Best Tent Camping near Centerville, OH

Great place to visit has three parks in one John Bryant and Glen Helen nature preserve and Clifton Gorge are some of the best hiking trails in south west Ohio. Camp sites are great for tent camping with a few RV spots. You can visit the near by historical town of Yellow Springs.

There's a great backpacking trail that's challenging and an easy middle meeting place for friends/family from Columbus and Cincinnati that can meet in Dayton Metroparks/Five Rivers - Germantown and take on the TVT challenge, beautiful hike through hilly terrain, and great spots of overlooks. Bring your pack and hiking poles and take advantage of trekking into the forest. Vault toliet, away from busy/crowded campsites and surrounded by nature. Access to a river for water source (bring your filter system) camp in a tent or hammock.

While the tent spots did not have a lot of shade, the sites are close to the lake and make for some wonderful sunsets. All of the staff we encountered were friendly and helpful and all in all it was a great stay. We rented bikes from the camp store and swam at the beach which was conveniently close to the tent sites. Lots of fun and 10/10 would return again. I'm excited to come back and see how the young trees they have growing in the tent sites take off.

Clean, well-maintained campground with about 30 sites, most of which have electric service. Flush toilets and showers. Site 116 has the best privacy for tent camping. Nice lake with rental boats or bring your own kayak/canoe. Nice hiking trails and paved bike trail

This campsite would have been perfect if not for the bathrooms littered with bugs, insects, and spiders. Otherwise, the campsite was quiet, the tent sites were nicely spaced out, and the bathrooms were easily accessible.

We tent camped here a few years ago and had the loudest neighbors. The brought a chainsaw to cut up wood, let their little kids roam wild and packed up around 6am. Our spot had no privacy either. We’ve tried to give this campground another chance but can never find spots that look decent.

Great tent sites on mowed lawn under old growth trees. Our night’s rest was interrupted multiple times with airport noise—airplanes and helicopters. Note that at this time (COVID) you cannot just pull in and occupy a site. You must call in for a reservation.

We love Hueston Woods! We have been there twice now and tent camp. A lot of the sites are large and have enough space for everything you need! The beach is a short distance away and love that they also include a dog swimming area. The bathrooms are a little outdated but the park is very well kept.

Basic car tent camping at several spots along a creek wIth picnic tables and fire rings (no hookups, portolet toilets, no showers.) There is a rustic scout cabin/group lodge reservable for scout, etc. groups. The park features a pioneer village with log cabins, including a blacksmith forge, etc. that have been moved to the site.

Stopped here during a road trip with a friend. Very family friendly. Tent sites were nice and flat, felt a little cramped though. Bathrooms were clean. The lake was very nice, clear, and refreshing. Flet good to be close to it! Easy to find the campsites and pretty affordable.

We love camping here! Whether it's tent camping, group camping, RV, cabin, or lodge accommodations they can fill all your needs. Very large park with playgrounds, fishing, swimming, creek access, dog park, archery practice area or walk over to the damn. The bathrooms could use a little better cleaning but all in all it's a great park! We come often and camp at least once a year! Highly recommended.

Full service campground. 30, 50 am full hook ups. Water and electric only hook ups, primitive RV and tent sites. Some sites are shaded, most of them seem to be year round rented. Most sites not shaded and small. Lake with beach, fishing, boating, and scuba diving. Golf cart rentals, firewood for sale on site. Pool available. Camp store and hot food available on site. Cabins also available for rent. Within 25 min of Walmart, hole improvement stores, and restaurants. Overall nice campground with lots to offer. But in most cases there is parking lot style camping.

This campsite is HUGE. Has over 400 campsites and the first 17 have places you can keep your horses! Something I have never seen before. Some sites are not okay for tent camping and when we got there we had to go back to the office to see if we could change our site. Lucky for us you get one free site switch a stay, so that was nice. The beach is big but unfortunately no dogs allowed. It would be nice for them to include a section where dogs were allowed so we could enjoy. We spent our day on the trails instead. A lot of RV camping but overall it was a great trip!

Had a great time here. My only complaint is that the sites are very close together and there are few trees for privacy in the actual campsites, Also very little shade for this reason. For the most part the tent sites are grass, with a place to pull in. The site I stayed at was relatively close to the pit toilets and a water spigot, but also close to a bunch of RV sites, so I wouldn't say it was all that quiet. It was easy to access walking trails along a river, and also really close to Yellow Springs, which is a great little town (that I totally did not expect to find, who knew!) Cheap firewood and camp store at the entrance.

We arrived three hours after check in started and headed straight to the camp office to check in. Our tent site was ready right away and the kind lady at the desk helped us get DRY firewood and helped us locate our spot. Our campground was clean and mostly quiet. About a 2 min walk and you can walk along the lake on a trail, we caught the most gorgeous sunset. Overall a very nice and clean campground. The only complaint if I had to give one was the daddy long legs in the bathrooms. But they are not harmful at all and don’t really get in the way, but if you are not a spider person they may deter you.

Winton Woods campground has spacious paved RV spaces with full hook-ups, fire ring, and picnic table. They also have cabin and tent camping. The location is located on the lake with access to put in a kayak or canoe. The bathrooms are clean, with private combined shower/dressing stalls. There is a playground for children, and a camp store that sells firewood and supplies. I love the tall pines on the property. They made me feel like I was out west. The campground is also near paved and unpaved trails in the park that surround more of the lake which allows for walking/running/hiking and bicycling, fishing, small craft boating, with small craft boat rentals available at the marina. The park also allows for horseback riding, and a small water park for children in the summer.

We had three walk-in sites to choose from on Memorial Weekend. We chose Site 113 in non-electric. It was a huge site with big trees for shade. Great for tent camping and it worked well for out camper. You have to pull in with a camper to be able to walk out onto your site. It’s a little backwards, but we only have 19ft camper so it worked for us. Plus we weren’t planning on driving anywhere so we didn’t have to worry about moving our truck. The bathroom/showers were not far and were nice and clean. For a holiday weekend it was nice and quiet. If your a bird watcher take your binoculars. Lots of robins, cardinals, red winged blackbirds and a few orioles. We drove though electric on our way out and the sites were much closer than where we were. We loved it and plan on going back.

I've stayed here in the past and Cowan Lake does not disappoint. The B site campground is all non-electric tent camping, and far enough away from the larger RV pads that it's a quiet little campsite! Also, these sites are super close to the bathrooms on the beach, which were very clean during our stay. I was incredibly impressed, because the beach gets pretty busy during the day. The beach itself was clean (for a lakeside beach- there are geese, it's Ohio) and the lake was gorgeous! I will say, the only MILD annoyance is that some of the other campers would drive to the parking lot in front of our campsite and park there into the evening hours to fish or head down to the docks. I'm an early riser, so the headlights and car doors slamming were mildly annoying after about 10p. Not enough to make me choose a different campsite, but worth noting. We rented a tandem kayak and explored the lake, and the equipment was all in good condition. The Commisary is pretty limited but they do have a small kitchen and ice cream, as well as the basics like firewood and ice, as well as the boat rentals. Overall, one of my favorite lakeside campgrounds!

Cowan Lake State Park - A friend and I were able to kayak on the lake the night of a Friday the 13th moon. It was beautiful. Sadly, no pictures as I do not have a water proof camera. The next day we also went out for another paddle under the bright sun.  The boat ramp and parking lot is easy to use and has a good layout.  They do have some tent sites close to the boat ramp area and you can see the lake from those tent sites. 

Our campsite did not have any trees but they have planted a lot of new trees. I assume this due the previous trees having to be cut down due to Emerald Ash borer damage. Our campsite didn't have any shade but others did so you really have to pick wisely. 

The trails here are easy and short.  I loved the informational boxes and tags that they had on the trees or plants.  This is helpful if you have little ones with you or if you are like me and just like to learn about the animals/plants on the trail. 

The park also had a lending library and walking stick lending program. I thought these were simple but memorable features for this park. 

Our campsite was close to two different bathroom structures.  One right behind our site was toilets only. This did mean that sometimes folks would walk on the edge or through the camp site at times.  The other bathroom structure was further down the road and it had both toilets and showers.  The larger bathroom had an ADA shower in it as well. 

The camp store was well stocked and you could rent bikes from the store. These bikes were often all over the campground so be extra careful when driving in the park.  They do have the orange flag but as they are low to the ground it is hard to see them at times. 

The cabins here have both a fire ring and grill. This isn't the case at all Ohio State parks so it was a nice surprise.  They also have a porch that is screened in with a view of the lake. You are not able to walk down to the lake from the cabin but it is a lovely view. 

For those who want to "Walk-On" camp please take a look at the photo of the neon yellow paper as how the park approaches this will be different in the future. 

**Not all photos or videos uploading so some information may be missing. I will try to upload again later.

Visited twice in May 2021 (sites 54 & 39) bookending our camping roundtrip from Virginia to Kansas and this was one of the worst places we stayed. We lived in Dayton for a number of years and Yellow Springs is one of our favorite places. That being said, we were quite disappointed at the set up.

There is no privacy between campsites, at all. If someone on one end of the campground is having a party, everyone in the campground is going to be up all night (our first night). On our last night there, we (and the poor family with young kids in a tent 15 feet away) were audibly assaulted by a very amorous and inebriated couple in a tent until the wee hours. With no trees between sites, you have no buffer and good god what I would have given for a buffer.

Pit toilets have those heavy doors that help keep things less buggy (positive) but because they are on a raised area in the middle of an almost treeless campground, the clang of them shutting echoes throughout the night.

No showers.

No dedicated tent-pads. We were car-top camping so I can't speak to ground conditions for tent camping but do know our two spots would have put us on some sort of slope. (Unless we set up a tent right next to the road on 54).

Like I said, it wasn't bad. Definitely wasn't great.

We went camping in June during the strawberry Moon. We are tent campers, we booked site 185. But once we got there we discovered that the site was slopped down from the pad and not a great place to tent camp. So, we had to find another site. They were booked so we had to cut our vacation short because the only site open for us was reserved for the following weekend. Bummer! There are not alot of spaces for us tent campers no matter where we go. We have to at the least have electric hook ups cause my better half has a CPap he has to sleep wearing. They did have a few premative sites for tent campers. Camp is very well maintained and they are having some construction done on many sites to make them bigger, full hook ups and even Handicap accessable. Great place to ride a bike, or hike or just go for a walk. The shower houses and restrooms were recently redone and in great shape! Though the shower heads could use a changing. Weekends were a bit crowded, but by sunday night the place was cleared out and the rest of the week was quiet and relaxed. Over all a great week. Friendly and helpful staff too. the only issue I had was the state of the Beach, trashed(People there didn't seem to care about throwing their trash around. Shame on them! Also,the sand was so compacted it felt like concrete. Not the best beach. Fishing, well. It seems we didn't have the low down on good fishing spots. All of the public fishing spots were of course taken and along the dam so not great. Lodge is beautiful, and they are doing some construction there. I did not like the food. Guess I am too picky, but when my salad comes out warm and my chicken is cold I do have an issue with that. Didn't seem like they were taking food safety too seriously.

General: Huge state park with over 400 sites. All are pet-friendly and electric. About 20 are FHU. While tent camping is permitted, certain sites are not recommended for it as there would be no place to pitch a tent. One loop is for equestrian camping but when we were there, I only saw one horse trailer, and the rest were occupied by RV campers. 

Site Quality: All camper pads are paved and most appeared level or just very slightly sloped. A picnic table and fire ring complete the site. Some sites have more trees to provide privacy while others are closer together with little separation.

Bath/Shower House: Not all loops have their own bath house and the I loop where we stayed was one of them. We used the one in the H Loop. The bathhouses were clean, and the shower had nice hot water, however, it doesn’t seem like there were sufficient facilities for how large the campground was (H Loop had two showers, two toilets, and three sinks). Hooks or shelves would have been appreciated.

Activities/Amenities: Many activities can be enjoyed here including mini golf (small nine-hole course), soccer, basketball, tennis, volleyball, corn hole, boating, and bicycling. Playgrounds are in several loops (I saw them in C and G). Rentals are available but most are only in season (ended September 30). There is a nature center and several hiking or paved biking/walking trails. There is also a camper beach for boating and swimming.

When we reserved months earlier, we knew that our first night (a Saturday) was 100% full as we got the very last site. What we did not know is that there was a HUGE Halloween celebration complete with 30-40 decorated golf carts parading through the campground. The road was closed until 6:45 pm (we arrived around 7 pm) and cars lined both sides of the approximately two-mile road! If that's your thing, great but it wasn't necessarily ours!

I appreciate that this park encourages so much outdoor activity, but it is not very pedestrian-friendly. I walked the road from one end to the other and there was no shoulder and, in many spots, no place to safely step off into the grass. I’m guessing it is assumed you will either have a car or golf cart to get around. 

One final note: for a park so close to a large city (Cincinnati), I was surprised the cell service was so lacking (on Verizon). We eked out one and occasionally two bars of 4G.

Autumn is the best time to camp in Ohio. Lots of small bathrooms. Lake access. Only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was due to the fact there was no quick reentry. Had to wait for rvs in front of me to register.

Hueston Woods State Park, Oh.

http://parks.ohiodnr.gov/huestonwoods 

Campground Overview: Hueston Woods State Park is very close to Miami University...in the Southwest area of Ohio. The direction we traveled from the south took us on numerous winding country lanes through farm country that actually meandered in and out of Indiana and Ohio.

(Disclaimer: I am a tent camper, preferring backcountry sites of solitude and privacy...so take my reviews of campgrounds with a grain of salt). 

The campground area is separated not only by roadway, but a short walk, ride or drive from the reservoir, docks, boat rental beach area and tiny nature center. 

The Campground Office sits at the campground entrance and does offer quite a bit of camping items for its tiny size should you have forgotten anything. The cabins and lodge are on the opposite bank of the reservoir. The tent site area was sparsely occupied and the particular area was empty that I chose. 

All campground sites are line of sight, no barriers or buffer between neighbors(something I do not enjoy)...the trees are mature and tall so offer no privacy. Noise/sound travels so when full, you’ll likely hear your neighbors conversations. 

Unknowingly, it appeared every weekend in October has a big Halloween emphasis, so the upper campground was sold out. I was advised the lower non electric loop would also be sold out...which reinforced my gratefulness for midweek camping. 

With the vast old growth forests, dried/dead branches for firewood was plentiful for a chilly night(38) fire. We evaded the impending rain for once and pressed on. Weekend campers experienced heavy storms as we left. 

There are several hiking trails and biking trails. Streams were dried up at our visit. A cool restoration covered bridge was a short hop from the campground. The lodge has a restaurant, a gift shop, an outside pool and a nicely equipped activity room for older kids complete with numerous arcade games, pool table, and ping-pong table. There is also a token tiny exercise center-Key card entrance for lodge stayers. The A-frame lodge, though nostalgic, needs some TLC and updating(especially the exterior). 

Traffic noise is noticeable, especially during quiet hours. While not excessive, it’s disruptive. 

Deer sighting were plentiful as were chattering tree rats...ahem, squirrels, sorry. Woodpeckers stayed busy overhead. At dusk an overly friendly“masked trash panda” encroached seeking to share my delectable and perfectly toasted s’more...having to be chased off(unfortunately, it appeared he has been fed by campers to be that bold). Other small birds were plentiful as were migrating Canadian honkers. 

Housekeeping notes: In the larger non-electric loop newer restrooms existed...modern bathrooms and showers were clean and stocked with TP. No paper towels offered, only electric hand dryers. Bathroom stalls, like the showers, utilized shower curtains rather than lockable doors. In my tent area...antiquated wood shed pit latrines...that truly needed razed. 

I did not have time to walk any trails, but talked with mountain bikers that spoke favorably. There were several marked trails near the reservoir area. 

Final Thoughts: It was a nice choice for a stop-over as I drifted north. However, I would not want to stay when it’s busy or on the weekends. The reservoir beach and watercraft fishing appears a big draw...and I wish I had brought both my bicycle and canoe.