Agency-listedMD DNRFree
Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area
Drive-up · Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources · MD · 38.17601, -75.91130
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
FREE primitive camping. Deal Island Wildlife Management Area (Maryland DNR), Somerset County, on the lower Eastern Shore about 11 miles west of Princess Anne via MD-363. The DNR's own page states 'A primitive camping area is available for overnight stays,' located off Riley Robert Road. Under Maryland law (COMAR 08.03.02.08) camping in a WMA's designated camping area needs no permit and is capped at 14 consecutive days; the WMA regulations set no camping fee, and there is no paid entry (Maryland's only WMA permit, the 'public hunting permit,' is free). It is a primitive tidal-marsh site: no hookups, no potable water, pack out all trash, and expect wind, mosquitoes and biting flies in season. OpenStreetMap independently maps this spot as 'Deal Island Primitive Campsite' tagged fee=no, and the point sits on DNR-owned Deal Island WMA land. Confirm the current camping rules with the DNR Wellington Wildlife Office (410-651-2065) before you go; we have not visited.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping areaNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area · Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources · MD
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail1 mi
- FFuel7 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- RxPharmacy12 mi
- GGrocery12 mi
- HHardware12 mi
- WWater12 mi
- DDump13 mi
- +Urgent care13 mi
- OOutfitter14 mi
- EVEV fast charger20 mi
- LLaundry21 mi
- ShShower27 mi
- AAir-up41 mi
- PPropane46 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 7 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area
Access
Drive-up
Land
Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources
Elevation
3 ft
Ground slope
1.9% · flat
State
MD
Coordinates
38.17601, -75.91130
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area · Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources · MD (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBig Sound Creek · ~0.5 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townDames Quarter · ~1.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelRoyal Farms · ~19.3 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~26.8 mi
- Dump station~12.7 mi
- GroceriesFood Lion · ~11.8 mi
- PharmacyCity Discount Pharmacy · ~20.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicTidalHealth McCready Pavilion · ~12.8 mi
- HardwareLusby's True Value · ~19.8 mi
EV charging — from Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area · Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources · MD — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger20.2 mi straight-line NE — EVsmart - DPL - Salisbury University Academic Commons (at a park) · SWTCH · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-01-13 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach10 within 25 mi · 39 within 50 · 549 within 100 · 949 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)24.4 mi — Salisbury, MD - Tesla Supercharger, Salisbury
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.7 mi — EVsmart - DPL - Somerset County Technical High School, Westover, MD (at a park) · SWTCH · J1772 · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-01-13 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargerFree (as listed by AFDC)
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 197568 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area · Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources · MD — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~20.6 mi NW · FWS
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 20 · ~21.3 mi N
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~21.7 mi NW · FWS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~22.5 mi NW · FWS
Coming out here — Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area · Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources · MD
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Big Sound Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.5 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1.9% — flat. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area elsewhere
Other camps near Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Somerset County~0.0 mi
- Saxis WMA~21.3 mi
Who holds the land at Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Deal Island Wma, for which PAD-US names no manager; it records the owner as MD Department of Natural Resources. That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area
Stay limit
14 nights (14 consecutive days per COMAR 08.03.02.08)
Source
public land records
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
MD DNR Deal Island WMA page (dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/pages/publiclands/eastern/dealisland.aspx, read 2026-07-22): 'A primitive camping area is available for overnight stays' and 'A primitive camping area is located off of Riley Robert Road.' Somerset County; Wellington Wildlife Office (410) 651-2065. Free / no-permit / 14 consecutive days per COMAR 08.03.02.08 (camping in a WMA's designated camping area needs no permit; the chapter sets no camping fee); no paid entry (MD's only WMA permit, the 'public hunting permit,' is FREE per COMAR 08.03.02.01B(9)). Coordinate = OSM node 12900269325 ('Deal Island Primitive Campsite', tagged fee=no), CONFIRMED on DNR-owned 'DEAL ISLAND WMA' land via MD DNR MD_ProtectedLands/FeatureServer/0 point-intersect (DNRType='DNR Owned Property', ManagedBy='Wildlife and Heritage Service', DESIG='WMA'). Ingest 2026-07-22.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Deal Island Wildlife Management Area - primitive camping area
Finding water out here →Fire rules & restrictions →How to read this page →Reading the aerial →All field notes →