Best Tent Camping near Manchester, OH

I visited mid/early July and the drive in was incredibly beautiful. It’s a little bit remote and my phone didn’t really have service, but that’s my favorite kind of camping. It was predictably hot and muggy until a rainstorm rolled through. The host and staff were very friendly. There’s no drinking water in the campground. Because of COVID-19 the only park of the park that was open was the campground but usually there’s a small store where I imagine you could buy water. The RV sites are on top of a hill where the facilities and playground are. The tent sites are down a steep hill towards the lake. If you are tent camping and can snag a site by the water, it may cost a little more but is worth it! The sunrise on the lake is beautiful. Because of the steep slope down to the water, many of the tent sites aren’t all that flat. Heads up, if you are driving out in the early morning keep and eye out for the dozens of deer and woodland creatures along the roads. Also, bring bug spray.

Park is nice, tent sites along the lake are beautiful and very peaceful. Unfortunately most tent sites are not very level, it can be a bit tough with larger tents. The park is very clean and well maintained and I will definitely be staying here again.

Negatives: This campground is pretty hilly. Many of the spots don't have a great space for a tent. The flattest spots are in the middle of the circle with an open field behind them (but then you won't have any privacy or tree coverage). Even the RV camping on the inside of the loop across from us had its front tires suspended about a foot in the air to make it level though. Considering the flat spots are very limited, I don't think its a great tent campground and geared more towards RVs. One side of the campground runs against a golf course. If you're tent camping over a weekend, be prepared to have golfers tee-ing off next to you beginning at 7am. On Monday morning, be prepared for them to start mowing at 7am. The opposite side of the campground sits against a tree-line and therefore has much better spots. Many of the picnic tables are in pretty rough shape. The ones that have been replaced were done with the metal style that is dipped in plastic and are much sturdier. Likewise, some of the firepits are in pretty bad shape. I'd recommend having a grill grate with you just in case if you cook over the fire like we do. The firewood that is sold at the campground is kept in a shed but it was very wet, there also aren't any options around for buying wood outside the park. The office is supposed to be open until 6pm but one night it was closed earlier and the camp host wasn't on premises all weekend so we were stuck resorting to finding and burning downfall to get dinner cooked. 

The positives: Its a good location and there are plenty of kayaking spots on Grayson Lake. Going to "The Grotto" aka Clifty Falls is a must (4.5 mile round trip). The same boat ramp has a decent place to get in and swim. Lick Falls Loop hike can be done from the campground and was nice (4.5 miles). We also kayaked the Southern portion of Grayson Lake in Laurel Gorge and that was much quieter than the Clifty Falls area. The campground bathrooms were clean. Most of the campsites were a decent size.

Very popular for RV. I was just tent camping. Decent sized plots. Bathroom facilities were good. Nice stay.

The boating area is nice and has your typical “outdoor “ facilities you would find at a rest area. The scenery of the water and trees are amazing. The campground is good for tent camping but iffy for others. I would definitely bring extra leveling blocks.

Great campsite on the Ohio River. Tent sites are grassy with lots of shade. water and electricity at site for $20.00. We upgraded to a vacant RV site with River Frontage for $35.00, since We were able to sleep In our SUV. Showers and toilets are clean. Staff is so accommodating! The exception? Trains blowing their whistle every 20-30 minutes all night long. The crossing is right by the campground. If you can sleep through it, great. I couldn’t.

The campground is brand new and it has new bath/shower houses.  It has 10 RV sites and riverside tent sites.  The sites are level and pull through with 50 amp service.  There is city water available and a dump station.  Very clean place and the staff are great to work with.  They have kayaking at the campground or shuttle service if you bring your own kayak.  The ride from the dam down to the campground is beautiful and serene.  It is great for beginning kayakers.  The tent sites along the river are so peaceful with the river running below you.  There is a lot to do in the area with Cave Run Lake for water adventures and Lockegee Rock and the Sheltowee Trail for hiking.  The Licking River has several fish species from the fun to catch bluegill to the Muskellunge.  This is a must see place that I will definitely return to.

Short visit here, but it was enjoyable :) This park as a few shorter hiking trails, which were nice, as well as historic sites, mini golf, and a pool. The park has a lodge and cabins as well as a campground. In the campground area is basketball and volleyball. Campground is not very large, but ‘secluded’ is not a word I would use when describing it. The tent camping sites, ‘primitive’ were not :( It was an okay experience, but there was road noise and no seclusion (we were in a field essentially with the other tent campers).

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!

This is one of the cleanest campgrounds I’ve ever been to! The bathrooms were immaculate and the grass green and trimmed! Our camping spot didn’t have shade which was challenging since we tent camp, but we learned which spot to try and get next time. We only stayed one night and spent the day at Carter Caves so we didn’t explore how to get to the lake but we could hear boats so it had to be close. There was also a playground and basketball court which I thought was great. The town of Grayson is pretty limited in dining out options so it’s best to plan on making most of your meals at the park.

My family stayed here because we were visiting the Ark Encounter.  I’m not sure if there are closer campgrounds, but we chose to primitive camp here for our visit.  We arrived with just enough time to set up up our tent and head back towards Alexandria for dinner and supplies at Walmart.  There is not much variety and choices very close.  The RV and tent area is very hilly.  Our tent ground sloped but it didn’t bother us very much.  The campsites are very close to each other but there was only two other tent campers and they were both over 4 sites over from us. The tent area has portable toilets.  I chose to drive to the shower house when I needed to use the restroom.  The shower house is typical of most campgrounds, a few cobwebs but generally clean with shower and toilet stalls.  There are two shower houses for the entire campground.  The lake is very pretty, a few camp grounds are right off the shore.  The only thing I didn’t like was that there was no water spigot in the main tent camp area.