Best Cabin Camping near Grand Rapids, OH

General: Large state park with 256 campsites, all with electric (20-30-50 amp) hookups. Sites 1-11 and 21-29 have full hookups (water, sewer, electric). Also, there are a lodge and cabins. The park is very well maintained. This park is close to Toledo and within spitting distance of several refineries although you’d never know it! 

Site Quality: All sites are very generous in size and appear to be spaced with a decent amount of space apart with foliage providing varying levels of privacy. Some have beautiful trees that in peak fall color would be stunning. All camper pads are paved and long enough to accommodate large RVs. Some have concrete pads for picnic tables, although the sites in our loop did not. A wooden picnic table and fire ring complete each site. 

Restroom/Shower house: Very clean, however, bathhouses are shared between two loops. Each bathhouse only has two shower stalls, which may necessitate a wait when the campground is full. A hook and a small bench but nowhere to put soap/shampoo in the shower. Good warm water. 

Activities/Amenities: So much to do! Several lakes are good for fishing or boating. Many trails, some grassy and some paved are good for walking, running, and biking. A beautiful and extensive boardwalk constructed by the Ohio Civilian Conservation Corps is available only for foot traffic. Bike rentals are available. A small camp store. Laundry facilities. Donuts and muffins on the weekends. Several playgrounds. Bird houses and feeders are located throughout the park and especially in the spring, you can hear many varieties of birds chirping (however, you will also experience the by-products of so many birds!). Excellent cell service (Verizon). There is also a dump station.

There was a warning that due to the proximity to an urban area campers, bikes, etc. should be locked up but I didn't feel that vibe.

We enjoyed two stays at this campground, once in September and once in May. Even though this large campground was full when we were there on a weekend in September, we did not feel overcrowded. There were many empty campsites when we were there during the week in May (the week before Memorial Day); we very much enjoyed our stay both times!

Our site was $59.95 a night.

We were in Site# 504. We had Full hook- up with a gravel pull-through.
We travel towing a 14 foot trailer and were able to fit both in our pull through site along with my jeep. The site was easy to level. We were charged $25 additional for my jeep since we were towing the trailer. We also were charged $10 because we arrived at 1:25 PM and check-in is at 2 PM. The park was close to empty so arriving early was not an inconvenience. We drove ourselves to our spot (no escort).

Our site was shaded with lots of trees. This was a smaller lot with our neighbors fairly close.

The lot comes with a concrete patio with picnic table and fire ring. They sell wood for $6 a bundle.

There is free WiFi, although not strong. They offer Cable TV and there are many channels.

There is not a community outdoor kitchen or community fire pit.

They pickup your garbage at your site daily before noon.

You are allowed to ride personal golf carts. They do not provide golf cart rentals. There is really not a need to have a Golf cart because it is a smaller campground.

They do have a Swimming pool but it is currently closed due to maintenance (although it just looked closed- no signs of maintenance being done).

There is a Playground. They also offer horseshoes, corn hole, giant jinga.

They have a basic general store. There are not scheduled activities for kids.

There is not a snack bar/restaurant on site.

The streets are gravel so not great for riding bikes. This is an RV park with tent camping and cabins to rent.

They have one shower house. The shower house has individual bathrooms with your own sink, shower, toilet. These are kept very clean.

There is a laundry facility. It is a cash only facility, but they have a change machine. There are approximately 4 washers and 4 dryers. It is approximately $2.50 to wash and $2.50 to dry a load.

They have a small fenced in dog park.

There isn’t tons to doin the actual city of Perryville. But Toledo is a 20 minute drive.

Lake Hudson is a dark sky preserve full of trees, nature and a beautiful lake. The camping sites come with an electric plug in, a nice fire ring and a picnic table. They are cute sites. Most are not by the lake. There is a dumpster. The facilities are rustic. The facilities are port a potty type with wooden walls and cement floor. No showers. A hand pump well for water. The swimming part of the lake requires a drive. The Lake is beautiful with a sand beach, no wake boating and grills. However it is rustic so there is goose poo. The woods are beautiful. There is hunting. We had heard that some people partied there but the night we were there it was quiet and people were respectful. We had a beautiful fire and dutch oven dinner. We saw one cute racoon who ran away when I reacted. We were worried about mosquitos but we only saw one.

This park is huge. There is so much to do here, we didn’t leave the park at all! Just a short walk or bike ride to Lake Erie via a paved path. I highly recommend taking a bike, as there are so many trails and paths to ride throughout the park. The marshy swamp area was neat to see, there were several frog species, snakes, and we even saw a muskrat. The park is very educational, they have a nature center where you can learn about the local flora and fauna. There was a doe and her fawn that we saw almost daily in the park, as well as other deer. A resort is adjacent to the park that has many amenities if you prefer not to camp. There are several ponds throughout the park and lots of green space.
While we were there we had the pleasure of viewing the nested piping plovers that haven’t nested in Ohio for 83 years. 4 chicks remained on the beach during our stay, prepping for the flight south. Several volunteer ornithologist kept a watchful eye on the chicks for safety and didn’t mind educating us on the little creatures. The campsites are nicely sized and vary in privacy. All equipped with a picnic table and fire pit. Some sites had a concrete pad under the table but there didn’t appear to be many, just a handful of what appeared to be newer sites. The park held social events, such as an ice cream social and coffee and pastries several mornings. The camp store was impressive, stocking a variety of perishables and even refrigerated items such as lunch meat, cheese, etc. Very impressive park, we will be back and extend our stay.

Hayes State Park is a great little spot in the Irish Hills. It rained the whole time we were there (boo!) but we tried to make the best of it. Our site was the perfect spot for two tents and a hammock, and I loved the fire pit and table being next to the driveway. There’s electric at every site, and a paved driveway for RVs. One thing is that the sites in the east loop, while a little more spaced out than the west loop, are still real close together. If there had been someone in the spot to our left, it would’ve felt really cramped. The ranger office was nice, clean, and had lots of information ready! Firewood and ice are available there as well for reasonable prices. The bathroom building was right in the center of our loop, and had warm showers that were great after a day of cold mist. They aren’t the cleanest, but with how many people were there it was well kept and stocked. This is obviously a campground geared towards families, with tons to do from the beach, to volleyball courts and horseshoes. The main attraction is of course Wamplers Lake, and you can rent kayaks, pedal boats and canoes to go explore around the lake. Overall, this is a great campsite if you are a family, or attending an event at MIS right down the road. If you enjoy more secluded campsites, this isn’t the spot for you.

The hosts are terrific: the campsites and fire pits are immediately cleaned, the hosts checked us in remotely (saved us a trip to the office), provided tips for getting quality firewood, cleaned the bathrooms regularly even during a busy holiday weekend.

The campsites are a bit small, but fortunately the other campers were friendly and helpful. Some of the non-electric sites were used by RVs running generators all day and night, so that was a bummer for those of us hoping non-electric would mean more quiet.

The bathrooms were scrupulously clean and always available without a line.

Three minor complaints: vault toilets instead of bathrooms in the non-electric area, only one gray water dump on the entire south side of the lake, the park lacks much in the way of hiking (but does have boating, fishing, etc.)