Best Tent Camping near St. Marys, OH

Second time out love this place has a swimming pool and splash pad for the kids and lots of parks and horseshoe pits bike rentals and put put golf but everything is closed from covid definitely my favorite place to camp primitive or electric tent camp

State parts are usually good parks, but Indian Lake was our favorite of the summer. A large lake, and large campground. Lots of trailer and tent camping, complete with a beach, boat dock and commissary. The campground had an ice cream stand and showed a movie on Saturday evening for kids in their amphitheater. We will definitely return!

Our experience with Indian Lake was tough, unfortunately we suffered a pretty severe thunderstorm while we were tent camping, it looked like a tsunami coming in. Despite the weather, our experience was still not the greatest one, the trail was confusing and we were eaten alive by mosquitos, even with bug spray. It also was not a very long hike, just a confusing one. The campground had cut down most of the tree coverage, and it was like we were camping with our neighbors. This may be a great family friendly park with a beach and kid activities, but we dont have kids and prefer a more quiet and secluded atmosphere. We will not be returning.

You're learning to backpack the Buckeye Trail, and you want to take the first steps towards that without worrying about the physical load you're going to have to carry. You can drop the tent on this portion! This Adirondack shelter, located between Points 6 and 7 on the St. Mary's Section of the Buckeye Trail, is perfect for you. Built as an Eagle Scout project by Parker and Keaton Cole of Troop 95 (in Sidney), it is large enough for six or to sleep comfortably off the ground. You cannot miss it as you go along the trail. There is a fireplace (stone, make sure you check that the chimney is not blocked) large enough to cook your hotdogs and keep you happy as you sit in the shelter.  There is deadfall from the trees around you that will serve as kindling and fuel for the fire.  If you start in Lockington or Fort Loramie, this shelter is approximately 10 miles in and the right place to break a two-day backpacking trip.

We stayed here for free for 10 days as a part of a promotion that came with the purchase of our rig. Not sure about normal pricing though, as this campground is owned by Venture Out Resorts and they are a timeshare company (we had to sit for a hour long "pitch" to get our free days). They have 50amp, full hookup, pull through sites (and we saw 40+ ft rigs there) to tent camping to cabin rentals. The campground was clean (shower houses always looked great) and grounds were maintained. Amenities include an indoor pool, hot tub and sauna (close at 10p), but we did not partake because it was so overridden by children, chlorine, and no open windows - didn't seem worth any effort whatsoever in the July heat. The amenities we did checkout (close nightly at 8p) included their new 18 hole mini golf course, small arcade (4 games and pinball was broken 😢), loaner bikes, and water toys (we liked the paddle bikes). The company recently bought the property, so you can see what they inherited vs what it will probably eventually be like based off their sister properties (they recently added the putt putt and a big jungle gym) so it could evolve more as time passes. Regardless, in its current state as active 30 somethings, we were pretty bored. No hiking, significant highway noise, yes a couple big ponds, but a truck stop and truck storage is behind both - so no views. Most of the campers we saw were elderly or had young kids. I'd say if you fall into a category where you want to sit beside your rig all day or want your kids entertained (playgrounds, kids programming - it was luau week so they had a Moana movie night and other kid activities), go on and book a longer stay. If you're only looking for a spot to stay overnight by the highway, do it! It is simple to pull in and have full hookups to take advantage of but a 10 day stay is too long if you're paying. Other things to know: Walmart, Aldi, Lowes, and several automotive chain stores are at max 5 min away, which made grabbing some needed supplies super easy. That said truck stop above was very convenient to get into to fuel up our rig too. Fun fact: Neil Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta and the Armstrong Air & Space Museum is also a max 5 min drive away if you want to get your inner astronaut fix.

great like campground on Ohio’s biggest inland lake

This Ohio State Park is in a small quaint town. Good sites, nice beach + a real swimming pool. Many places for fishing from shore OR launching your boat ! There is even lots of wildlife especially of the pink vriety !

Campground had a nice well maintained pool with lifeguards. Campground had clean bathrooms and showers, and everything was well maintained. Would have liked more hiking trails. Only hiking trail is rather boring. The camper hosts nag about a lot of minor things that we’ve never experienced out of the several Ohio state parks we’ve camped out. So I would say average place.

Very nice campground with larger campsites. Campers varied from tents to large RV’s. Most sites are shaded with large trees and at the end of the cul de sac’s were canals that let you access the lake from the campground. Even had docks for boat campers. A very pleasant and relaxing atmosphere here. Park and restrooms were clean and the showerhouse in “B” section seemed to have been just remodeled. Some fast food and restaurants were close by with unique places like the “Tiltin Hilton” which offered a selection of sandwiches and beer. Nice large playground for the kids as well. Always seemed to have a breeze through the campsites.

First, the lake here is beautiful. It has many islands, coves and inlets and is perfect for a couple of days of paddling or fishing. That's where the two stars come in. 

BUT. There are many buts. The campground is like a giant RV lot. The sites are tiny. We were in a tent-only site and we had two families right on top of us on either side. We could hear the entire conversations of one family, plus there were 11 people there, three cars, and they were partying the first night and extremely noisy.

The reservation map is incorrect. When I reserved, it showed #13 as being on the end of the tent only area. When we arrived, I found out there was a site #14 that wasn't even pictured on the reservation map, and this is where the giant screaming family was parked! I thought I was going to be on the end- it is not very accommodating for a variety of reasons for a reservation map to be so incorrect. 

The air everywhere reeks of sewage, ranging from what you smell outside a giant pig farm, to what you smell outside of a porta potty, to rotten egg smell. I don't know where these smells were coming from but it was nonstop. 

The bathrooms were extremely dirty. It looks like they haven't been renovated since the 80s. 

The employees in the office never seemed to be able to tell us what we needed to know. We asked on Friday evening where the Saturday morning naturalist paddle would be, and we were told to come back Saturday morning and ask someone else. On Saturday, the person in the office told us to go to a location that was miles away- we spent 40 minutes in the car driving around, trying to find where this activity was, only to give up and find out it was actually adjacent to the campground, not down the road in a different part of the park. 

Last, the lake is in the middle of a residential neighborhood. You can see houses around the edge of the park while you are sitting in your campsite. It is not remote, and there is a noisy, busy highway running along the side of the campground. 

I enjoyed the lake but I will not camp here again.

With this being my first time camping, I don’t have much to compare it to, but I really enjoyed my stay! I had spot 66 (non-electric standard) and I just had my tent and my car and I would definitely pick that spot again! It was absolutely stunning over looking the water with the trees turning colors. I went the first weekend in October so they had a lot of families there because they had all sorts of Halloween activities going on, so it wasn’t very quiet, but I still enjoyed myself. Got in on a Thursday and it was decently quiet that day. They have some play areas for kids, a few hiking trails and a wetlands, but most people were fishing and kayaking. There is a store, but I didn’t go in. Tons of spots to camp, from very secluded to right in the middle of the action. Very family friendly place. I think some small rules were broken here and there by some of the families, but it was just little things, so no harm no foul. Overall a great campground!

Family oriented, new pool, splash pad for kids, great playground area. Full hookups and very well kept clean campground.

friendly staff, very clean restrooms, playground, could not swim in the water due to contamination which they have spent millions to repair and is slowly on the up and up, not too far from town, surrounded by many park accesses to Grand lake for fishing, boating or just hanging by the water. The lake is so big, it was like being on the ocean!

My husband and I drove 8 hours to visit family and decided to camp here instead of staying in a hotel. It was great! The showers were always clean, the site is huge compared to what we normally stay in. It was pretty cheap per night. Our site was nicely shaded.

There must have been a nest of some type of bug in our site because I was bit dozens of times but bug spray pretty much fixed that.

Great sites, awesome new pool.

Lake isnt able to be swam in, but we aren’t lake people so it’s ok.

Loved our we can there. The site was a little bit muddy but no big deal. We were right by the restrooms which were nice they have a nice dump station and lots for the kids to do. The playground could definitely use some up keep there was a lot of rust and sharp metal pieces. The camp store definitely needs updating they hardly had anything in there. All in all we were totally go back is really relaxing and beautiful

The camping spot was great. It was very close to the pool and playground. The sites were pull through which was nice for have young kids. Could sit at our spot and watch our kids at the playground. This particular week there were tons of kids and our kids had a great time. This site is only a 15 min drive but it feels like its further away. While we get used to being campers having close spots helps us learn.

The pull through area is very cramped; more like a parking lot; the campground is quiet; family friendly; no golf carts all over;

This was our second time here but with our new camper. Great location of pull through sites for families with kids because of proximity to playground. This will be a regular spot for us in the coming years.

We love camping in the off season but with that comes closures. Some sections of the campgrounds might not be open, no camp hosts and limited bathrooms and showers houses. This is to be expected, but when I called the morning of our trip to make sure potable water was available and I was told yes it was only to drive 2 hours and realized they were wrong. No water 🙁. This would not have been a peas we have dry camped before but all the bathrooms were closed as well.

After called the park ranger he did let us get some water at the maintenance building so we were at least able to finish the weekend. Lesson learned always pull with at least some water.

Now back to the campground itself was nice and clean. Site are a little close together. The biggest down side is you are there to enjoy the lake but the lake had algae warnings everywhere not to go near the water.

They do have a dog park, pool and splash pad when in season and a marina. Also they have WiFi and good cell coverage.

We were just passing through for one night and we’d been there before but this is a new site to us. It had a decent level pad and plenty deep enough for our camper and tow vehicle. The site has a large side and backyard with a great view of the lake. The shower house was just a short walk. Check in was easy and so was finding our site.