Olive Green Cabin (PATC)

We rented another PAC cabin! This cabin, named Olive Green after the original owner, is in Maryland just outside of the DC area.

Comparing it to our previous stay at Rock Spring, this cabin felt smaller but had a second floor. It also did not have any hike-in. We just drove right up to the cabin and parked. Olive Green is within walking distance of Cunningham Falls State Park, and very close to Catoctin State Park.

Just outside of the town of Thurmont, MD, Olive Green was easy to book on a bit of short notice. And it is a hard-to-beat price tag as usual, this time of $30 per night. At the last minute, I requested to add one night and much to my surprise (just a day or so prior to our stay) they were able to add a day for me. The cell reception at this cabin, and through much of Cunningham Falls State Park, is nonexistent (no complaints here) so it can make for a peaceful weekend.

The cabin itself is an adorable little two-story structure that has been stripped down to its original size (before additions to the home were added). According to the information Olive Green, the woman that owned the cabin, had a ton of kids. The additions that she built to house her spawn look like they were never there at all. The structure, as it stands today, is pretty tiny.

The front porch is nifty. There are some old spirit bottles hanging there on the front porch, the door is rustic and elegant looking, at this one there is no outside hearth though. Whoever was there before left a lot of wood to dry out on the front porch which was great because all we had to do was chop it and bring it in (and replenish what was on the porch). It is made for a lot of quick and easy dry wood.

The old stone foundation is a little bit creepy to look at. Especially with the gap in the foundation near the dilapidated entryway to the crawlspace. (I am sure it is fine, and I am making it sound worse than it is – did not bother us a bit).

On entering the cabin, immediately to your left on the wall, is a map of the surrounding area. Working your way around the room clockwise from that spot there is a mouse-proof container with paper towels a rocking chair, cabinetry with dishes (I was surprised that they had Corelle), Some towels, some lamps and lamp oil, washing tool, etc. Then there is the wall of cast iron that apparently people don’t know how to care for, so I gave it some TLC.

The stove itself was a lot less high-tech (if you can even say that about old wood stoves LOL) than the Rock Spring cabin wood stove. You could not remove the burner area to put it over the open flame. But this stove also did not take as long to heat up. I am not a wood (cooking) stove expert yet, maybe I will be in the future, but this one (even without the removable burners) performed just fine.

The cabin is small enough that the downstairs got downright hot even in 20-degree weather with that stove on. I am cold all the time, and I mean all of the time and even I was stripping down to a camisole. Interestingly enough, I figured that the loft (where we were sleeping) would be hot as hell as well, but it was not.

It was cold as balls up there. It is crazy how much heat did not through the floor into the loft (plenty of dirt passed through so it was a bit unfair for heat not to).

To the right of the stove there is a table with a tablecloth (that we played about sixty-two billion games of Uno on), a window (this one does not have storm shutters like Rock Spring), and by the door there is a staircase going up to the loft.

In the loft, there are some raised bed areas (not for flowers, for people), and there’s plenty floor area for sleeping on the extra mattresses. Mattresses are provided and there is a trunk of linens. We brought our sleeping bags again, so we did not bother with the linens. The pipe for the stove passes through the floor into the loft so there is a little bit of heat provided by that pipe. Also, worth noting it is probably not ideal to snuggle your mattress up too close to the pipe if you are not in the mood to burn down a historic cabin.

Outside, the cabin has a tool shed with two sections: one for the guests and one for the caretaker. There are plenty of instruments for chopping and splitting wood, some of which are old, and some are newer. About five hundred or so feet from the cabin is a beautiful spring. We brought the water filter this time, so we used the spring water for washing, cooking, and drinking.

Both the boys enjoyed going down and getting water bringing it back up to the cabin. (If they had to do this on the regular obviously, they would think it was the worst thing ever – but when it is only for the weekend this chore is a novelty that they enjoy.)

This cabin is close enough to the road that it does not give you the same desolate and isolated feeling that some others do. Obviously, the tradeoff is not having to lug your gear in and out. You still need to take your trash with you as there are no public receptacles.

Town is about a 15-minute drive from the cabin. There is a Food Lion and a Weis. Food shopping was super convenient. We did not have to bring anything with us because it was so close to town, and we shopped as needed. There was only one alcohol place though (again, worth noting). Because you are in Maryland there are no ABC stores

Cunningham Falls State Park

The State Park Is about a 1 ½ mile walk up the road before you get to some of the facilities. There is a beautiful lake, a plethora of hiking trails, and some really bad maps. There is a new, what looks like, dining hall or event hall. It is absolutely gorgeous on the outside and looked beautiful as we peered in the window. It looked just epic enough for Grendel to destroy.

There are lots of bathrooms (permanent and portable), and a few other structures probably for concessions and a visitor’s center. The hike up to Cunningham Falls was moderate in terms of difficulty. The falls were not particularly full that day, and while signage definitely says to “stay on the trail” for safety purposes, lots of people were climbing up near the falls. Allegedly this is the tallest waterfall in Maryland (78 feet), and while it was a good visit, I think a re-visit is in order when the falls are full.