The Rock Maze at Deep Creek Lake, MD

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I’ve spent a solid 1/3 of my life in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland (I’d say half, but let’s be honest, weekends & a few weeks in the summer don’t quite add up as far as I’d like them to). We’ve done almost all of the “touristy” things around the Lake and a lot of the “best kept secret” things too. We’ve eaten at most of the restaurants (and have our favorites), shopped in most of the stores, and know our way around the only Walmart like it’s “our own”.

You can imagine our gigantic surprise then when we learned about somewhere that we’d never been. And not only never been, but never even heard of!

It all started last winter, when an article titled “Maryland’s Rock Maze Is A Hiking Adventure Like No Other” circulated it’s way around Facebook. I saw it and was mesmerized by this “Rock Maze”. I showed the article to my Dad & asked him about it, and was shocked when he answered that he’d never even heard of a “Rock Maze” near the Lake. This, of course, sent me on a hunt to figure out if this place was legit & as cool as the article made it sound. We made up our minds that we would go there this summer & check it out in person.

I’m thrilled to report that the Rock Maze is just as awesome as that article said it would be! In fact, we loved it so much, that we went hiking there twice in August! The whole time we just kept saying to ourselves, “How did we not know this place existed?” It’s so other-worldly and unique – truly an incredible secret in the Deep Creek Lake area!

What is the Rock Maze?

The Rock Maze is a hiking trail in the Garrett State Forest (the same State Forest where both Herrington Manor & Swallow Falls are located). It’s an out-and-back trail that altogether is only about a mile long. It’s fairly flat (with a slight elevation toward the end) and if it’s rained recently, there will probably be some muddy spots along the trail. The trail is marked & very easy to follow. It starts off looking like just any other hiking trail – trees, ferns, evidence of wildlife – but nothing spectacular. That is, until you get to the end. All of a sudden, you’ll find a few random house-sized boulders along the path & then you come to the reason people hike out that trail: The Rock Maze.

There is literally a football field of these gigantic boulders just strewn around. Like a giant was having some fun & tossed a bunch of rocks into a pile. They’ve had to have been there for hundreds (if not thousands) of years. I can say that with confidence because there are trees growing up on top of these boulders, with their intricate root systems snaking down around the sides to reach the ground below. It’s incredible.

It’s called a “Rock Maze” because you can literally get lost within the rocks. There are wide pathways & super super narrow ones. If you don’t keep your bearings about you, you will get lost. You’ll probably be able to find your way out (I mean, the two times we were there, we didn’t come across anyone so lost that they’d been in the Maze for days or anything) but it’s very easy to get turned around & to have to take a few minutes to figure out where you came from.

Where is the Rock Maze?

The Rock Maze isn’t heavily advertised. In fact, I hesitated to even write this post! It’s one of Deep Creek Lake area’s “secrets” and if it’s been kept secret from my family for decades, maybe I shouldn’t go telling the rest of the world about it. But, it’s too good of a secret to keep to ourselves! Plus, it’s truly not a “secret” – a lot of people know about it (and equally, a lot of people don’t know about it – duh!)

While Swallow Falls & Herrington Manor have big beautiful signs enticing you to come visit them, the Rock Maze has a tiny little sign, that you would easily overlook. It has a small pull-off parking area, and a trailhead. That’s it. If you want directions to get there, you can try “3739 Snaggy Mountain Road, Oakland, MD” with your GPS or just look for the intersection of Snaggy Mountain Road & Cranesville Road (you can see the pull-off parking area from Cranesville Road).

If you have a day planned to go hiking at Swallow Falls or swimming at Herrington Manor, I’d highly suggest making a stop in to see the Rock Maze!

This was our group the first time we went to the Rock Maze. We loved it so much that we had to bring our guys back about 10 days later when we spent a week at the Lake for vacation!