Best Equestrian Camping near Nashport, OH

Alum Creek is just beautiful, nice sites, most of them are at least partially shaded, lots of woods, hiking trails, the lake, it is what I think of when I think of State Park campground camping in Ohio. There are a couple problems. 1. Only ONE little dump station. This is a big campground, so if you're leaving Sunday, you better get up at the crack of dawn to get to the station, otherwise be prepared to wait in a long long line of RV's. We by-passed the long line and stopped at a different State Park campground on the way home and paid 10.00 to use their dump station. 2. They never answer their phone at the campground office. I mean NEVER. If you have a question you will just have to deal with the reserveamerica people who really know nothing other than what they read on the campground website. So basically you know as much as they do. It's maddening. We will go back, but it's a 2 hour drive so it won't be anytime soon.

Stayed here in the “primitive” camp. You are basically staying with your neighbors in small cleared areas where you can see everything everyone else is doing and if you have one of the sites nearer to the parking areas, you will have people walking through your campsite all day and night from the ones in the rear. From what I saw, the electric sites in the main campground aren’t much better. I mean this is a midwestern state park camping experience for sure. If you’re expecting any amount of privacy, think again.

The lake is pretty beautiful. The trails are well marked and the horse trails go on for miles and miles so if you have horses this is a great place to trail ride and if you’re a hiker who is not afraid of horses, you can always enjoy the equestrian trails for some serious mileage!

This is a huge campground! I tent camped by myself--felt very safe.  Happened to be next to the park host. No choice of where to locate my large tent.  Showers/bathrooms were OK--older facilities.  Wish this park had a laundry facility--another Ohio park I recently stayed at had a fairly new shower facility that included a laundry facility!  Did not appreciate the waste management company emptying the dumpsters at 4:00 AM!!!  There is a huge, lakeside beach that was just packed with people (no social distancing) and there was trash everywhere--not enough dumpsters.  Near to shopping (Polaris), if you are interested.  Will try to get a lakeside site next time.

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.

So we had a beautiful lot! Right by trees and plenty big enough with flat ground! If you like busy campgrounds this is the place for you! Us personally like it a little more peaceful. I think we also caught it on a kids bike wkend or something because there were kids riding bikes everywhere. Now we’re used to the usual kids riding bikes where we respect them and they respect us but these kids were zooming in front of us and we were backing up trying to get away from the area they were riding and they were zooming behind us. It’s a really nice campground it’s just not for us. The camp store was nice the store clerks were friendly. They serve hand dipped ice cream for about $3.25 a bowl and they also serve icee’s for about $1.40. So not too bad of priced and it gave the kids a nice walk down there and a treat to enjoy. There is also a pizza shop in Nashport that delivers to the camp site!! The menu is in the camp store. It was pretty good food but pricey. We spent $71 for 3 subs, a lasagna dinner, a salad, 12 wings and a xl pizza ( which was not XL and the crust was paper thin- but it did taste good to me). The good thing is it’s only $2.50 to deliver and it’s super convenient the night you get there! So in the end it was almost worth it due to the kids being hungry and not having to rush to get the fire started. Although the next day we went 15 min to the Walmart and there were food places there that if I would have known would have went to instead of the pizza shop. We had lot 183 and it was plenty big enough for a camper and a couple tents with parking space along the side of the road. There is also a marina and a dam you can fish at right around the area. My husband and daughter went fishing at the marina and got some bites but that was about it

This is one of the best state parks and in my opinion the most scenic. There are lots of caves, trails, camping options and activities in the area. Be careful, however, every year someone is injured or dies going off trail, often falling from a cliff. We have camped here in tents many times over the years. The state park campground is above par compared to others in the Ohio system. The naturalists are great and run many programs even in the off seasons. Fall is the best season, the foliage is awesome. Popular with Boy and Girl Scout groups. Campground has an outdoor pool.