Where OSS Agents and the Ritchie Boys Trained, Near Gettysburg
Three hours by van through the Catoctin ridges, where WWII spy training and Cold War command planning both took root.
Mountain Spies drives small groups through the Catoctin and South Mountain corridor on the Maryland and Pennsylvania line. The listing ties these ridges to a 1942 OSS paramilitary training camp, the Army's World War II intelligence school at Fort Ritchie, the presidential retreat Eisenhower renamed Camp David, and the Cold War command center inside Raven Rock.
The operator's own rules keep every group on publicly accessible ground. Camp David and Raven Rock are part of the story, and neither is a place you walk into. The stops are about terrain, and why these hills drew spy trainers, a president and Cold War planners alike.
The booking below is the shared departure, sold as three hours. As of October 15, 2026, its calendar showed tours Thursday through Sunday at 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM, with dates open into March 2027.
Mountain Spies Tour, the Secrets of the Catoctin MountainsA three-hour guided van tour of World War II and Cold War intelligence sites in the Catoctin Mountains.www.viator.comTwo Long Stops Carry the Wartime Story
The listing gives forty-five minutes each to Catoctin Mountain Park and Fort Ritchie. In the park the story starts in 1942, when the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA, set up a covert training site at Camp Greentop known as Camp B-2. Small teams learned sabotage, guerrilla warfare and clandestine communications there before deploying to occupied Europe. Today Greentop hosts what the park calls the oldest camp in the USA for people with disabilities, and park rules keep its buildings closed to the public outside reservations, scheduled programs and permits.
Fort Ritchie served as the Army's Military Intelligence Training Center during the war. Thousands of specialists known as the Ritchie Boys trained there in interrogation, psychological warfare and battlefield intelligence, many of them European refugees whose language and cultural knowledge proved invaluable. The post closed in 1998. A private owner bought it in 2021 and set aside two buildings for what is now the Ritchie History Museum, and two travelers' accounts mention time inside. As of October 15, 2026, the museum's site lists 10 AM to 4 PM Wednesday through Saturday and noon to 4 PM on Sunday, with separate winter hours.
The listing also links Fort Ritchie to POW screening at Pine Grove Furnace and interrogation work at PO Box 1142 at Fort Hunt. Neither of those appears among the four places on the itinerary; they are part of the story told along the way.
Camp David and Raven Rock Stay at a Distance
The same protected mountains hold the presidential retreat first called Shangri-La, which Dwight D. Eisenhower renamed Camp David. The National Park Service says the retreat sits inside the park but is not open to the public. Park rules bar cameras from recording its signs, roads, buildings, staff or vehicles, and the entrance road is posted No Photography.
The underground Raven Rock Mountain Complex, built up during the Cold War, serves as the Alternate National Military Command Center for continuity of government. Federal rules count it as part of the Pentagon Reservation, where photographing the site without permission is unlawful.
Mountain Spies says it does not enter, approach or attempt access to restricted federal property. Expect ridgelines, tree cover and the guide's explanations far more than any view of the facilities themselves. One traveler wrote in April 2026 that the group could not get close enough to see much more than trees. Another, in May 2026, wrote that you can see where the helicopters land.
The ten-minute stop at Pen Mar Park, a late-19th-century railroad resort on the crest of South Mountain, looks out across the Cumberland Valley. Washington County runs the park's season from the first Saturday in May to the last Sunday in October, 9 AM to sunset, and allows walk-in access year-round. Blue Ridge Summit, an old resort community on the same ridge, is passed from the van.
The Guides, the Van and the Camera Rules
The operator's website names two guides. It says Chris Hill, who created the tour, began his career as a contractor supporting the U.S. Intelligence Community and has spent more than twenty years researching this corridor. Christopher Price introduces himself there as a U.S. Army veteran and a retired CIA officer with 26 years of intelligence experience. Which of them leads a given departure is not stated.
Much of the telling happens in the van between stops. One traveler advised sitting near the front if you have trouble hearing, and another described video clips and first-person accounts played during the drives.
The operator's Responsibility Code bans real-time geotagging, live-streaming and drones, and lets the guide stop photography at specific stops. Catoctin Mountain Park separately prohibits flying drones without the superintendent's written approval, and the airspace above it is closed to all aircraft except pre-authorized military or emergency flights. Breaking the operator's rules can get a guest removed from the tour without a refund.
Who Can Go, and How Far You Walk
The listing and one of the operator's ticket pages sell from age 14, but another operator page says 16 and up, so plan around 16. One booking on the listing takes up to twelve travelers. The operator's pricing page caps its tours at ten, and larger groups need advance coordination through its group programs.
In its FAQ the operator says all of the narration can be done from the van, with a chance to stretch your legs every thirty minutes or so. Its pricing page puts several stops at a walk of about a quarter mile or more, offers modified routes, and asks for mobility needs before booking. The listing warns of walking on unstable terrain and does not recommend the tour for travelers with spinal injuries, poor cardiovascular health or pregnancy.
🧭 The listing leaves the exact meeting spot to your booking confirmation. The operator's own pages name Liberty Mountain Resort in Fairfield, Pennsylvania, as the start, and say the guide arrives fifteen minutes early with the black Mountain Spies van. Its booking notes name the resort's lower parking lot while one of its ticket pages says the upper lot near the D/E signs, so go by the confirmation. The listing adds that the guide wears a bowler-style hat and a Mountain Spies uniform.
A full refund is available when you cancel at least 24 hours before the start time. On the operator's schedule the morning tour runs 9:00 AM to noon and the afternoon tour 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, which leaves the rest of the day for Gettysburg.