Forked Run State Park Campground

**Why was it a very good place for us?**

For us, this was a hidden gem on a Friday in September, but be aware it may not be the same experience for you. Most of the sites were open on reserveamerica.com so we knew we could just show up and choose a site. We went out to the end of area 3 (out of 5 areas) with sites 77-122 (non-electric) because it ends with a loop. There was a tent across the loop on #100. We chose #94 which had plenty of room, a sunny area for our solar panels and lots of shade. It was a great site for us.

**Will your experience be different?**

You need to be aware this is an old park. I would hesitate to reserve a site just by looking at sites on the online map. I've included a photo of the map the attendant had to show a view of the areas...electric and non-electric with a total of 151 sites. Many of the parking pads are extremely short although some are wide enough for a vehicle and trailer...or 2 vehicles.

Some of the areas where you can pitch a tent are pretty rough, especially at the beginning of area 3. See photos. #119 was a site in use and it looks like a great site for two tents (as long as it doesn't rain because you can see in the photo that you're in a valley).

Be aware there could be some things you might not like...short parking pads, difficult tent areas, pit toilets. There are showerhouses that include sinks but the toilets are pit toilets in separate buildings.

I did not find potable water. There were water fountains that were not running, but there were several gray water dump wells and and a dump station.

Yes, it's a bit rough around the edges. We liked that it wasn't crowded. The attendant said the park was full over Memorial Day weekend. Other campers told me there's a chili cookoff around Halloween, and it's a great place to camp around then.

If you love the amenities of a modern campground, you could be disappointed. If you like roughing it, you'll enjoy the setting. And you can show up without a reservation and choose a site.

**Activities**

- The attendant told me the disc golf course attracts people because it's very good.

- A few short hiking trails

- Archery range

- Forked Run Lake has a boat ramp and 400-foot sand beach.

**What about cell phone service?**

Verizon's network was available but not in all areas. There is decent wifi by the entrance station.

Great park for us but can't guarantee the same experience for you

When I was younger I use to go here a lot on day trips to swim at the man made sandy beach on the lake.  From where I used to live in WV it was only a 40 minute drive across the state line into Ohio.  The camping there is nice.  The fishing is good as well.  What makes the lake unique at Forked Run is that it contains dime sized fresh water jelly fish.  These type aren't able to sting you.  There are shower houses and a camp general store with the camping essentials.  There is plenty to do with fishing and hiking.  A lot of people in the area mainly go for swimming or to play frisbee golf.

Forked run State Park

Our family has camped here for many years and up to 10 days at a time. Looking forward to our next trip and hitting the beach again.

Vacation here!

This park campground is nice, but lost in time. Outhouses are gross. Usable, but gross. No water hook ups, but a place to fill your tank behind water fountains. 
Camping is deserted pretty much on weekdays and on weekends the same people camp in the same spots a lot, probably because most spots are not level. Overall I'd give it 4 or 5 stars if they had toilets. 

Needs toilets in camp area. Outhouses are gross

It’s place was a last minute booking for us as we needed to kill 2 days before our next planned stop in North Carolina. I’d say most reviews are pretty accurate I read on here. Bathrooms dated camp spots are small except for a few in the first loop that were pull through. Out of the whole campground on Tuesday there was only 5 camp sites occupied. It was very quiet and peaceful. Even better no cell phone service.  When we left people were starting to arrive for the 4th of July weekend. I was surprised at how many sites were tagged for arrival. Now one of the reasons we picked this was because of the lake and reviews on the swimming area for our kids.  We were very disappointed in the swimming area. The swim area was filled with locals who were leaving trash on the beach and lake. It was disappointing the amount of fast food rappers and cigarettes butts all over the place. This park does have the potential to be one of those hidden gems with a little TLC. We enjoyed the stay here. We ended up going to Marietta, Ohio both days. This town was not to far away and has a ton of history. I would return to this campground to enjoy the piece and quiet. But would not return to bank on the swimming area and lake to enjoy with the kids. 

Interesting state park 

Decided to go to Forked Run because its close to home and we had never camped there. Been fishing, hiking &amp; swimming there over the years, but never camping. 
Some of the back in sites are REALLY short so we changed our originally reserved spot once we got there. We wound up being the only ones in our loop, but the shower house (that we were parked near) was BUSY BUSY BUSY because one of the shower houses was closed for repairs (hopefully renovations)
The park itself is clean, but the facilities are dated.
Shower house was OK, toilets are primitive. 

Solitude.....mostly

We had read about the quietness of Forked Run and it was we had a loop all to ourselves and only about 15 campers in the whole campground,

It was very clean and the areas coming into the campground beautifully maintained, but once we got to our campsite it was covered in trash, cigarette butts, beer cans and tons of candy and straw wrappers, the woods behind each campsite was loaded in trash, toilet paper and feces.

After a few hours we had our site pretty much cleaned up, but on our walks we noticed more sites looking the same.

Shower house was clean, but after visiting a pit toilet and fighting of hundreds of bugs I noticed the pit toilet was almost overflowing, yes overflowing. As many as I have used I have never seen one so full which explains why everyone was crapping in the woods.

If you want internet bring a WiFi and a booster and you will be good.

No available park ranger, in facts serious accident happened at the front gate and victims waited for EMS to arrive, if a ranger was on duty help could have been faster.

Kayaking was great with some hidden coves.

Other than that it can be a beautiful park, Ohio ODNR you should be ashamed of yourself for the way this park is kept.

Nice park, neglected on maintenance 

We could not use the restrooms and our rv doesn't have one, so we used the portapotty beside the boat ramp. We called the office and they sprayed but the flies just moved down into the pit farther. 
Shower houses very clean. Staff very nice. One site has great wifi access but I'm not telling which one. 😄