Best Tent Camping: Ohio: Your Car-Camping Guide to Scenic Beauty, the Sounds of Nature, and an Escape from Civilization

by Robert Loewendick

Overview

Perfect Camping for You in Ohio!

The Buckeye State provides a spectacular backdrop for some of the most scenic campgrounds in the country. But do you know which campgrounds offer the most privacy? Which are the best for first-time campers? Robert Loewendick traversed the entire state—from Lake Erie and its fantastic fishing to the rich Native American culture of southwestern Ohio—and compiled the most up-to-date research to steer you to the perfect spot!

Best Tent Camping: Ohio presents 50 private, state park, and state forest campgrounds, organized into six distinct regions. Selections are based on location, topography, size, and overall appeal, and every site is rated for beauty, privacy, spaciousness, safety and security, and cleanliness—so you’ll always know what to expect. The updated full-color edition of this proven guidebook provides everything you need to know, with detailed maps of each campground and key information such as fees, restrictions, dates of operation, and facilities, as well as driving directions and GPS coordinates.

Whether you seek a quiet campground near a fish-filled stream or a family campground with all the amenities, grab Best Tent Camping: Ohio. It’s an escape for all who wish to find those special locales that recharge the mind, body, and spirit. This guide is a keeper.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781634043175
Publisher:	Menasha Ridge Press
Publication date:	05/12/2020
Series:	Best Tent Camping
Edition description:	2nd Revised ed.
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Robert Loewendick is an award-winning freelance outdoors/travel writer and guidebook author, with work regularly published in print and on the Internet. Although his passion for outdoors adventure lures him throughout the United States, born and raised in Ohio, Robert still calls the Buckeye State his base camp. Whether fly-fishing a mountain stream, cruising a Great Lake for angling adventures, hiking miles of trails, or paddling across a placid lake, Robert’s days regularly end at a campsite.  As a young boy, Robert explored the creeks, hills, and ravines of rural southeast Ohio daily, which fueled his fire for adventure early. Today, Robert shares his outdoors adventures with the goal of encouraging others to get outside more and connect with the real world. Robert is an active member and past president of the professional outdoors journalism organization, Outdoor Writers of Ohio.

Read an Excerpt

Beaver Creek State Park
Beauty: 4; Privacy: 3; Spaciousness: 3; Quiet: 3; Security: 3; Cleanliness: 3

Key Information

*
• *Contact: 12021 Echo Dell Road, East Liverpool, Ohio 43920; [phone]; ODNR Division of Parks and Watercraft *
• *Operated by: ODNR Division of Parks and Watercraft *
• *Reservations: [phone]; www.ohiostateparks.reserveamerica.com *
• *Open: Year-round; limited facilities winter months *
• *Sites: 44 nonelectric; 6 with electric *
• *Each site: Picnic table, fire ring *
• *Assignment: Reservable sites; walk-in sites first come, first served *
• *Registration: Self-registration station at campground *
• *Facilities: Latrines, sun shower, playground, nature center, pioneer village, horseshoe pits, archery range *
• *Parking: At each site *
• *Fee: $24; deduct $1 Sunday–Thursday; deduct $3 from fee during winter season *
• *Elevation: 1,102 feet *
• *Restrictions:

*
• *Pets: Allowed, but must be kept on a leash *
• *Fires: In fire rings, fire rings are not to be moved *
• *Alcohol: Alcohol is prohibited in public areas in every state park. Alcohol may be consumed within the confines and privacy afforded in a cabin, cabin site, lodge room, or a rented campsite *
• *Vehicles: Two cars per site *
• *Other: Quiet hours 10 p.m. – 7 a.m.; gathering firewood prohibited; maximum 6 persons per site

*
• *Wheelchair Access: No specific sites ADA

The home of a National Wild and Scenic River for exploring

Arriving from the north, it’s soon apparent to visitors that they have arrived at the doorstep to the Appalachian Mountains. Beaver Creek State Park covers 2,722 land acres and only four miles of river, but the river is the main attraction. The river has been designated a National Wild and Scenic River and rightly so. Slip a kayak into the clear waters of Little Beaver Creek and shoot over a few short rapids for some whitewater fun, or simply lean back and admire the cliffs that contain the river. At the center of the park is a pioneer village that relied on the river to turn mill stones during the early 1800s. An iron bridge crosses the river at the village, which is also where the park office is. South of the village, 0.87 miles on Echo Dell Road, is the park’s Wildlife Education Center that features live animals and 300 mounted specimens. Center is open May through October, on the weekends from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The family campground of Beaver Creek State Park offers campers the picture-perfect place to pitch a tent. As soon as you pull into the campground, your mind will instantly transition to relax mode. Site 42 is the first site on the left. This site is only a dozen yards beyond the entrance, but its appearance and layout will resemble a campsite in a western forest: big pines spaced enough to give a non-confined sensation and a plush carpet of pine needles under foot. After passing site 42, a road to the left leads to the best sites of the campground: sites 43 through 55. All sites are reservable.

This shorter road of the campground has campsites on the upper side only. Site 44 is several feet wider and deeper than the others, with white pines towering like giant soldiers. Site 46 lies in a slight swale that dips through the pine-covered ridge. Avoid this site if rain is in the weather forecast. This specific campground road goes for one-tenth of a mile before ending at a cul de sac. Near the turnaround, site 50 invites tent campers to spread out on its wide layout. At the rear of these sites, the forest closes in and song birds entertain with sight and song, while flittering about the open and dense woodland. There is a latrine across from site 48, but no water source is available in this section. Across from site 46 is the trailhead for the Dogwood Trail, which leads trekkers down to the star of this state park: Little Beaver Creek.

Back to the main campground road and near site 2 is a pit latrine and self-registration station with details posted regarding the park, campground, and any planned activities. Across the road from the registration station are the sun shower and the amphitheater. Sites 32 and 33 are situated off the road’s edge farther than their neighboring sites. Next to the parking spaces for these two sites is a playground—the perfect scenario for a couple of tent-camping families with small children. Site 23 sits at the end of this second campground road, and offers campers an overlook of the valley cut in by the Little Beaver Creek centuries ago.

The North Country Trail (NCT), a 4,600-mile hiking trail that stretches from North Dakota to New York, meanders through Beaver Creek State Park for 6.3 miles. The NCT includes various hiking challenges from creek crossings to roadside walks. Hiking at Beaver Creek is not to be hurried, as to not simply walk through, but pause and absorb the diverse sights and sounds. Remnants of historic river locks are seen while maneuvering along the trail near the river. Before hikers reach the valley floor and Little Beaver Creek, the trail winds around the sides of forested ridges that warrant enough pauses to enjoy the place. Hikers should allow an extra hour or two for the daily hike plan.

GETTING THERE From East Liverpool, travel north on OH 11 for 5.45 miles to OH 7 north exit. Follow OH 7 north for 2.98 miles to Leslie Road on the right. Go 0.81 miles to campground entrance on the right.

GPS COORDINATES N40°43.857' W80°37.374'

Table of Contents

Ohio Campground Locator Map

Map Legend

Acknowledgments

Preface

Best Campgrounds

Introduction

Northwest

• Kiser Lake State Park
• Lake Loramie State Park
• Mary Jane Thurston State Park
• Wolf Creek Park

Northeast

• Beaver Creek State Park
• Big Creek Park
• Fernwood State Forest
• Findley State Park
• Harrison State Forest
• Jefferson Lake State Park
• Nimisila Reservoir Metro Park
• Punderson State Park
• Tappan Lake
• West Branch State Park

Southeast

• AEP Recreation Land
• Barkcamp State Park
• Blue Rock State Park
• Burr Oak Cove
• Burr Oak State Park
• Forked Run State Park
• Hocking Hills State Park
• Jesse Owens State Park
• Lake Alma State Park
• Lake Hope State Park
• Lake Vesuvius Recreation Area
• Leith Run Recreation Area
• National Forest Covered Bridge Scenic Byway
• Piedmont Lake
• Salt Fork State Park
• Strouds Run State Park
• Tar Hollow State Park and Forest
• Wolf Run State Park

Southwest

• Germantown Metropark
• Great Seal State Park
• John Bryan State Park
• Miami Whitewater Forest
• Paint Creek State Park
• Pike Lake State Park
• Scioto Trail State Park
• Shawnee State Park
• Stonelick State Park

Central

• A .W. Marion State Park
• Delaware State Park
• Dillon State Park
• Kokosing Lake Campground
• Mohican State Park and Forest

Lake Erie Region

• East Harbor State Park
• Geneva State Park
• Kelleys Island State Park
• South Bass Island State Park

Appendix A: Sources of Information

Appendix B: Camping Equipment Checklist

Index

About the Author