Deep Creek Lake has been an annual family vacation for the last 25 years! We’ve always stayed in individual houses, some right on the lake, some lake view, and some on side streets far away from the lake. I would recommend for anyone looking for winter rentals, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to pay the premium for lakefront when it is essentially a big white field when frozen over in the winter. Sometimes it can be fun to play near the edge when it’s frozen, but this adds a whole new layer of risk and worrying with the kids. Our typical vacation in the winter is a long weekend and involves a day walking around Oakland and hiking down to Swallow Falls, another day/night spent on the ski slopes at Wisp Resort, and hanging out around the house, enjoying the hot tub, playing games, and spending time with family.
This year we were planning on spending New Year’s Eve in DCL with family; unfortunately, COVID had different plans and we ended up missing the first few days of vacation while we stayed home and recovered. Luckily, Deep Creek is only about 4 hours from home, so we did manage to drive out NYE morning and spend one night with family.
Since we didn’t get to really enjoy the trip at New Years, we arranged another weekend to go up with my sister’s family and stay at their cabin. It was already a busy January for Kristen and I since we had the Cancun trip coming up, but the best weekend for us to get back to Wisp ended up being the last weekend in January.
Our second trip to DCL in a month was way better than the first, we enjoyed a long weekend with plenty of skiing, hiking, and relaxing with family. My sister and I have always been close and I’m thankful that our kids get to hang out with their cousins and also love spending time together.
In addition to hiking, skiing, and walking around Oakland, we also got food from Mountain State Brewing Company. This is one of our favorite places to go while in DCL and it never disappoints for dine-in or carryout. The pizza’s are amazing (“Fire on the Mountain” is my normal go to) and the “Almost Heaven” beer is aptly named. It does get very busy and can have a long wait, so plan accordingly if you have hungry kids in your crew!
Skiing at Wisp is always fun but the price has gotten crazy! The cost for rentals and lift tickets for four people makes it almost not worth it. The most frustrating part is when conditions aren’t ideal. I don’t understand how they can charge the same amount for time on the mountain when less than half the trails are open?!?
While conditions weren’t great this year, it was an amazing trip since it was Autumn’s first time skiing. She was super frustrated and ready to quit after a few tough attempts. However, she was having a blast once she got the hang of it. In previous years she was only comfortable with the snow tubing so we were really excited that she wanted to start learning to ski this year. Tubing is a ton of fun for the adults and kids (make sure to reserve your 2 hour time slot well in advance as they book up fast) but it was great having the whole family on the slopes.
We also explored some new trails this year! We’ve always done the hike down to Swallow Falls; it can get icy and the stairs at the falls can be tricky but overall it is not too difficult of a hike. We have many family pictures in front of the Falls and on the surrounding trails. A few years ago we also started hiking at Fork Run Recreational Area. There is a designated climbing area at Fork Run where all of the kids love bouldering/climbing, they even have permanent mounts for hooking up ropes and harnesses for the local climbing clubs. This year we also discovered the Rock Maze trailhead near Herrington Manor. The climbs aren’t as high at Rock Maze, but there are a ton of crevices and slots to squeeze through. This was a new favorite with the kids and we can’t wait to visit again on our next trip. Overall it was another amazing trip to DCL and we’re looking forward to more adventures in western MD in the years to come.