Maryland's big one: a crashing 53 foot falls in Swallow Falls State Park's old-growth hemlock corner, with a USGS gauge on the Youghiogheny essentially at the park.
March through May
Big water window
in a typical year
Snowmelt
What drives it
Muddy Creek
Live USGS
Data on this page
gauge 03075590
Maryland DNR
Managed by
their rules govern
Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.
The season
What fills Muddy Creek Falls, and when
Muddy Creek drains western Maryland's snowy plateau, so the falls crashes hardest from March through May and mellows to a broad veil by fall; Edison and Ford famously camped beneath the hemlocks here. The gauge pairing is unusually good: the Youghiogheny gauge named for Swallow Falls Park sits where Muddy Creek's water arrives moments after the drop.
Typical best flow: March through May
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What the agency itself says
Muddy Creek Falls is a crashing 53-foot waterfall - a spectacular sight.
Swallow Falls State Park (Maryland DNR)What a snowmelt year looks like at full send: Palouse Falls in mid April, when the Palouse River is still carrying the melt. The same falls in late August is a ribbon. Timing is most of the visit. “04-15-14-palouse” — Dsdugan — CC0
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Right now
What Muddy Creek is doing today
Flow at the gauge now
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USGS median for Oct 15
Not published
Gauge: USGS 03075590 Youghiogheny River near Swallow Falls Park MD, on the receiving Youghiogheny at the park, just below the Muddy Creek confluence. The gauge reads the river, not the brink of the falls, so treat it as the trend line rather than a turnstile.
Source: USGS Water Services (National Water Information System). Instantaneous values and daily statistics services. U.S. Geological Survey data are works of the United States Government and are in the public domain. Gauge verified 2026-08-27.
The other half of the story: the same Palouse Falls in late August. Nothing is wrong; this is what a snowmelt river does every year once the melt is spent. “Palouse Falls 20100829” by Mark Wagner, CC BY-SA 2.5
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
The 1.25 mile trail loops past Muddy Creek Falls, the Youghiogheny's Swallow Falls and the old-growth grove, per Maryland DNR; summer weekends and holidays require day-use reservations, and the canyon trail bans pets in peak season.
Plateau water under conifers (Blackwater Falls, one ridge system south in West Virginia). Muddy Creek Falls runs the same calendar in Maryland's snowiest corner. “Blackwater Falls (15437499241)” by Benjamin Smith from United States, CC BY 2.0
Common questions
Muddy Creek Falls flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is March through May. Muddy Creek drains western Maryland's snowy plateau, so the falls crashes hardest from March through May and mellows to a broad veil by fall; Edison and Ford famously camped beneath the hemlocks here. The gauge pairing is unusually good: the Youghiogheny gauge named for Swallow Falls Park sits where Muddy Creek's water arrives moments after the drop.
This page reads the USGS gauge on Muddy Creek (Youghiogheny River near Swallow Falls Park MD, on the receiving Youghiogheny at the park, just below the Muddy Creek confluence) live in your browser, and shows the latest flow next to the median USGS publishes for today's date, so you can see where today sits in the year. The gauge reads the river, not the brink, so treat it as the trend rather than a turnstile.
It softens considerably by late summer without losing the amphitheater effect. Spring melt off the plateau is the crashing version the DNR's adjective belongs to.
Swallow Falls State Park (Maryland DNR). The 1.25 mile trail loops past Muddy Creek Falls, the Youghiogheny's Swallow Falls and the old-growth grove, per Maryland DNR; summer weekends and holidays require day-use reservations, and the canyon trail bans pets in peak season. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
Yosemite Falls in May, running on snowmelt that will be gone by late summer. The National Park Service tells visitors the falls can be dry by August, which is why every falls page here starts from its watershed. “Tourists below Yosemite Falls (39832011431)” by Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
Maryland's Catoctin Mountain cascade, called McAfee Falls by the state's own page, sliding down mossy rock near Thurmont with strictly no swimming or climbing.
Flow windows are typical-year climatology drawn from the driver and the agency language quoted above, not forecasts. Live readings and per-date percentiles are U.S. Geological Survey data, public domain; the above-or-below-typical line is our comparison and is labelled as such. Access, trail and safety information belongs to Swallow Falls State Park (Maryland DNR). National picture: waterfall season across the US → Hero image: “Blackwater Falls (15437499241)” by Benjamin Smith from United States, CC BY 2.0
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