Best Glamping near Shreve, OH

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!

My wife and I spent the July 4 weekend here this year and loved our experience. At this time we were camping in our 16 ft pop-up camper so the restroom and shower house were very important.

The campground is right in the middle of Ohio’s Amish country with easy access to shopping and food and other great experiences like the large cuckoo clock in Sugar Creek (see video)

I have been extremely disappointed with Ohio State Park campgrounds. They have been congested, poorly maintained, badly landscaped, and staying at one felt like I was set-up in the middle of a mall parking lot.

However, Dillon has been a completely different experience. The people in the office are very nice, the pad is almost perfectly level, the grounds are well kept, and the buildings (while a bit long in the tooth) are well maintained.

I haven't made it down to the lake yet, but so far I'm a happy camper.

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.

I love Mohican State Park. There is so much to do- canoeing, kayaking, tubing, creeking, and great trails also.

This campground is nice but is crowded in the warmer months. Look for a site along the water, that's where the tree cover is. I stayed in a camper cabin which was very nice, with microwave and refrigerator.

There is running water in the toilets, which is nice for a state park in Ohio. The showers were decent, nothing to complain about there.

The primitive tent camping sites looked nice and peaceful- take care to get a shaded spot, though, as some were just exposed in a grassy field. There is a long bumpy walk from the parking area to the primitive sites, so bring a wagon or sled or something.

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!

I found Malabar Farm in Lucas, OH on my way home from Mom’s house. Never heard of it before and I have been this way for over 20 years now. Louis Bromfield was a conservationist and among many other things (including winning a Pulitzer) he was in the forefront of organic and self-sustaining gardening. This place is amazing! ( and would be an excellent home schoolers camping trip!) Not your typical going hiking kinda campground (there are trails but they are not “major”) you come here to step away from city life and tour a working farm. Ohio countryside at its best. Primitive camping with a gravel parking pad and water, fire ring, picnic table and hitching post. No reservations, this is a first come campground. There’s also a small rentable cabin open year round. Definitely worth a visit and very family oriented events. ( your teenager will roll their eyes at you but probably secretly enjoy the visit)

Campsite number 3 is also on a short creek crossing. Nothing to worry about with your pack on this August sunny day. It had plenty of space for tents and hammocks. It was close enough to hang out by the creek if you wanted. 

No cell phone service for Verizon. On this post for the Park and Pack I focused on the forest postings.  Do register before you do the long walk out here (depends on which way you do the loop). 

You don't want to do illegal camping at the Park and Pack sites as they do keep an eye out for it. They also want folks to call it in to discourage bad behaviors.  I spoke to such a guy in the Park and Pack parking lot as illegal campers had taken up a spot for another park and pack camper that did register. 

It is nice no official check in and check out time like you have at the state park campsites. However, the early bird does get the worm or in this case the camp site. It is harder for folks that live further away to get their hands on a site. As there are only 10.  

The ranger office is closed at this time. Make sure you go to the Mohican Memorial Forest office and not the Mohican State Park office. They are located close to the covered bridge in the park.  I use the GPS address Co Rd 939, Perrysville Ohio to locate the ranger office.  That being said going here you can register and see where everyone is going by looking at the clip board. 

As always keep the local numbers handy and take photos of the map. They do have a few at the trail head kiosk but no maps were at the registration kiosk.

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.

This trip was memorable for so many reasons but the Chestnuts really make this park stand out.  The park has several Chestnut trees which is usually a rare find these days.  Later on, I found a sign explaining why the park had so many Chestnut trees. They are working to bring them back.  We used our grubstick to roast them over the open fire.  Many of us fondly think of the Christmas song but how often have you roasted your own Chestnuts while camping?

The tent sites (short walk from parking lot) and one car per tent site.  Our site was not the traditional walk up/park camp site. It was a nice change of pace.  More space and great neighbors. 

The camp store at this park had a lot of great things such as corn hole outside, a mining activity for the family, trikes you could rent, and most importantly ice cream.  

The camp store is right across from the pool.  The pool is currently closed but not many state parks in Ohio have a pool right in the camp ground area.  This is a rare treat. The pool had the traditional pool, kiddo pool, and small splash pad. You could also see where they had installed a curb cut for those in wheel chairs or needing ramps. No pool lift that I could see to help someone lower in and out of the pool. This may be put away for the season so call to find out. They also had a ramp installed that led up to the pool. One side the old steps and the other side a new  ADA ramp. 

 The fire wood was in a white bag and that made it easy to move and kept the car clean which I appreciated. They also had bait so if you wanted to walk behind the pool and continue to the river it wouldn't be far to go fishing. 

The shower house by us did not have an ADA bathroom and I didn't get a chance to look for the ADA shower.  

Behind the campsites (our section) you could grab a short trail to the river. This was a lovely surprise as I followed a foot path.   We opted not to do the overlook hike to the gorge as we had fellow campers with us that couldn't do a long hike for safety reasons.  It as a nice surprise to learn that one could also drive to the overlook if they need to and all parties could enjoy the view together. Two different ways to get to the same place which means if you need to split up your campers based on physical skills then you could do so and then eat at the shelter together. 

The camp ground has been FULL several times this season so make sure you make your reservations. This park also has a way for you to put on and take out of the river.  You will see folks walking around with their inner tubes as they will float down the small section.

We also drove 10 miles away to the Mohican Lodge to treat ourselves to some food and an OSU Football game at the bar downstairs. The bar has a great back patio and view of the lake.  It too has a variety of games in the back patio. They were awesome and turned on the closed caption feature for us.  Those of us that wanted to watched the game and others were able to play various games at the lodge (Ping pong, pool, read a book by the fire, go see the owls on site, and more).

The pool at the lodge is being redone at the moment. I may try to upload that information later.  So look for it to be new and improved. The pool also has a sauna for those that need some help to warm up/relax tight muscles. Usually, you can get a day pass for the lodge pool even when you are staying at the camp sites. This is a small fee but well worth it.

While we were at the lodge an outside non-profit group was there with 2 owls.  We hope to drive up to Mansfield sometime to explore their property (90 acres) with birds they have rescued or are helping. https://www.ohiobirdsanctuary.com/  they come to the lodge usually on Sat evening at 7 PM. 

For those who are a fan of Shawshank Redemption the movie you are an easy day trip away from the Mansfield Reformatory. https://www.mrps.org/explore/tours

Whispering hills jellystone claims to care about having a SAFE family campground, but they will not enforce their rules. They allowed speeding golf carts to escalate to the point that my wife got assaulted and the sheriff had to get involved. A child on our row nearly got struck by a speeding golf cart 3 times, the speeding golf cart was reported several times by several campers to security and staff and nothing was done. Eventually the golf cart was witnessed rolling onto its side by campers and even a staff member and still nothing was done. When we first became seasonal we were told our camp site extended across the road and stopped at the corn field. We were told that we could have a shed over there and store our wood over there. We have cut the grass and maintained that area and parked our vehicles there for the last two years.(They do not maintain that area so if we don't it looks terrible, I'm sure if we didn't maintain it they would let us know that we need to.) We recently almost had our vehicles hit by golf carts a couple different times over there and instead of making sure nobody drives through there they are now saying that it is a common area for all campers to use.(They change the rules in order to avoid confrontation with weekend campers) The owner does not have the guts to confront anyone if he has a problem with them. They are heartless and only care about making more money, two traits that don't go well if you really care about having a family friendly campground. We have camped here for at least 3 years as weekenders and we were treated very well, but it is night and day difference between being a seasonal and being a weekend camper.(They will also find reasons to scold seasonal campers) a staff member accused someone in our group of using vulgar language at them, even though there were several witnesses to verify otherwise, they scolded him for it. They sent an email to all seasonal campers on Monday October 11th with nearly a$700.00 increase for the next year. They say it is for improvements but we have been camping here on and off for at least 5 years and they have done very little to nothing to improve the place. It's too bad better people aren't running this place because it is has a lot of potential but they lack the intelligence to make it a nice place. They are requiring a$250.00 deposit by Friday October 15th or we loose our site for next year. A lot of seasonal campers are definitely leaving because of this and several others are considering leaving, but 4 days is not enough time to decide and there is no time to get into a different campground for next year because they are all booked and have waiting lists for seasonal.

We have been camping at Whispering Hills Jellystone for 15 years on holiday weekends. They have so many activities for kids and families. They have crafts, swimming, a lake for fishing, newly chip and sealed roads, jump pads x2, hiking trails, a creek to explore and play in, an outdoor theater, and so so much more. This place will keep you busy if that’s what you’re looking for. It’s also very relaxing if you want it to be. The best of both worlds. Very clean and well maintained sites and bathhouses! Laundry facility available as well. They also have the best fireworks displays on holiday weekends in the area! They have sites that fit everyone’s needs, full hook up sites close to the pool, electric back in sites (where we normally camp) also close to the pool, we like the electric sites better than the full hookup sites but if you like having a concrete pad then full hookup sites are for you! They also have more secluded electric back in sites on the other side of the park away from the hustle and bustle of the campground. They also offer primitive camp sites as well as a variety of cabin choices. This place only grows and gets better with every passing year. I highly recommend giving Whispering Hills Jellystone a shot.

Have stayed here 3 times & really enjoy it. We typically camp with additional family members and get several sites together so we have plenty of room. The bathhouse is always very clean as well. Friendly staff & always things for the kids to do.

amazing staff

soooo much for Kids and adults to do

nice pool

Kids activity Schedule 9-9 almost daily

My family and I had a Blast at Whispering Hills. So many activities doe the kids to do and my kids were able to walk around freely without us having to be right on top of them. The jumping pad, mini golf, fishing, basketball and all the other activities were great. The staff was super friendly and attentive. We will definitely be back.

Fun park if you like a pool, mini golf, frisbee golf and a jumping pad.

We went for Labor Day. They had a band on Saturday Night, a DJ on Sunday. That is all u could hear thru the park. It was like redneck heaven. We will not be going back there.