It was pretty. The trails were great and the dam and small pool of water on the bottom was gorgeous. But basically no public parking. And parking on the side of the road everywhere gets you a ticket. If your going here. Just make sure you get there when theres a public spot open.

Looking for the lost town?From the parking area cross to the other side of the river and head right down the somewhat paved trail.First you will come across the ruins of the Lutheran church (no ide who told me this was a Luthern church could honestly be anything) pro tip: There is an excellent mural of a vintage lady on the back wall.Next: Head a little bit further down the trail and veer off the trail to the left in an upwards direction and you will see the abandoned Catholic church (marked on Google maps), and a few of the antique cars that are scattered throughout the park.Enjoy!

Great part of the park, with great areas for swimming and wading. Its very busy, presumably any time its warm out from what I saw and what Ive read and there is minimal legal parking. Not quite as dirty as I expected from other reviews, but I did see some trash and discarded swimming stuff. Overall worth the trip, if you can find parking. I got lucky because I got there while it was raining, but as soon as the rain cleared it was completely full again.

This area is beautiful but recently has been trashed big time. Please, please, PLEASE take your trash with you. Its lighter on the way out than it was coming in. When diapers go in the water it becomes contaminated!There are plenty of safe spots to swim in that area as well, the dam itself is dangerous to swim in, please be careful! Have fun, enjoy the beauty, but most importantly take care of your own personal safety! ️️

Very nice place to visit with the family. You can choose any side of the river and you can jump from the Falls. The kids enjoy so much

This is a beautiful area. It has swimming, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, strolling or just taking in the beauty. If you want to park, its best during the week in the evening. My advice is let someone drop you off and come back to get you later.

The 4 star just to make people aware that when they leave their trash in the park, it diminish the beauty of the place. People should feel responsible for their own trash. Keeping the nature beautiful is everyones responsibility.The park is very peaceful and beautiful except the trash left by visitors.

Love coming here to hike and swim. Our son loves the water as well. The 4 stars (like most who comment) is for the tight parking and the unruly people who trash, grill (there are signs saying NO), camp and bathe in the water. People need to read the rules and follow them. We never ran into arrogant people while hiking or swimming but weve seen the trash, broken bottles, diapers and bathing. Please respect nature and take your trash with you.

Great river for kicking!

This place has almost no parking, illegal along the road, and no way to tell if theres room. Huge waste of time.

Great for kayaking. peaceful.

This is a great place with fantastic scenery but there were leeches in the water. Very scary taking them off my legs. BE VERY CAREFUL!!!!

Admired looking at the water and feeling the cool breeze. Thats all.

I enjoy the area. Wish parking was better and not limit.

Dam is cool, but parking here is VERY limited compared to when we visited a few years ago. We came back to our car to a park police putting tickets on cars parked on the side of the road. No parking signs are everywhere! Sad that this limits how many people can enjoy this beautiful area.

Nice place, we love going there, but not enough parking spaces, people will get tickets for parking where prohibited and some people on the weekends will do barbeques, even there are signs that say, not to do so, someone needs to watch the area more often

Great for hiking, biking and fishing. A scenic walk along the river, a great place to come get a peace of mind. Spray yourself with some big repellent and keep the trails clean please!

Love this quiet in the cut area. But the reasons I love it are also the reasons I hate it. Parking is very scarce so get there early and dont double park because they do ticket!

Easy access to the Patapsco. Good walking trails. Explore what is left if the town of Daniels that was washed away by Hurricane Agnes. Pet Friendly. Needs more parking is the only downside

Beautiful place. I grewup in the area and the park.

We love kayaking here. This biggest downside is parking. Be prepared to wait for a spot.

Great area to hike. Very scenic along the patapsco

Very little parking but really nice and pretty area

This is a beautiful, peaceful walk along the river. I loved it! You can also see ruins of the Mill town, and washed out cars from hurricane Agnes

Nice trails, but as anyone will tell you the parking is very limited.

Really nice area for a great hike!

This is a place for hiking and fishing. It is not safe for swimming especially after heavy rains. Again today ten rescue vehicles were in the park ( which is an area not an official state park) no doubt because of the dam. Hopefully everyone is ok.There are no facilities and bbq is no longer permitted

I grew up fishing and hiking here. Sad to hear that its become overcrowded and visited by people who dont respect nature. Actually surprised that tickets are being given out and that people are fighting over parking. Never had that issue over the ten years I frequented the spot/park.

Nice little get away can get crowed fast not much parking

Nice hike, pretty damn

Beautiful natural area, regardless of whether God, man or beaver created, littered by certain types of people who have no regard for the law or cannot bear to allow others enjoy it. Shame on you people, opening drinking and smoking in front of children, blasting your tone deaf music, physically intimidating people who are ignoring you. Why do you throw your beer bottles in the bushes and break them? The shards wash onto the walkway during rains and barefoot babies step on them and bleed. Its not civil war era dudes! Whom are you trying to show youre boss?Thank you park rangers, you were there to send most of the unrulies away. Without your presence, Id have turned away from the place.

Good areas to walk and have fun.

Nice Trail ~ brutally, brutally crowded.

Beautiful place to swim or kayak. Very limited free parking. Do not park outside of designated parking areas. Do not park in areas that will narrow travel way. Violators will be ticketed or towed. No handicap access. No facilities.

Was a very beautiful place. In my opinion it was even more so with the cold rain. You could see these giant piles of ice that were as big as i was! The rain gave it this mysterious atmosphere that was very fitting. I only went through part of the park but cant wait to go back and discover what else is hiding. Use extreme caution if you plan on exploring the abandoned house, its been vandalized and picked so bad you can feel the floor dip with every step and even taste each particle of mold in the air.On a lighter note, 10 out of 10 would recommend that you get some waterproof shoes or boots and go when it has a cold rain. I had more fun sliding on the ice patches on the trail than i ever would of thought. It didnt dawn on me to take a photo of it but there were several patches of ice puddles that stretched 10 to 15 feet. With one good jogging start i was slidding all the way across each puddle with ease and delt like i was a kid again :) .

DO NOT GO HERE!!! Howard County Park services blocked off half the parking for the park, posted No Parking signs everywhere, all for the sole purpose of writing tickets. And as of late, the swimming area has been flooded with ignorant people who wont let anyone else park there. The park itself though is absolutely beautiful and can be relaxing, if you can get in there...

Gud place for family... Can do bar b q and enjoy with water...

The whole area has only about 10 car spots. No parking signs are everywhere. There is no restroom and definitely has shady people. The water is great tho. Open dawn to dusk

Great place for trout fishing after it is stocked. Gets busy early on in the day so get here early.

Would be five stars but the parking is awful. Beautiful shaded path along the river. Kids love the rope swing but if you go on a weekend be prepared for loud groups of foul mouthed teens smoking weed & drinking. Good spot for a slow tube float, the water is clean & clear.

Great spot for exploring ruins, fishing, and sauntering along the trails. Parking is a small lot surrounded by private property so plan accordingly.

Always great hiking and swimming!

Parking is limited. Truly only one good hiking trail loop which is named the Backside of Daniels plus the Switchplate trail. The only other loop is the Church loop. Way more trails in the Avalon and Orange Grove area of the Patapsco State Park.

There are only handful of parking lots and not allowed parking any other spaces.

Beautiful and a wonderful walk

Great place to kayak, upstream of the dam

Beautiful all year round. Limited parking especially during warmer days. Best time to go before 8 am or after 7pm weekends.

Thats my best getaway spot .

Good place for picnic

This would be a beautiful place but it is ruined by individuals who have no regard for nature. It is littered with broken bottles, beer cans, food wrappers and dirty diapers floating in the water. The Hispanic people are cluttered here with large families. They were washing their children in the river, had their dogs in the river and even had sleeping hammocks tied up.The parking is minimal (maybe 10 car lot). One of the hispanic women refused to move herself out of an empty parking space and was banging on my car when I attempted to park there. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME GOING HERE. Its just aweful!

Beautiful place, peaceful and serene,,not enough parking though

Bridges washed out from storms. People need to pick up their trash!

Great views relaxing hike.

Nice place to swim

Beautiful but you can’t swim here , the current is too strong . Wish I knew that before I drove there with my kids

The waterfall.

The most wonderful place i ever be. Jus one thing dont try to swim is danger more if rain a day after.

Thanks, Mary, for leading this sweet hike on this beautiful winter day.

Get of my property joeLook at this skin

No parking...

Not enough parking space, but plenty of awesome nature. This is a good place for kayaking, especially in the spring just after the geese have hatched.

Relaxing hiking trails with nice waterfall

One word... serenity.

Good access to the river for paddling. Several trailheads. But parking is limited, cops will ticket.

Nice quiet hiking trails. Good place to swim

Lovely area. Do you need a license to fish here

Not enough parking space. They should open the curb for parking.

Nice area & great waterfall . We loved that place.

This beautiful Peaceful place used to be just that !! It was a Haven where my husband would take our boys fishing and quiet hikes enjoying nature and a quiet picnic.....In the last 5 years this park has been over inhabitated by hoards of people building firres in the woods, hammocks in the trees and swimming and washing their dishes in the river, the beautiful once quiet trails are now trampled and in ruins with baby diapers ,graffiti,beer bottles and trash thruout the once beautiful green lush paths...there is No Peace here now in the busy hot summer daysYou cant get to the water thru All the people and their dogs and daily camp sites not to mention the vast majority of campers deficate in these woods w/o respect to others !!Things became so out of control the local Church had to set up cement barriers and No parking signs in hopes to control the hoards of daily campers and trash..they even removed the picnic tables that were once a perfect pucnic place for our boys :/ and many other families.This is the Only portion of the Patapsco St Park that dose not charge a fee for entry and too is Not patrolled leaving it wide open to this uncontrolled Ruin

They cut down parking by a lot this year to maybe 8 spots, so if you wanna go you have to get lucky with a spot or go really early in the morning

I love this area. And I love ghost towns!

This is a nice trail. People around were friendly. Not so nice for quiet fishing. Horses, fighting dogs, kayakers, crying kids.

Hiking south my pup was great

Always a pleasure

Spent time with family and the kids had a lot of fum

Had a fun time

Very peaceful and scenic views!

Great place to canoe our kayak!

DNR stock trout here.

Not well maintained and very little parking.

Awesome place to kayak, fish & swim in the Patapsco!

Scenic, undeveloped, less crowded area of the park.

Best place to BBQ.

Love it there

Great hiking spot!

Nice trail with swimming!

Not for kids

Limited parking

Parking is hard to find

Nice hiking trails.