Swallow Falls State Park is mere minutes from Deep Creek Lake itself. In fact, Swallow Falls holds some of the most serene, yet breathtaking scenery around. If you’re looking for a pleasant walk through the woods, or possibly a short activity to fill up your afternoon with the kids, this is your perfect destination.
If you plan on visiting Swallow Falls State Park, it goes without saying, you’re most likely visiting to see some waterfalls; most particularly Muddy Creek Falls. So what are these waterfalls called the ‘Swallow Falls’? The definition according to the Waterfalls Guide is as follows:
Swallow Falls is a pair of cascades extending down the Youghiogheny River in two, 30 yard steps. Each of these cascades drops about 10 to 20 feet depending upon water flow. Perhaps they just liked the name ‘Swallow Falls’ more than ‘Muddy Creek Falls’ and so named the park. (The Youghiogheny River, as you may know, feeds off of some of the water from Deep Creek Lake.)
Once you enter passing the Nature Center (as shown in the map below), you will be able to park and set off on foot, exploring the woods and visiting multiple beautiful waterfalls. The dotted lines below represent the trails, and as you can see, there are two ways in which you can enter the park to view the falls.
1) By entering the left direction to go towards the falls, you are heading towards ‘Muddy Falls’, which is the highest waterfall in Maryland!
2) Our recommendation, in order to save the best for last, is to take the right path towards the Tolliver Falls, which will eventually lead you along the river passing both the Upper Swallow Falls (shown below) and the Lower Swallow Falls.
Since we took the right path, in our trip, above you can see our first stop was on top of a large rock overlooking the Upper Swallow Falls. The picture below shows the downstream off of this large rock and the winding rapids in which the water quickly passes. The rocks are very slippery, but are safe for all ages to walk out onto and take in the breathtaking view of the river. Heading back to the trail, we went towards Tolliver Falls.
Tolliver Falls (shown below) offers a nice stop for kids (if you have them) or just more great hiking in a very serene and peaceful environment. The falls feature a 20×20 foot river pool, which is also safe to swim in, with supervision of course, and swim up to the falls, which gets to about 8 feet deep at the base. The falls themselves are no more than 5 feet high.
In this area, you’ll also notice there are plenty of rocks overhanging the river bed, many of them dripping with moisture in the summertime due to the draw of water from its surroundings. This marks furthest point off the trail, but if you’re interested in seeing more and hiking through the park, and not back to the parking lot, we recommend checking out the Garrett Trail system.
If you wander away from the falls, and head back down the oval trail, following it along the waterside, there are many small 10-20 foot trails that lead out to the water. This helps is you want to get a peek back at the rapids, or get a picture like the one below. Most of these small lookouts peek out onto the river. You can see lots of rocks along the waterside, which make this hike all the more worthwhile.
Below you’ll also notice how large the falls are. This is the Lower Swallow Falls, which occurs just before the intersection with the Youghiogheny River (also known as the “Yawk”). If you were to look to the left of this picture, you would see the intersection of the ‘Yough’ and the river coming from Muddy Creek Falls.
To read on about the tallest waterfall in Maryland, Muddy Creek Falls, read on in our next section!
Continue on to Swallow Falls State Park Part 2
Explore White Water Rafting at ASCI
Deep Creek Lake State Park
Deep Creek Lake History
Fun Facts About Deep Creek Lake
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It is my understanding that Muddy Creek derives its name as a result of the source of its water- coming from nearby Cranesville Swamp. The swamp, which has some trails and most notably a boardwalk out over the bog, is overseen by the Nature Conservancy. Geologically, it is a natural frost pocket created by glacial movement and is therefore home to sub-arctic flora and fauna not typical of the area. The swamp has dense sphagnum moss/peat growth and thereby colors the waters, hence the name Muddy Creek. For more info, visit http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/maryland/files/cranesville_brochure.pdf. Another park/waterfall that might interest you is 62 ft Blackwater Falls near Davis WVA. This park has equally amazing hikes and a spectacular waterfall also colored with natural tannins from its water source.
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