Salamander Rock Climbing

Parking is located on Gambrill Park Road at 39.573324,-77.485789 and is a tight 3 car spot on the right hand side. Additional parking is available 500 feet further east at the gate. Please ensure you do not block the gate, as it is required for emergency access. It's best to approach Gambrill Park Road from the west near the intersection of Tower Rd and Mink Farm Rd; the parking area is 0.9 miles from that point. I recommend avoiding the approach from the opposite direction, as it involves a long, rough dirt road that is unsuitable for vehicles with low ground clearance. Please note that Gambrill Park Road is typically gated west of Fishing Creek Road to prevent through traffic. Drivers on the west side of the gate cannot access Fishing Creek Road or the east side of Gambrill Park Road. However since the gate is only 500ft away from the prime parking spot you could drive in on Gambrill Park Road either way and park near the gate. See the overall Map Picture.

The best way to reach the rock is to follow the shallow valley on the south side of the ridge along the old logging roads and deer hunter trails. The rocks are not visible until you are right on top of them, so I highly recommend using the Mountain Project GPS app or another GPS device to track your position. Please ensure you update the Maryland data in the app beforehand, as cell service at the parking area is unreliable or non-existent. Also, keep in mind that the rock is further in and at a lower elevation than it initially seam.

Using the Mountain Project app with GPS, open the map, click on the blue arrow button at the top right of the map to locate yourself on the map, the small blue dot is your location. Or if you want to use your own GPS you can get the GPX Approach file from Mt Project. Open up the Climbing Area Map on a desktop computer, click on the yellow Approach path on the map. A dialog box will open up, at the bottom click on "Full Details" and there is a link to download a GPX file, to use with another GPS device. 

Here are directions just to get you started on the hike.

if you're at the Prime parking spot 39.573310,-77.485629 then pick up the access trail behind the concrete barrier, opposite the parking area, see picture.

In 250 feet you will reach the intersection of the official Salamander trail, go left. 

In another 400ft turn right onto an vague old logging road, leaving the nice trail.

Use GPS from here on as it's not obvious where to go.