Best Tent Camping near St. Clairsville, OH

Went tent camping with my fiancée. Had a great time other than the loud neighbors. Bathrooms were also a bit dirty.

Beautiful trails, waters and scenery. We love tent camping here and it’s cheap! We hit this park every year for camping and lake days on the beach with friends!

Wwhile the campground is designed for mostly RV. camping, we have never had a problem finding a tent site. Has so many things to do.

I enjoyed my stay at this park. We had a tent site for the weekend. It was a beautiful area and I really enjoyed exploring. Looking forward to going back soon!

I had the most wonderful time on my first tent camping at Racoon Creek. We made a fire, hiked by the moonlight and swam at the warm lake at night. There were other campers around but we rarely noticed them and only when walking to restrooms at the daylight. I will be back soon

If you’re looking for a nice, secluded, private weekend getaway… this isn’t it. If you and some friends/family reserve tent sites 20, 21, and 22 you can have the entire little alcove to yourselves! If you’re just reserving one of them, you will be close enough to hear that your neighbors did in fact have beans for dinner. Campground was well maintained. Bathrooms were fine. You do have to walk to those tent sites. The view of the river was gorgeous, we watched several barges go by! Kind of noisy at night since it seems like this is primarily an RV park and very tight knit, community like. There was some bigger logs for fires over by the dumpster. Stopped at galaxy grocery for firewood, about a 10 minute drive from the campground. All in all, had a good time!

Just driving in saw turkeys and "turkets":) and two 6 point bucks. You can hike, swim, boat, bike and horseback ride. Primitive tent camping all the way to upscale lodge stays. Electric camper hookups and shower house. In August there is "Deerassic Expo" event, right outside the front drive! Plus!! A lot of other smaller park "gems" nearby.

We stayed here overnight on a trip to Pittsburgh. Tent sites were nicely spaced apart, but were often on inclines, like ours. We saw deer and turkeys, so be on the lookout for lots of animals! Bathrooms were fairly clean! Fun hiking to mineral springs!

It is a very well maintenance campsite most have fire pits a lot of level ground for tent camping pull in parking spots for RVs and campers a bathroom on site and two different trails to hike fishing minutes away the gun rage is also near (the gunshots don’t bother me) must register when you arrive at the box attached to the bathroom building can’t beat it for FREE

Older type bathhouses but very clean, stainless steel fixtures. The campground is in two areas but split into about 5 loops. A lot are paved with electric sites, a couple loops are I paved roads and mostly tent sites but very nice! Pretty peaceful place, well patrolled by park rangers!water access in all loops. Outside of camping area are picnic areas and a lovely swimming beach, nice electric only fishing lake!

Plenty to do with it’s ups and downs. Has a pool but it isn’t the cleanest and with small children you have to be within arms reach of them. Fine for one not so much with two. For 37 dollars a night you have check in at 3 and have to be checked out by 12. 5 dollars per hour before or after those times. The saving grace to this place is the back primitive tent site and the private beach.

I did not stay in the cabins. I tent camped. The tent areas are out past the Vue Bar and Grill. They are spread out and each has a fire ring, picnic table and fire wood is free! The people there are great, easy check in. The tent areas are spread out and there isn’t an actual road to each of the sites. I actually thought this was cool but not if its raining and you have a small car. 

The best part is the Vue Bar and Grill, the food is surprisingly good. Cooked well and is large portions. There is many other things to do there as well. They have an adventure park but we didn’t make it there. Planing to go back.

I took our popup camper here with the family for a weekend and had a great experience. The camp has lots of RV type spots with electric hookups. There are also several "primitive" spots available for tent camping. Reserving a spot is super easy with the park's online reservations.

The park has lots of activities including several nice hiking trails, a playground, late night movies for the kids on Saturdays in the summer, and a really great beach on the lake (with shower houses!) There is water available all throughout the campsite area at several faucets as well as bathrooms and a shower house, both of which were clean and in good working order.

I highly recommend this park for any kind of RV camping and will likely return in the future.

My girlfriend and I stayed at tent site 40 Friday August 9th and Saturday August 10th. Most of the sites were pretty private and ours was probably the most private and had a lot of space since we were on the very end of the road / cul-de-sac. I would definitely recommend this site if you like privacy but it is a longer walk to the bath house but we didn't mind that at all. The only thing I didn't like about the campground is that there is no wash tub / sink to wash your dishes which made clean up a little more of a chore. Other than that the staff were very friendly and it is overall a great campground.

In the past 5 years, I've made 13 trips to Raccoon Creek State Park and spent 16 nights in a tent there. It is my local state park and I can tell you lots about it.

The D loop is really great tent camping at Raccoon Creek State Park. It's tents only, no RVs. So it gets a really fun, party vibe on Saturday nights during the summer. There's a trail right to the beach near the D loop, so it's a great place for families to go with pets. The sites are big, wooded, and all close to the bathroom.

The C loop, however, doesn't take pets (which stinks). When we have our dogs with us, we gravitate towards the C loop. It's fine, but it's not as fun as the D loop.

When we don't make a reservation and we have our dog, we end up in the F loop. It's not our preference (but--let's be clear--even the worst site in the F loop is better than NO trip!).

Went to Raccoon Creek State Park to camp for Labor Day weekend. We booked campsite F1 since we had 2 dogs and the F loop allowed dogs. This site was great! We could fit two tents and it was nice and secluded from the other sites. I recommend booking a site that is on the outside of the “loops” if you want some seclusion. The inner loop sites are right on top of each other, good for Rvs, not so much for tent camping. The bathrooms were a little bit of a hike, the next loop over, but they where clean and had flush toilets and running water along with a shower and sinks to wash dishes. There was a place to get water across from this site which was very convenient . The dog walking trails weren’t bad, but they where very up and down hill, at points steep and rocky. The spring was a really cool hike (right off the park office parking lot.) Down by the beach they had a place to buy wood, only $5 a bundle and the beach place also sells bags of ice. Overall a really good family campground!

I have been to Raccoon Creek many times as it is one of the closest camping places to the Pittsburgh metro area.  The park it self is large, has over 40 miles of trails, a fantastic backpacking loop setup for beginners, and a nice lake for swimming, fishing, ect.  I would give the park as a whole a 5/5 but for tent camping the campground is mediocre.  It is a really large campground with lots of adjoining loops.  We stayed in the tent loop at the back of the campground.  The area is not wooded at all and most sites look right into the sites next to them.  If you are like me and crave privacy, avoid.  The bathroom was rather dirty also.  There is a trail that leads down from the tent loop to the beach which is cool but very very steep (not for too young or old).  Overall, if you are looking to stay in a camp in this park I'd suggest doing the backpacking loop instead.  Grab your permit at the park office, park at the heritage trail lot in the southern end of the park and hike to the Pioneer shelter.  Sites 4 and 5 are amazing.  Note though that the Pioneer site does not have water so you will need to filter water from a stream on the way, though there are many opportunities.  The Sioux site is overgrown and is not worth backpacking to, though it does have a water pump and is close to the park office.

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.

Tucked away in southeastern Ohio is a gem of a park for camping, hiking and horse camping. Clean water, restrooms, playground, sand volleyball and basketball court. Dump station and 18 miles of multi use trails! Small lake for wading with the kiddos, fishing near the dam or skip rocks in the creek. But be sure to pack a picnic and relax and enjoy! Only a few electric sites available. Mostly flat shaded sites most perfect for tents or trailers.

Great site. It's not listed on maps, but it is right across the way from hook lake, there is an access road you'll go on that will take you there. It's right off 83 in McConnellsville, outside Caldwell, ohio. Beautiful spot, there is a pond for boating and fishing. Fish are bluegill, bass, red sun fish and catfish. Its primitive, tents and rvs are allowed. Will absolutely be back! There is also 3 other camp sites in the area.

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

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.

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.