Best Glamping near St. Clairsville, OH

Tomlinson Run is a small state park situated in the northern panhandle of West Virginia nestled between eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Plenty of things to do there including but not limited to…. Mini golf, hiking trails, biking, swimming, fishing, paddle boats, parks for the kids, and of course the camping. The campsites here are mainly gravel pads with the exception being the asphalt handicapped spots (2). Most spots are 30 amp with a few 50 amp (new for 2021). The park also has a few primitive spots available and some yurts and cabins to rent. I have a 38’ fifth wheel and the spots are tight for it (even the couple pull thru). Campground facilities are clean but dated. They state new facilities are coming soon. The campground is at the top of a hill and the spots are wooded and shaded. I would consider the camping to be spaced generously (room to stretch out). They have a small camp store and information available. A breakfast is available during peak season for a small fee. They do have water and a dump station available (free for campers to use).

Very pretty campground. Heavily wooded with tons of shade. Some spots small and others large including some with pullthroughs. Most have electric and there are a few cabins and yurts. Our site was pretty large and the pad was not terribly unlevel. The rest of the area was sloped a bit. Hammock stand and I think they were lantern posts. Drinking water and dump available. Large bathhouse and small camp store with souvenirs, candy, icecream, ice and $6 bundles of wood. Some events sometimes. This time was xmas in july which was cute but the tractor hat rides running through so frequently it got rather annoying since the tractor was so darn loud. A couple drunks fighting late at night and some misbehaved unsupervised children screeching and riding their bikes around the end circle about 100x would stop next to our truck and just stare was just ridiculous but...aside from those incidents pretty quiet for the most part.

General: 50-site (all but six with electric hookups) campground plus two yurts and three cabins. Two sites are handicap accessible. 

Site Quality: The sites have gravel pads (except the handicap-accessible ones which were paved). The sites were completely covered with leaves when we were there which made it challenging to determine where the actual (narrow) pad was. Sites appeared to be level. A fire ring and wooden picnic table complete the site. 

Bathhouse: A little dated but clean. Two of the stall doors did not latch properly. Didn't use the shower so cannot comment but there was a sign indicating it took a while for the water to warm up.

Activities/Amenities: There is a small camper store, laundry, and a playground. In season, there is lake swimming and a boat dock. There is a fishing area, mini-golf and disc golf, and several short hiking trails. Unfortunately, since we arrived late afternoon and had to depart early the following day (and were camping off-season), we could not take advantage of any of these things. What we lose in activities, we gain in a quieter camping experience with fewer crowds, which is generally preferable for us!

Salt Fork State Park of Ohio is for individual, couples or group camping. Salt Fork lake is natural spring fed water supply that fills this lake. Bring containers to put natural pure water in for home or camping supply. Trails that lead along shore line to old stone house built in early days of Ohio. Caves to be explored that are easy to access. Boating, fishing,hunting,swimming and a well appointed Salt Fork Lodge. Short drive to Cambridge, Ohio to enjoy local downtown.

Ohio has a lot of great campgrounds/resorts and this one is one of the best!

Lots of great sites to pick from, lots of loops, shady sites , secluded sites, handicap sites and more. We go at least once a year for the Ohio Bigfoot Conference which draws people from all over the country. The bathrooms are good, the shower houses are good and the campground store has anything you may have forgotten. Friendly staff, hiking trails, boating and more. They have horse camping and trails further down the road and a primitive loop on Bigfoot Ridge. So much to see and do a weekend isn't long enough.

Someone cancelled and this amazing site fell into our lap. I always put a ridiculous amount of time into finding sites that match our wants/needs list. This campground has very few sites that make the cut, but F08 was perfect. Backed up to the woods, has a view of the lake, shade, privacy, hammock trees, medium size, electric, bathroom directly across the street, water and grey water dump directly across the street.

Everywhere we camp, we color code a campground map with sites we like/dislike. This campground had about 7 sites we liked out of over 200. There are almost no sites with shade or privacy, many are small and oddly angled towards the road. They do all have 15A, 30A and 50A hookups and newer, level pads. The bathrooms however are very outdated. They still have the spring loaded faucets that you have to hold open and the men's shower houses is still a shared room for your things and changing. Worst of all, the water pressure was terrible and constantly changing. 

This campground is in one of Ohio's largest state parks and is very popular. Which is why a lot of these negatives are pretty shocking to us. Like the never developed D loop. You would think for such a large and busy park, they would want as many sites as possible and to update the facilities.

One of my complaints about all of Ohio's state parks is the lack of tree preservation. Almost all of the state parks just clear the land to install power/water. You'd think a Ohio State Division of Wildlife State Park would take a bit extra care and attention to preserve some of them which also makes for a much better camping experience. 

Overall, the positive rating isn't for the campground but rather the almost 20,000 acre state park. It is insanely huge and has many, many places to see and explore. There are beaches (even a private one for the campground), boat launches, hunting roads, historical house/cottage that is a museum, a cave and more.

Lastly, The Dyrt never seems to map the campground correctly so I couldn't do their cell network tests. However, Mint/T-Mobile and Verizon had pretty strong 5G. It slowed down a few times but was there the entire time.

We drove to Salt Fork from North Carolina on our way to Maumee Bay State Park and the birding festival at Magee March. It was just a quick overnighter, but we did take a little time to walk and bird. The campground was 80% empty, very quiet except for some late-night traffic on the county road nearby, loud pickup trucks. The park is well cared for but is showing its age. I noticed online that Ohio had set aside $88M for upgrades in 2016. It looks like they have not started yet. We stayed here again on the way home. It is a very good birding hotspot in the spring!

Hook Lake AEP is I think the second largest of the campground areas, outside McConnellsville, Oh.

Hook Lake campsites are spread throughout the woodland loop above the lake recreation area. This would be an ideal area for large groups or a family reunion. Realize this is bare basic camping with pit toilets and no electricity. Print out a permit and stake your claim for a free , quiet, entertaining stay in the AEP wilderness.

Its a toss up for me between this site and Sand Hollow as my favorite. The areas are large enough for several, and spaced out along the loop to give some privacy/sound buffer if it is a large group staying there. They are right on the water too for convienience of fishing or boating.

Plus there are plenty other things to do in close proximity. The Ohio farm country is awesome and McConnellsville, Oh offers some cool old buildings if you like architecture.

I've lost my review a few times so this is going to be even more brief as it's my third time typing it out.

This is a free campsite that was part of the AEP reclamation lands. If you are unfamiliar with these lands then go to https://www.aep.com/recreation/areas/recreationland make sure you do  your homework before coming down to the area. They have a really helpful FB group page that is updated all the time. I got the best and most current information on Facebook. 

The campsites do not have any camp stores, no fire wood to buy, no water (so make sure you pack what you will need), and they do have a campground host. We did buy wood from a private home in a near by town. Great deal. $10 for a whole wheel barrow full of wood. Quality wood (dry and well cut). 

The state of Ohio recently bought it so it is becoming the Jesse Owens State Park. We did talk to a ranger while we were at the campground. He gave me an Ohio State Park envelope to fill in. Notice, the payment area is X out. It is still free at the moment. 

We explored nearby McConnelsville. You will see pictures of a brewery that we visited. We also check out the wharf, the opera house, and it did have a Kroger in case you forget something. On the way to McConnelsville there is a Miner's Memorial Park. This would be something you would want to check out to see the massive bucket. 

At the campground children up to the age of 15 are allowed to fish. Adults need to go elsewhere to fish. There's also an archery range but I did not go and check that out as I do not have a bow and arrow. 

The bathrooms are Vault toilets. They do have hand sanitizer outside of the bathrooms. It would not be handicapped or Mobility accessible for those that have limited Mobility. The bathrooms were single toilet stalls and did have a light on at night (on the inside). 

They provide a dumpster so you can get rid of your trash at the campground. Also, two cars per site. However, we were able to put three tents on our site as we are not sharing tents at this point in time. 

Make sure you fill in the new registration envelopes as you can see here cell phone coverage is limited to Verizon. T-Mobile and AT&T had no coverage. Even with Verizon there were several spots where I did not get coverage. This means you will want to print or grab an AEP map.

The campsites were well spaced apart and a good size.  You had a variety of campsites at this campground. Make sure you drive through the whole campground to find what you would like such as grassy area, overlooking lake, near the playground, etc.

The park itself is huge with many hiking trails, a huge lake with unlimited horsepower (bad for kayaks), an interesting historical museum, a cave overhang and lots of Bigfoot lore. 

The campground is average for an Ohio State Park- think huge, exposed fields with no tree cover, and hundreds of RVs parked 12 feet apart. The sites are tiny and exposed, and the main campground is constant chaos in the summer. Think 6-10 dogs surrounding your site and barking all at once, all night long. 8-15 children on bikes going back and forth, mostly on training wheels (NOISY!), screaming from your driveway from 7am to 10pm. Adults who think it is appropriate to yell at full volume to people ten feet away, all day and all night long. Parents who scream at their children from four feet away. You get it- the opposite of peaceful. I left a day early, I was so frazzled by the five dogs across from me barking at each other all day and all night (they were all at the SAME SITE. Why did they bark at each other? Why did no one stop them?) and all the yelling people. Insanity. 

I drove by the primitive site and it looked much more peaceful, but it was also a big grassy lot with the tent spaces side by side, maybe 18 feet apart. Not sure if they were sloped or not. Note it is a long drive from the primitive site to the shower houses, and this site has pit toilets. 

The bathrooms in the main campground were average- not clean but not disgusting, so that's a plus. 

This park has a reputation for having a party atmosphere and I didn't observe that from my site, but when I was in the nature center, this dude walked in and he was one of the drunkest people I have ever seen in my life. Don't get me wrong: I drink a lot, I've experienced a lot of drinking environments, but this dude was HAMMERED. He followed me all around the nature center, wouldn't leave me alone, and the ranger just asked him if he was feeling ok. I shudder to think that this dude was driving a boat- he would have killed someone. But this isn't the park's fault, just note that I think that there is a big party atmosphere on this lake and take caution.

In all, I would try the primitive site to see if that's better, but I'll never camp in the main campground again. There are other campgrounds nearby that are probably more peaceful than this one.

My family and I had never gone tent camping before together, since my husband and I were kids. I have chronic pain and was terrified to go due to my difficulties. This place was amazing!

PROS:

The shower houses are individual big rooms to use that include a shower with a seat and toilet. They do also have handicap parking&camping spots right by the shower house, no smell even being 89 degrees.

They also have amazing prices for renting out a pontoon, it’s only a max 10 mph. I was able to comfortably fish for 4 hours on this. For the boats we were allowed to park down below right by the docks so I wouldn’t have to walk the hill.

When you book online it needs to be done 2 days out, from where we live (Columbus Ohio) the reception at the camp was very very hard to hear on the phone. It is easier to book online then see them at the office when you arrive, they close at 7 pm. Checkin is at 4 pm and checkout is 2pm for camp set up(you can set up sooner if no one is there)

We were lucky to get a walk up electric spot, although hilly it was beautiful! We were right by the private dock and the residents were very kind, some offered us worms or help with our fire. Even though we were by the public outhouse you could not smell anything until right by the outhouse.

You do need a special plug for the electric, we didn’t realize this and did not bring one. I was panicked at first since I needed a fan to get through the 89 degree weather in a tent but the front office has spares you can borrow! They are a lifesaver up there and so kind, if we could have tipped we would have.

We caught plenty of fish up there for all 3 of us, including my 1 st grader, all we used were worms and was surprised how much we caught.

All in all we were really happy and even convinced my parents to come up with us next year 😊

CONS:

The drive up was very hilly and lots of buggies. Be careful sometimes the road disappeared and you don’t see the buggy until right there; the road speed is 55mph but we only went between 35-45.

There is no cell service up there so be prepared, we lost it for about 20 minutes before the camp site. We have sprint. Make sure to pack a old school map so you can get around, there is a family dollar store in town, about 4 mile drive, if you forgot anything.

Most neighbors you have our yearly members, this is great for peace but limits the spots they actually have open to rent out by the lake and have electric. We were hoping to get a better spot in the future but they only have a couple of non yearly spots available even a year out.

Many area's with grills set up, but Holliday, it fills up fast. Wear your swimsuit under your clothes. No longer has changing rooms unless u wanna change in a porta potty!