Do you love the outdoors and horses? If you're looking for a rustic but comfortable experience, horse camping in Deer Creek Lake is the way to go. Finding a place to camp in Ohio with your horse is easier than ever. At The Dyrt, you can find top-rated spots for horse camping, as reviewed by campers.
Hocking Hills State Park offers camping all year round - electric sites, camper cabins, group camps, and primitive sites.
156 electric sites (with 20, 30 or 50 amp electric) and 13 non-electric sites.
Each site has a paved pad and can accommodate up to a 50' unit. Heated showers. Flush toilets. Laundry facility. Dump station. Camp store. Swimming pool for registered campers. Playgrounds. Volleyball court and horseshoe pit. Tent-only group camps are available by reservation. There are also 30 walk-in family sites with pit latrines.
All Hike-In Campgrounds are off the main Entrance and depending on the Site No. It requires up to 0.5 miles to hike from the Parking Lot. You have to drive to a different Parking Lot on State route 374. All sites starting with "H“ will be on the different location.
$29 - $46 / night
Large campground features shady sites for all types of camping. Pets are welcome on designated sites.
An equestrian camp has 30 primitive sites available on a first-come, first-served basis.
286 electric campsites offer both wooded and sunny areas, some of which overlook the lake. Each site has 20-, 30- and 50-amp electrical hookup. 24 full-service campsites offer electric, sewer and water hookups Heated shower facilities with flush toilets and dump station Beach and boat ramp for exclusive use of the overnight guests Basketball courts, volleyball, miniature golf, horseshoe pits, and playgrounds Nature programs Equestrian camp has 30 primitive sites available on a first-come, first-served basis.
$23 - $35 / night
From Nov 1 - April 1, water service is not available in the Ohio Expo Center campgrounds.
$50 / night
Camping is available to both horse and non-horse campers - Horse picket lines (tie lines) are located behind sites 1-10. Sites 11 - 15 do not have the horse picket lines.
$20 - $175 / night
We have built a park in the middle of the beautiful Hocking Hills to accommodate everyone’s desire to get away and enjoy nature. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
$58 / night
Guide
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.
Guide
Autumn is the best time to experience this Park. Less crowded than summer. 5 million visitors last year. More than Yellowstone. Guided hike was the best.
GuideThis is a great place to visit and camp. I am a tent camper so I was in the non electric site. The hiking is fantastic. Rose lake is also a wonderful lake and quite beautiful. Will always come back
Ranger
First time visiting this state campground and we only stayed one night, did not explore entire park. Grounds well maintained, clean and decent amenities. The sites are well placed and a good size. But no water view on any of the “premium water view” sites in loop L, other than one L17 (the picture with view) Same for loop K. Guests and hosts were friendly and welcoming. Quiet except for the road noise due to nearby busy roads. The boat launch to lake access is very nice with plenty of parking and space. Not bad for a stop when traveling through or a weekend. We stayed with 34’ camper. Site L15 (picture with red truck)
Traveler
I was here before they sold out and seeing it now makes me sad. The bathrooms were gross, the arenas had weeds shooting up. This was a very nice place to take the horses, now it's an overpriced average campground with absolutely nothing to write home about.
ScoutWe've been to Cowan a few times, first time in this loop and was not disappointed. Bathroom was clean and well stocked through the weekend. Additional vehicles have to pay $3.
GuideVery well maintained, established state park. Sites are paved, level, and generally ample in space. Ample shade and privacy if needed. Amenities include boating, fishing, disc golf, MTB trails, live music select evenings, etc. Facilities are cleaned regularly. Staff are friendly and helpful..
GuideBeen here before came back because we liked it so much. Sites are good sized compared to alot of state parks good for tent and rv. Cell service is good, bathrooms are older and could use updating but are decently clean for use.
GuideBeautiful area with great hikes and views close by. None accessible directly from our camp which was in the walk in section, separate from the regular camp ground. This area does not have many of the amenities that the other site does, just vault toilets. The walk in can be up to .3 miles so I highly recommend some sort of cart for your gear.
RangerAlum Creek State Park is a very well designed State park. Its located north of Columbus, Oh just off I-71N. The sites have level pads. The park is very neat and clean. Our particular rv site was an electric only site (L06) but water was just across the street so if was convienent to fill the camper. This was a very pretty campground with boating and water sports as the main activity.
When approaching the campground make sure you GPS is set for the campground and not the park. the two are separated by a few miles and signage at the park to the campground is not clear, especially, at 11:00PM when it is dark.
While were there they had a trivia night which was fun and a free pancake breakfast on Sat. morning which was quite delicious.
For Astronomers this is a Bortle class 4 site with an SQM rating of 21.27. I did not get observe from this site as it was cloudy due to wildfire smoke. Overall we had a great time at the park.
The electric only sites were priced at $33/night.
GuideWe stayed in one of the small cabins and loved it! Very clean, with thoughtful amenities. Hot tub on the back porch. This cabin also comes with two horse stalls. Bridle trail access right from campground.
Legend
Large park with a marina, archery range, disc golf and more. Trails to lake covered with shade.
GuideIt's easy to get there. The non-electric sites don't have a lot of space or privacy (ie; trees) between them, definitely no hammocking. There's also a private camper's beach that is absolutely serene, probably not safe to swim in. Due to it being a holiday weekend, it was busy & loud like you'd expect, but it was so rowdy we left early. When we showed up, someone dumped all their trash in our firepit, absolutely disgusting behavior. Two different camp groups, one in electric and one in non-electric, got into loud verbal fights that resulted in the police being called. Fireworks and loud music were played all night long. No quiet hours, or if there are any they're not enforced. It's still great for a night visit if you're in the area, but it's not a dream weekend getaway by any means.
LegendWe had high hopes for this park because quite a few people raved about it. We did enjoy our stay and got a slightly larger camping spot than some of the others, but the spots were pretty darn close together for a state park. I was staring right into my neighbors door at one point from my camper :( ...we try to avoid campgrounds like tbis...they had a pool which people seemed to enjoy. We did not go in as we don't like busy pools and it was busy, but a nice amenity for some....showers were pretty darn gross for the parks reputation. We have been to many campsites and I'm usually the one complaining about showers and this time my husband came back and said it felt like his tour in Iraq back in 2005 it was so dirty. I did a spray off in our camper after hearing that...... Overall it was quiet though, very family friendly. The trails were peaceful and Old Man's Cave and lower Falls were neat and unique trails, definitely recommend....it was humid and we got rained out during our trip, so didn't do as much hiking as we would have liked. We only had a day there as the next night was booked. We did overall enjoy our time in Ohio!
LegendExcellent location for hiking hocking hills area. Bath houses could really use updating, showers were 50/10 pressure going 200 directions. The only bath house with laundry is the one by the pool. Our site looked much larger in photos but we made it work, although it was pretty steep.
ScoutEvery facility you need. Really engaged staff. Camp Coordinator Linda has a great group of people on board. Very friendly.
Traveler
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.
ScoutGreat hiking trails and people are friendly
ScoutThis was our first tent camping experience and over all went really well! Our particular site wasn’t very tent friendly and was overall a little awkward with the placement of hills and our fire pit, but I think that was a one off. We made it work and had a great time! The sites are close together so be aware if you aren’t fond of neighbors :) we will definitely be back!
TravelerPark Staff was great and very friendly. Was lucky enough to get a Creek Side spot. Nothing like coffee with the Morning sun on a cool morning.
ScoutClean and empty at this time of the year. Tried to do the right thing and reserve for the night however the booking site through the state wouldn’t work. Slept for the night after a long day of driving
LegendWe decided to camp on Thanksgiving weekend. The weather was very mild and the camper was very quiet.
Our site had a pretty level pad and could fit our small camper easily with room for our vehicle. The site itself is big - it’s got a lot of room for tents, an ez-up and plenty of space for chairs. It sits deep and there’s a little trail in the back.
Two shower houses were still open, clean and not far from our site. All of the comfort stations were closed for the off season.
We saw deer, heard coyotes and even saw a flying squirrel one night - really cool.
We ordered pizza from a local shop and they delivered. The lodge is close enough to go get food too.
LegendIt was a wet Veteran Memorial weekend. We were at site 80 not too far from the shower house.
The site was on the end but the fire ring is on the backside of your camper. A nice spot for non rainy days as the fire ring was full of water.
The shower house was pretty clean, flush toilets and warm. There is also a too with a washer and dryer.
Plan to take a hike if you can and go early to beat the crowds. We were dropped off at Ash Cave and hiked back to the campground- about 5 miles. Plan for steps and hills and a lot of beauty to see (even in the rain).
The road up the campground is very curvy - take your time and you’ll be fine. The rest of the campground was not too busy but know that a lot of the sites are close together, some pads are short and you may not have a lot of green space.
GuideWe came in October for a few days and it was so beautiful one of our favorite state parks we have ever been to! Our site was a little angled but views made up for it!
GuideThe site was angled so we had to turn around before we could back in/park - our 5th wheel is 43’ and it was tight even with all spots not full. The pad was level and full hook ups but the site was small and the fire pit was RIGHT next to the camper. Beautiful wooded view behind us.
There was also quite a bit of mud at the front of campsite which we used fallen leaves to cover but there should be material added there.
Walking distance to all state park trails which was great! Bathhouse was warm and clean.
GuideI stayed at a standard electric site with my truck and 19’ travel trailer. It was November so the pool was closed and a large portion of the campground was closed. The site was sloped but the parking pad was flat. Some of the sites were pretty close together but it was all pretty standard for an Ohio state park. The best part is that there are several trails leading out of the campground directly to Old Man’s Cave and the visitor center so there is no need to drive to get to the most popular camping sites. I did not use the dump station, showers, but I did fill up a few gallons of potable water. Overall I was pleased with my short weekend visit.
Guide
If you ranked all the Ohio state park campgrounds from best to worst, this would have to fall along the bottom. First, there is no lake. There is a murky pond that you can swim in, but it doesn't look good. This is a small campground that runs along the length of a loud road. There is no escaping the sound of the cars on the road, many of which have broken mufflers, and they roar through all through the night and day. The campground is a skinny patch of land between two high ridges, which makes for very strange acoustics- you can hear noise from all over the campground, no matter where you are. I was at the far end, yet I could hear the loud, echoing screams of children from the front end. They screamed until 11pm at night. In the morning. I was awoken by someone running a leaf blower up the road for hours, because sound here seems to travel very far. It was far from peaceful, and I was there in November! The campground did have a new bathroom building, with four unisex toilets and showers for the entire campground. It also seemed to have a lot of shade (I don't know for sure, because I was there after the leaves had fallen). So it gets its one star for clean bathrooms and shade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Deer Creek Lake?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Deer Creek Lake is Hocking Hills State Park Campground with a 4.4-star rating from 107 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Deer Creek Lake?
TheDyrt.com has all 9 equestrian camping locations near Deer Creek Lake, with real photos and reviews from campers.
