Lake Snowden is a 675-acre education and recreation park, featuring the largest of four lakes, which form the Margaret Creek Conservancy District.

The lake covers approximately 136-acres offering camping, boating, fishing, picnicking and swimming. The serene setting reveals natural beauty while maintaining the convenience of being just 5 miles from Athens, Ohio. The shelter houses, restroom facilities, beach, shoreline fishing holes, and fish hatchery make Lake Snowden a full-featured recreation park.

Lake Snowden was built for the Margaret Creek Conservancy District in 1968 with federal funds through the Farmer’s Home Administration and the Soil Conservation Service in an effort to control flooding. It opened to the public in 1972. In 1998, Hocking College purchased Lake Snowden from Le-Ax Water District.

Lake Snowden Campground - Hocking College

This campground is managed by Hocking College and is about 10 minutes from Athens and Ohio University. There are many nice campsites, but there are also a lot that are steep, small and/or nothing but dirt. The lake is great for fishing, boating, swimming and they have a new water park featuring inflatable swing, slide and other features. The lifeguards are great and proactive about issues. Best deal going, after 5pm it's just $5 per swimmer. Our kids like it a lot. It is right off of a 4 lane highway, but noise is minimal. Athens has lots of places to eat, and many festivals occur at Lake Snowden, including the Paw Paw Festival. Get here early to find a good site. We have camped here in tents, a pop up and our travel trailer. Popular with local horse riders. Playground has a kid sized wooden train and a large tower/swing set. The shower house in the upper camping area is functional, but dated and usually messy, although they do clean it often.

Close to OU, new inflatable water park

My family and I have been going to Lake Snowden for the past nine years for the Paw Paw Festival and have enjoyed staying in the sites in thw campground every year.  So while I can’t speak to what the campground is like the rest of the year, I suspect it is mostly RV campers the rest of the season (we only tent camp).  

What I can say though is the sites are pretty large and grassy, great place to let kids run around and play.  The campground is safe and people are respectful of the quiet hours.  Everything in the camground is walkable, but if you want to hit up the shower houses, you have to go up to Hilltop, which is a bit of a trek w/ shower gear (I’ve never actually been inside the shower house though).  

Our home away from home for Paw Paw Fest

Lake Snowden is a great alternative to camping at Strouds. The lake is large and clean, with an awesome new “water park” opened during the summer. Great shelters, facilities, and optional bathrooms. Many of the sites are secluded in the woods, while others are more public RV sites. Awesome boating, fishing, and swimming activities nearby!

Didn’t See Any Snow

Lots of available places to tent camp or park an RV! There’s a nice little beach area along the lake. Several large pavilions. Playground for the kids. During the summer they set up large inflatable slides and create a makeshift lake waterpark!  I camp here EVERY year during the Annual Pawpaw Festival in mid September. They have local art, music, beer, and all kinds of pawpaw products! Such a blast! Highly recommend!!! 

Love this place 

The Nelsonville Music and Arts Festival is one of my favorite summer festivals of all time. It is usually the first week of June. NMF is big enough to have some great artists play (Ween, the Avett Brothers, Mac Demarco, the Flaming Lips, Twin Peaks, and many more!) but small enough that it isn’t too crowded and most of the people there are friends or acquaintances. The campground for the fest is just outside of the music festival. You can drive in and purchase a camping pass, then drive to a spot, park your vehicle, and set up your tent right next to it. The area is broken into cool “streets” with unique street names. There are also camper and RV spots available. You can purchase firewood and ice on site. Alcohol is allowed in the camping area, but not on the road or parking lot. Outside alcohol is also not allowed in the festival. If it has been rainy the campsites and dirt roads can get muddy - turning the area officially into Mudville. The best sites are those along a road in the forested area however. During hot years the trees provide shade which helps keep it cool. They also protect from rain. There is always a stage set up in the campsite area on the “rowdy” side of the campgrounds. This stage hosts late night bands and DJs! It’s always a fun time. 