Thurmont’s Catoctin Colorfest Turns 60 James Rada, Jr. For 60 years now, Catoctin Colorfest has turned the second weekend in October into an appreciation of beauty both natural and created. Nowadays, around 125,000 people travel to Thurmont to admire the color of the changing leaves in the Catoctin Mountains and browse through the art and…

Take a trip to Catoctin Mountain Park and explore two new trails! Between the Hog Rock and Thurmont Vista parking lots, keep your eye out for a small parking lot with a picnic table behind it. Across from that parking lot is where the trail starts, eventually connecting to the existing Blue Ridge Summit Trail.…

A serial fiction story for your enjoyment written by James Rada, Jr. 1: Breakdown Stacy Lawrence glanced anxiously from the dashboard to the winding road ahead of her, as the temperature needle steadily climbed. She had been a teenage mom, but now she was trying for a fresh start. The rising gauge reminded her, though,…

The National Park Service (NPS) reminds visitors that the harvest of ramps, wild leeks, in Catoctin Mountain Park is illegal and kills native plants. Foraging for ramps has become popular in the Eastern United States, and the NPS has seen an increase in illegal harvesting in Catoctin Mountain Park. In addition to being illegal, the…

Jeffrey Lockwood (shown right) from Laramie, Wyoming, will be the Catoctin Forest Alliance Artist in Residence at Catoctin Mountain Park on May 8-27, 2023. Some 40 years ago, Lockwood earned a BS in biology and a PhD in entomology. the choice of the latter field was motivated by a fascination with the life forms that…

Art has been part of the history of national parks since the 1860’s when Hudson River School painters captured the majestic Western landscapes that became our first iconic national parks. Their awe-inspiring works spurred Americans to preserve those lands for future generations. Artist George Catlin, during an 1832 trip to the Dakotas, was perhaps the…

Joan Bittner Fry Since 1942, when it was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as “Shangri-la,” this isolated camp in the hills of Western Maryland has served as an official Presidential retreat and has often been the site of conferences and decisions of national and international significance. Prior to its existence, diplomats vacationed at Pen…

Jack Walker Brimming with life, nature, and scenery, Catoctin Mountain Park embodies the vast beauty Frederick County has to offer. Take a look beyond this initial allure, however, and you will discover the park’s hidden past—one with a sizable impact on American history. In 1942, soon after American entry into World War II, the Catoctin…

Jim Schlett When our National Parks were first established, well over a century ago, painters and photographers created works that inspired Americans and people from around the world to journey and visit those areas and to generate interest in the parks. That practice lives on to this day. The National Park Service (NPS) still reaches…

The Camp Greentop Stable in Catoctin Mountain Park has fallen into disrepair. Built in 1980, the stable housed horses used by National Park Service Law Enforcement Rangers to patrol trails and remote areas of Catoctin Mountain Park. As park visitation increased, park rangers were re-directed to other park missions, and the Catoctin Mountain Park Volunteer…

The Town of Thurmont is partnering with the Catoctin Mountain Park on the Gateway Trail project. The Gateway Trail links the Thurmont Memorial Park, the Trolley Trail, and the Thurmont Community Park to the trailhead located at the Lewis Area on West Main Street. Until further acquisition can be obtained by the Town of Thurmont,…

James Rada, Jr. Rick Slade was born and raised in Kansas and was accustomed to seeing far and wide across the prairie. Nowadays, when he looks out his office window, he has to crane his neck to look up the steep hillside through a heavy forest of trees to see the sky. Slade became the…

                                                                 An Overview of the NPS sites in Frederick County, Maryland Appalachian National Scenic Trail (www.nps.gov/appa/index.htm) This 2,180-mile-long trail traverses all types of terrains…

Orienteering at Catoctin Mountain Park By Chris O’Connor There comes a time in everyone’s life when they choose to change course to reach their destination. But the question is which way to turn? Orienteering is a means to help one find a way through forest and field, over mountains and across deserts. Armed with the…

by James Rada, Jr. 1965 — Training the Unemployed from the Catoctin Mountaintop Catoctin Mountain can boast a lot of interesting history from Camp David to the Blue Blazes Still raid. From an Office of Strategic Services training camp during World War II to Camp Misty Mount for children. “Also on the Government side is…

James Rada, Jr. Jeremy Murphy (pictured right) was born and raised in Emmitsburg, graduating from Catoctin High in 1998. He visited both Catoctin Mountain Park and Gettysburg National Military Park on field trips and summer trips, never realizing that he would grow up to become the chief law enforcement officer for the Gettysburg National Military…

James Rada, Jr. Imagine staying in a historic cabin in Catoctin Mountain Park for weeks to walk the trails, watch the wildlife, and be inspired to create. For the past four years, Catoctin Mountain Park and the Catoctin Forest Alliance have offered artists, sculptors, poets, and writers a chance to get away from the familiar…

James Rada, Jr. You may notice some new road signs in Thurmont indicating that you are on The Gateway Trail. The signs were approved by the Thurmont Mayor and Board of Commissioners in January, as a way to start promoting the new hiking and biking trail before the weather turns warm. Thurmont Main Street Manager…