Best Tent Camping near Kimbolton, OH

We enjoyed walk-in site #3 during a holiday weekend. The walk-in sites afford more privacy and tree cover than the drive-up sites, where you can see your neighbors on all sides. No showers or sinks, just several vault toilets. Potable water available throughout the camp. Camp sites are $10 a night.

Neighbors were fairly quiet, and there is one trail that leads down to Burr Oak lake. The trail is 1 mile, but it seems to link up with some longer yellow and green-blazed trails that go around the lake. The campground is also a short drive from the Wildcat Hollow trail head in the Athens Unit of Wayne National Forest

Just a few miles from the Ohio Covered Bridge Scenic Highway, this lovely tent-only campground offers a pleasant get away. There are 6 spacious “walk-in” campsites, a small pond, and vault toilets. Each site had a picnic table and campfire ring, but there is no privacy between sites. There is no water available, other than the pond, so plan accordingly. The group picnic area is great for bigger families or groups, with a campfire ring, grills and a covered picnic area.    

The area is great for hiking, with the North Country Trail going right by the campground, cycling through the rolling hills of the backroads, and canoeing on the Little Muskingum River.

The closest town is Woodsfield, OH, about 13 miles from this campground and has most of the supplies you may need.

More Information: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/wayne/recarea/?recid=6214

Blue Rock State Park is outside Zanesville, Oh off I70. Rt 60 takes you South and then you have a choice of routes in. Good Ohio farmland scenery.

Out of the way, small camping area with basic sites. A cool feature is a few of the sites have pavilion type covered patios that you can pitch your tent in to help stay dry during inclimate weather.

Otherwise the sites are close together. Though there are a few sites that are more off to themselves, they are still wide open with sparse tree cover.

The restroom is basic, the showerhouse is located at the reservoir beach as well as the camp store and boat rental.The staff was very knowledgeable about the area and conversational.

Several trails are in the area, the Horse Camp is up the road. In addition to this area there is the Blue Rock State Forest that offers several out door activities, check out their map and site online.

Make sure you get a reservation at the kiosk by the ranger station in the forest. Do not go to the state park as that is completely different. For the forest office I go to Co Rd 939, Perrysville, OH 44864

Do not camp illegally or without a reservation. They do post signs and ask other campers to report the illegal camping.  

The sunset photo is by the entrance of the parking lot to the campsite.  This is the 2nd easiest campsite to walk into out of the 10.  If you have any mobility issues this is the second best camp site to go to as most of it is along the wide access road and mountain bike trail. The parking lot was clean and easy to access. 

I had limited cell phone signal while here but this had the best signal out of the 10 sites. 

All of the Park and Pack camp sites do not have a bathroom. As you can see from this site I took the time to take a picture of the moon pole.  So do leave no trace of your bathroom habits. 

This site was great for both hammocks and tents.  You could have a small group here and not feel crowded. The camp fire set up is awesome. We had another camper over by that spot so I didn't take pictures of his gear.  He had a hammock and tent set up. He was camping at the spot for a week for his vacation. On our last night at this site another backpacker came through and set up.  Make sure you get a reservation and look closely at the board at the kiosk.  Our main camper at this site was gracious as he had booked the site for the week most folks didn't realize the site was taken as his name was so far up the clipboard.  We weren't alone in not realizing that and he enjoyed the brief company we provided as good neighbors to each other.

Most of the sites at this state park campground are very small and don’t have much level ground. Even the sites meant for RVs and trailers are right on top of each other. It’s almost like they took what should have been one site and made it two. There’s a handful of sites that offer a little space and level ground for tent campers. You may or may not have a picnic table and fire ring with a grill at your campsite when you arrive. According to staff, people take the fire rings and I guess there’s nothing they can do. Bathrooms were clean. The lake view trail was nice and accessible from the campground.

This tiny gem of a campground is actually quite decent. Each site is furnished with a small fire ring and picnic table. The fire rings do not have a grill grate. The pit toilets in the restroom are "fragrant" when you enter the women's side of the building but not so terribly that they can't be used. My friend did gag upon entering the men's room. There are designated wastewater areas to dump grey water, but you'll have to bring your own water for drinking, washing, etc. There are no electric hookups.

As others have mentioned, there is a gun range nearby and you can hear occasional firing. Helicopter traffic at night was a slight distraction from the otherwise quiet night I spent here.

There is an easy orange-blazed trail behind site 10 but as of this writing, a there are several downed trees blocking the trail a good distance in.

I'd definitely stay again.

5/3/2021 Edited to add:. Well, our second stay here is decidedly less positive. We are at site 9 this time. No fire ring here. The women's bathroom is filthy and it made me gag (there is feces all over one toilet seat and the other smells so bad that I just peed in the woods). It's turkey season so lots of noise in the woods.

Booked 2 sites online using website. Upon getting to our sites the numbers listed on the site posts did not match the numbers on the site map used for booking. Section 4. Seasonal campers verified the campground constantly changes site numbers around.. It is very misleading. Should not offer booking online or should make sure all online booking locations have the site numbers and pictures accurate. The site we had was NOT the one pictured on the map online. Very small, muddy, and could not even have a fire on it. Got lucky no one was across from us. We used that site to build a fire. Make sure you don't forget anything or need gas, not much around.

Spent the first camping trip of the summer here on Memorial Day weekend and it was a beautiful spot. There are a number of sites set up in a circle, the initial sites are better suited for RVs while the sites along the back of the loop are flatter and can accommodate a tent. This was our first car camping in an actual campground experience in a while - our last few trips were all backcountry sites - and it felt very luxurious. The campground is situated near shooting ranges so the gunfire lasts late into the evening and begins early in the morning disrupting the serenity a bit.

The best part - it's free! Just register at the box. There are vault toilets and each site has a fire ring, picnic table, garbage cans, and there are spots to dump waste water. It's very well-organized and well maintained.