls, and Toliver Falls. I don’t see the hike rated in difficulty but I would rate it as easy to moderate. You can make it easier, by staying along the wide rim trail and detouring down to each waterfall. If you take the loop trail along the water, the trail has roots, rocks, stairs, and can be slippery.
  • Kids ages– 3 years and 1 year old
  • Child Transport– We carried our 1 year old in our child carrier. We have a dated hand-me-down Kelty backpack, but here are some more up to date ones by Kelty, Osprey, and Deuter. My three year sold hiked on his own for the most part with a little coaxing, swinging, and a piggy back ride toward the end.

Parking

Upon entering the trailhead parking area, we paid a fee. I can’t remember what we paid exactly but if I had to guess it might have been $10 for me and my husband as non-residents and the kids were free.

There was a large parking lot with restrooms. The parking lot was fairly full when we visited on a Friday.

You can check in with a map at the trailhead as well and/or print out a guide ahead of time.

The Hike

From the parking area, you will enter a grove of hemlock and white pines.

You can walk this wide trail and detour down to each waterfall or you make it a loop.

We decided to make a left and go clockwise on the trail and head toward Muddy Creek Falls first.

Muddy Creek Falls is the largest waterfall in Maryland. If you have mediocre photography skills as I do, you can check out a tip for how to take pictures of waterfalls with your iPhone.

After viewing Muddy Creek Falls, we continued on the loop trail by heading down towards the water.

The trail can be slippery at times and there are more roots and rocks compared to the rim trail.

Then, the trail then leads to Lower Swallow Falls.

Next, it leads to Upper Swallow Falls.

We continued on toward Toliver Falls. Don’t forget to try that iPhone tip as you soak in all the waterfalls.

Toliver Falls are smaller than the other three but we still enjoyed this area because it was less crowded and there was a nice beach below the falls.

There are many places along the trail to dip your feet or swim at your own risk.

After the waterfalls, the trail loops back through the hemlock and white pines grove to the parking area.

There is a decent amount of trail markers and signs to guide your hike.

Here is another helpful site for planning a trip to the Deep Creek Area. It looks like there’s a playground in the area that we missed and will certainly be on the lookout for our next visit.

After the hike, we visited downtown Oakland, MD where my train obsessed son thoroughly enjoyed the Oakland B&O Railroad Museum.

We then enjoyed strolling the shops downtown and lunch with outdoor seating at Vagabond Taproom which offers good eats, local craft beer, and more.

Here is a breakdown of our hike for reference. We missed a small portion of the loop and had to backtrack just a bit.

I hope you found this helpful to help you plan a visit to Swallow Falls State Park to check out the stunning waterfalls. I want to hear about or see your adventures. Leave a comment or tag me on Instagram @adventureswkelly. Have fun!