Swallow Falls State Park

Published by

Caitlyn

on

October 5, 2025

We made it to Moonshadow for breakfast right when they opened at 10AM on Sunday. The aesthetics of this place are so cool, and the food was pretty good too.

The goal of our day was to visit Swallow Falls State Park, to finally cross off one of the most popular things to do in the western part of our home state. Despite growing up in Maryland and living here our whole lives, we never really explored this area so we had plenty to catch up on.

The main points of interest here are the upper and lower Swallow Falls, Tolliver Falls, and Muddy Creek Falls. Muddy Creek is Maryland’s highest waterfall, coming in at an itty bitty 53 feet tall.

When we got to the entrance of the park, we were surprised to be waiting in a line of cars. I don’t know if I underestimated the amount of people that’d be here, or overestimated the size of the parking situation, or what.

We got super lucky and snagged a parking spot, but would’ve probably done a little better to get there when the park opened at 8AM. But it’s so difficult to get up when you’re busy rolling around like a comfortable baked potato in your warm sleeping bag…

We went counterclockwise and it! was! so! busy! The lush forest of super tall trees led down to the river where the first tiny waterfall is.

After climbing through the crowd that were taking cute photos with the waterfall in the background, we followed a well-defined path full of roots and bordered by boulders.

We found a little alcove to the side where we could pretend we were alone and peak through the trees to the water. We were surprised to see a bunch of kayakers meandering down the river. How fun would that be?

We heard other visitors saying that they’d been here plenty of times before and had never seen the flow of water at the falls be this powerful. There’d been a ton of rain recently so we definitely paid for it in some mud, but it was well worth it to see the drama of the water.

The kayakers were plunging down those falls and down by that big ol’ rock in the river. It was so much fun watching them dunk themselves and pop back out a few seconds later.

We climbed down to the shoreline to grab a seat and eat some snacks while continuing with the entertainment. As you can see, everyone else was enjoying it just as much.

This place is full of aesthetic stairs and bridges, two of my favorite things.

There’s this sweet spot at the middle of the loop of this trail where you’re not totally surrounded by people. It seems like most people turn around on either side after seeing just one of the main waterfall attractions.

I can’t believe that people don’t do the whole thing, it’s not that long and it’s definitely worth it. You might as well if you’ve already done the whole drive out here, ya know?

We made it to Muddy Creek Falls and it was a hot, dense, mess Maryland’s tallest waterfall! Woohoo. We took it in stride and photobombed everyone while they did the same to us haha.

I meeeaaan, it is pretty beautiful though.

I know I complain about the crowds, but if you think about it – it is pretty cool that we’re all enjoying this together and thinking it’s pretty at the same time. I can’t believe it took me this long to come here, or to even figure out it exists.