Touted as the most Scenic Park in Ohio, John Bryan State Park manages to fulfill its lofty title with ease. Within these 752 acres lies mammoth limestone faces carved out from years of erosion by the historical Little Miami River. Starting 980 feet above sea level in Clifton, the river pierces and snakes its way through the limestone, exposing a new layer of earth’s ancient shale and bedrock down a 130 foot drop. Every layer is noted for its unique glimpse into the history of the area, revealing stories of past weather events, glacial ice movements, and much more. The local Shawnee Native Americans have long respected the region, thanks to economic prosperity owing to the industry and resources established along Little Miami River. 

When it comes to attractions and recreation, there’s more to do here than you’d think. Rock Climbers and bouldering enthusiasts visit year round to scale the large limestone rock formations and natural climbing runs formed thanks to the river’s erosion. The Little Miami serves as a popular river for small-boaters, and is one of the most popular kayaking destinations in Ohio. 

For more fun, families and groups can head over to the 18-hole Disc-Golf course, then complete the day with a picnic at one of the many designated areas throughout the park. For those looking for a casual bike-ride, the 1.1 mile Arboretum (Observatory) Trail makes for a quality impromptu ride. Moreover, those in search of hiking and mountain biking trails won’t be disappointed either, as there’s no shortage of well-maintained paths to trek through. 

Camping here is relatively straightforward, with reservations to be made online 24/7. There are 61 campsite available, 9 of which offer electricity. Latrines, a dump-station, and drinking water are all available, except during the off-season. Most of the campsites offer at least partial shade, a fire circle, and a picnic table. Additionally, pets are permitted throughout the park. 

From May to October, there is a Day Lodge available for rental which includes two fireplaces, a restroom, full-service kitchen, and large screened-in porch. Picnic shelter houses can also be made via reservation for day-use only. Finally, if you’re coming in a group, a large 100-person group camp area is available complete with two onsite Adirondack shelters.

John Bryan State Park Campground

Beware of the raccoons. They are adorable but will literally steal your food right in front of you. We were set up for about 5 minutes before a raccoon appeared and swiped a large bag of sunchips off the picnic table as I was about to make a sandwich. Straight savage. Campground is a few minutes from Yellow Springs which is a beautiful town with a lot to see and do including a brewery and nature preserve. John Bryan park itself has some nice hikes and offers top rop rock climbing and repelling. Climbing routes are all available on mountainoroject.com Campground/Park also offers disc golf and volleyball with a ton of picnic areas. Facilities are not the best with outhouse style bathrooms, no showers. This isnt notmally an issue but we visited at the end of June and weather was crazy hot. All in all it's a pretty cool place. Had a great time and even ended up naming all the raccoons, Larry, Mary, &amp; Baby Terry.

Great Location, Fiesty Raccoons 

This state park is located in a wonderful place. We rode the Little Miami River Bicycle Trail most of the way here from Cincinnati. There were other bike trails we came across too. This might be a nice place to base camp and bicycle around the area. The rolling hills (some are tougher climbs) are settled in scenic areas. The town of Yellow Springs is a "hippie" type of mecca. A short drive over there and you can enjoy a restaurant meal and some shops. We discovered another place that is trying to set themselves up as a hostel for bike tourists. It's between this state park and Cincinnati. 

John Bryan State Park

Great place to visit has three parks in one  John Bryant and Glen Helen nature preserve and Clifton Gorge are some of the best hiking trails in south west Ohio.  Camp sites are great for tent camping with a few RV spots.  You can visit the near by historical town of Yellow Springs.

John Bryant State Park

Not a lot of trees. Everything is slightly uneven. The raccoons are out of control and there are no showers. I do appreciate how friendly everyone is, and how close to town the campground is :)

Small, quiet, and close to downtown

Absolutely love it here. So mainly beautiful trails and springs. Great camping areas too.

Hikes

John bryant has great hiking along the river with beautiful natural rock formations. The sites are spacious, there are play grounds and picnic areas. You can camp one day or a week, easy in and out. The town of Dayton yellow springs is only a five minute drive from enterance. Great attractions

Yellow springs area beautiful

Had a great time here. My only complaint is that the sites are very close together and there are few trees for privacy in the actual campsites, Also very little shade for this reason. For the most part the tent sites are grass, with a place to pull in. The site I stayed at was relatively close to the pit toilets and a water spigot, but also close to a bunch of RV sites, so I wouldn't say it was all that quiet. It was easy to access walking trails along a river, and also really close to Yellow Springs, which is a great little town (that I totally did not expect to find, who knew!) Cheap firewood and camp store at the entrance.

Perfect Weekend Getaway, Lots to do

This is a sweet campground near Cedarville/Xenia. It’s got quite a bit of space for campgrounds and has a few mild hiking trails and a meadow nearby. It’s a nice place for a last minute get together with friends or large group camp weekends. Fire pits available and near other hiking sites like the Clifton Gorge.

simple & sweet

Boating, fishing, disc golf, rappelling, rock climbing, picnics, WOW! Put on those hiking boots to enjoy 10 varying difficulty trails, bring your bike for one, and hit the multi-use for mountain biking.  Hang out and enjoy the wildflowers, or simply marvel the outstanding trees. The views and scenery are breathtaking.  Stay at the campground and enjoy hanging with your pet by the fire pit.  Some sites offer only electric while the majority do not. Restrooms and a dump station are provided. Have a large party, there’s a group camp available. 

An Outdoor Lover’s Dream

I love everything about John Bryan State Park and the surrounding town. Not only is there a great place to camp and hike, there is a cute little hippie town not too far away! If you wanted a relaxing day in the woods it’s there but you’re not too far away from the town to go in to grab a bite to eat for dinner.

Yellow Springs!

Absolutely beautiful trails from John Bryan State Park that connect to Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve. The Little Miami River runs through the park creating lots of little waterfalls along the way of the trails and a few bridges to oversee it all. The park has one mini cave that you may enter, it also offers camping, canoeing, fishing, and much more fun for you and the family! ⛺️ 🎣 🛶 🌼 Here is a link for more information http://parks.ohiodnr.gov/johnbryan The town itself is absolutely adorable, less than 10 minutes from the park is Young’s Dairy Farm be sure to stop in to feed the goats and get homemade ice cream and delicious food! 


John Bryan State Park Yellow Springs🌼 

There are a limited number of electric campsites so I would recommend booking early if that is a requirement. Otherwise, there are plenty of non-electric sites available.

John Bryan has some absolutely beautiful trails within the park and a short drive away. The town of Yellow Springs is absolutely adorable and worth checking out while you are there. There is also a nice bike trail through the town. The Clifton Mill is also nearby and is worth the stop.  The Cedar Cliff trail near to the park and the Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve is a must.

Beautiful Trails & Amazing Waterfalls

This was my first time camping at the park. Spacious lots with plenty of tree cover. The camp office attendees where very friendly and had a lot of recommendations. Although we weren’t there all that much, as we were fishing all day. Coming back to a nice camp was clutch. We will back soon. 

Great Camping

We stayed at John Bryan so we hike the Clifton Gorge and we love the town of Yellow Springs.  The campground was a pretty basic Ohio campground, but did boast a frisbee golf course and access to the trails right from the campground.   The campground is surrounded by wood, but pretty bare otherwise.  There was very little privacy and sites just seemed to be placed randomly in the field.  The pit toilets were relatively clean, and the campground roads safe for kids to ride bikes.   We stayed at site 64 which was probably about the most private site there.  We did need to position are cars around us to get this.   Once dusk hit the raccoons were unbelievable.  They would come out of the wood and stare at us fearlessly.   Despite packing up our food properly, they were all over our table and right up next to our tent scavenging for food as soon as we went in our tent.  The camp host was out searching the woods because they stole some kids backpack during the night.  The trails were cool, but very poorly marked. There were paper signs that had fallen off the trees and the maps proved difficult to use because there were so many unmarked side trails.  Better trail markers would make a huge difference.  

Holy Raccoons!

Great camping , wonderful trail system branching from the campground... great mountain bike course 

Great trail system 

John Bryan campground conveniently located near Clifton mills gorge, Glen Helen and yellow springs. There's actually a spring that is actually known as yellow springs, the water is clear, clean and refreshing with a taste of I cut my finger in the kitchen blood. Kids run up and down green hills, ride bikes in their pajamas. Vault toliets are spacious with hand sanitizer by the doors. 
Some sites have trees that can be used to set up hammock camping. Fire pit rings and great access to affordable, dry, and good bundles of wood just outside the entrance to campground. 

John Bryan

Great tent sites on mowed lawn under old growth trees. Our night’s rest was interrupted multiple times with airport noise—airplanes and helicopters. Note that at this time (COVID) you cannot just pull in and occupy a site. You must call in for a reservation. 

Lovely, well maintained park. 

I’m a local and I love JB.  Great hiking, clean campground (and bathroom!), and close to Yellow Springs for local brews and good eats.

Great Park 

This is a park I have hiked at several times but this is the first time camping here.  It a very limited campground. Only 17 electric sites and 43 primitive sites.  The restrooms are pit toilets and there is no shower house. What they lack in amenities they make up for in scenery. 
They offer 10 hiking trails 9.7 miles of mountain bike trails. Also a disc golf course and playground. 
They are also close to the town of Yellow Springs which offers shopping, dining, and even its own brewery. 
Also some other area attractions are Young’s Jersey Dairy, Brandenberry Winery, Clifton Mills and Stillwrights Distillery.  



Great Trails

Showed up without a reservation mid-week and was able to get a non-electric site for a night. Fell in love with Yellow Springs so decided to stay another night. Got an electric spot that opened up in the morning for only $4 more

Close to my new favorite place

Awe camp sites especially for our overland Jeep with an RTT

Great time 

This is a small park with only a few electric sites.  A new shower house is set to go in December 2021. Now there is only a few pit toilets.  The hiking trails are nice and have some nice bridges to cross.  

Close by is Clifton Mill , Clifton George Nature Preserve , Glen Helen Nature Preserve and shopping in the town of Yellow Springs. Also Young’s. Diary is a great place to stop for ice cream or some cheese curds.  

Great Hiking

The park and facilities are beautiful.  Campground has a new bathhouse with 2 family showers/bathrooms and 3 showers/3 toliets for each women and men's room. The grounds had a nice modern playground, pavilions, volleyball net and much more.  
We stayed at the group site which was outside of the main park. This area had vault toliets and potable water faucet only. So you had to drive to the main park to use bathhouse and anything else. Upside was the low car traffic in that area.

Complete downside and what will keep us from returning are the sheer number and boldness of raccoons. They are lingering the edge of the woods day and night ready to grab anything. At night the main dumpsters has raccoon in/around/on top of them. One night a newb camper in our group didn't lock up his cooler and at 130 am there was a mob of fighting/growling raccoons which carried on for at least 30 min. He said there were upwards of 30 raccoons swarming his cooler while he tried to recover and lock it up. I have never in my camping experience seen/heard anything like it. It freaked the kids and new campers out. I hunkered down in my tent and advised others to do the same.
The group campsite also is stated to fit 50ppl. It is not that large. I would say 20ppl would be more adequate.  Our tents and cars were less than 5ft from others tent and cars. We had to park cars next to tents bc raccoons and keeping food in cars. 
Everything else about the park/staff/general area/activities were great.

Beautiful park but raccoons are a nuisance

I had a great time boondocking here - it's an incredibly lush/green area so you'll never feel overly exposed/sunburned. There isn't much room between you and other campers however, just keep an eye out for that. Other reviewers are correct about the raccoons being very bold &amp; aggressive with any stray food morsels 

Gorgeous serene woodsy

My step dad and I stayed here and it was a fantastic experience! it had amazing amenities, super easy to navigate and find and super affordable! Most of all it was safe, we left out stuff there all day while we were out exploring and nothing was ever disturbed and we were never disturbed during our stay there. It was a great experience, we will most definitely be back!