Best Cabin Camping near McConnelsville, OH

Awesome staff family owned for over 20 plus years. Extremely clean well maintained. Shower houses plenty of hot water facilities were very clean sites are well spread apart. Handicap sites available including cabin rentals fire wood and menu items delivered to your campsite from camp kitchen and store. Sites are reasonably level we had to use one 3/4 “ leveler under the wheels in one side. They have sites that are full hook up with wooden decks prices were 80.00 to 135.00 per night for those that were paved and with decks. All the others were water and electric. “ cable and WiFi “ included 70 plus channels. 50 /30 /20 amp power at all sites. Big Rig friendly. Close to all sites. Trails and state park Camp store was well stocked actually had what you needed if you forgot something. Prices were reasonable Definitely recommended to anybody traveling through the area Owner planning to stay open all year working g on some big upgrades to campground to accommodate winter weather camping. Nice swimming staff was very helpful restaurants gas stations groceries with in 10 min drive.

Stayed over Labor Day Weekend and was pleasantly surprised by the site we got for booking only a week in advance! Would stay again!

- Many sites are quite sloped and slanted, but this cannot be determined by pictures online. With that said, all sites appeared to have a spot for at least 1 tent cleared away and the picnic table and fire ring in a secure location.

- Most sites only had room for one car parked at the site

- Clean pit style restrooms! With running water restrooms dispersed through the campground.

- Lake Hope was a good size for kayaking (and rentals were open and only ~$10 per person per hour for various boating devices).

- Fishing allowed anywhere!

- Cool hiking trails throughout to see caves, The Hope Furnace, and water features!

- Only ~30-40min from all the must see attractions of Hocking Hills and surrounding area!

- Camp Store with wood, ice, etc.

The KOA was what one expects of the KOA lots of features and not very secluded. The Kabins were lovely.  

The design is nice as the bunk beds are in their own separate room. This means the back room will sleep four individuals. They also included little tables and benches so you can organize yourself in the room.  The front room has a large bed that sleeps two.  Then outside is the picnic table.  Due to health code rules you have to cook and do food outside of the cabin.  

Our first cabin some of the light bulbs were dead and as a result they moved us to another cabin. Problem solved. 

The bathrooms were very clean and the folks at the camp store were very helpful. I will say that my friend that took a shower was frustrated as one shower was scalding hot and the other was cold.  The floors were slippery as they didn't have a way to stop the water from going beyond the shower (no rim or lip).  She didn't get to use the Family Shower as you have to get the key from the store.  Shower time was usually before bed time with two little ones as they would get dirty playing during the day.  Since the camp store closes at 8 PM she would just use the standard shower with her kiddos. We thought this was a great feature and would have liked to get a look at the family shower set up. 

At the camp store, they would drop off the wood via golf carts as you purchased it.  I was able to buy three bundles for $18.00 as it is cheaper that way.  I also purchased two bags of ice.

The cabin was fun and we were able to keep our trip simple by packing less due to the cabin.  Buckeye Lake State Park is close by and if you don't have a boat they really don't have a lot to offer non-boaters unlike other lake state parks.  We didn't see any trails.  We did go to the "beach" but opted not to swim. Our time was spent at the near by Dawes Arboretum and Newark's Earthworks (mounds). 

**Will try to come back and upload more photos and videos later as tonight many of my posts are not fully uploading.

This state park has a beautiful lake and a nice beach. There are boat rentals and a frisbee golf course. Overall, this part of the park is beautiful. 

The campgrounds, however, leave a lot to be desired. The people were really nice, but the facilities were terrible. The pit toilets were filthy- covered in flies, spiderwebs and dirt. They look like they have not been hosed out since the 70's. The showers and sinks are in an old, old building- it could be fine if it were cleaned daily, but it was filthy too. I was there 3 days and the showers and sinks were never cleaned. They were pretty gross from the start, but then by Saturday night one shower housed a pile of feces. No kidding. Poop in the shower. 

We stayed in the camper cabin, which is just a very basic shed with a bed, bunk beds, air conditioning and heat. We stayed there because it was July and I wanted A/C and electricity. The cabin smelled like mold. 

I'd go back to this lake but will not stay in the campgrounds again.

I highly recommend pop's place.  I stayed there Aug 2024 and as of that date the rustic tent camping was $20.  This is an ideal base camp for riding your motorcycle on the scenic roads in that area of Ohio such as the triple nickel.  The owners are very nice people and helpful.  The porta john and shower were very clean.  The shower uses an on demand water heater.  The narrow cabin you see in some photos is now a gravel pad for RV type camping with electric.  The wider cabin in the photos is still there, but was currently rented so he couldn't take me on a tour of it.  He took me on a tour of the new cabin he is building and it will be a nice play to stay when he is done.  They sell firewood for $5.  The common grass area has wood lounge chairs, common fire ring, playground,  and cornhole boards.  If you are tent camping and need to charge your phone he has no problem with you using the electric outlet at the RV site if no one is there.  I forgot to suggest to him that maybe add an external electric outlet at the shower house since electric is there for the water heater.  There is a spigot on the outside of the shower house to get drinking water.  There is a basketball backboard near the current cabin if you happen to bring a basketball for your kids to use.  There is good verizon cell service there, I did not expect it because of the location and hills in the area.  I don't hammock camp, but it looked like there were trees far enough apart in the line of pines for hanging 2 hammocks.  One of the photos showed 3 picnic tables for tent campers.  There was only one when I stayed, but I assume it's a temporary or cyclical thing and I was the only tent camper and would have shared it anyway.

Of note for motorcyclists is that the road the campground is on is paved (good riding to the north of it) and the campground drive is decent gravel for street bikes.

We stayed in a Sherman cabin; it included two sets of bunk beds, a mini fridge, microwave and a/c. The pool was clean (tho' unheated) and showerhouses well-maintained. We were glad we stayed in the cabin because it rained heavily while we were there and many sites had standing water. The tent section is very hilly and you may need to be creative with your set-up. We loved the close location to fantastic hiking trails. Take your kids to the pencil sharpener museum while visiting Hocking Hills; it won't take long (it's only one room) and you can gather info at the visitors center next door while you're there.

North Bend State Park is located at the halfway point of the 72-mile North Bend Rail Trail, so it’s a great camping spot for hikers, bikers and horseback riders who want to explore this scenic trail which crosses 35-bridges and cuts through 11-tunnels where the B&O Railroad used to travel. 

I highly recommend this trail to hikers because the scenery is spectacular, the wildlife plentiful, and the tunnels are really cool. The trail passes through some quaint towns such as the former oil boom-town of Cairo where many of the buildings from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s are still standing. 

North Bend State Park has a year-round lodge, year-round cabins and two campgrounds open from mid-April to mid-November. 

The Cokeley Campground has 28-sites with both water and electricity, picnic tables and fire pits. The bathhouse includes a small coin-op laundry. It’s close to the boat dock at North Bend Lake. I didn’t select this campground because it doesn’t have much shade.

I stayed at the River Run Campground which has 49-sites along the shores of the North Fork of the Hughes River with electric and non-electric sites to choose from. Four sites are ADA accessible. Each site has paved parking, a picnic table and fire pit. The bathhouse was clean and nicely tiled with hand soap and paper towels provided. The on-site staff was extremely friendly and you get a generous wheelbarrow full of firewood, cut from local downed trees, for$5. 

The lodge looked a little dated, but had a good home-style restaurant which was popular with travelers. The year-round cabins have been updated with ADA wheelchair ramps and wraparound decks. I may return and rent one after the campground closes so I can do some cross- country skiing on the North Bend Rail Trail this winter.

I paddled on the North Bend Lake which was extremely peaceful and beautiful, with the colors of fall surrounding me on all sides. I brought my own kayak, but they had boats for rent. There were several fishermen on the water and on the lakeside dock. They told me they catch bass and catfish at this 300-acre lake. The trail around the lake would be good for birders because I spotted ducks, hawks and wood-peckers.

North Bend State Park would be good for kids because they have playgrounds, mini-golf and an outdoor swimming pool(closed when I visited in October, but looked really nice).