Pike Lake State Park Campground

If you ranked all the Ohio state park campgrounds from best to worst, this would have to fall along the bottom. First, there is no lake. There is a murky pond that you can swim in, but it doesn't look good. This is a small campground that runs along the length of a loud road. There is no escaping the sound of the cars on the road, many of which have broken mufflers, and they roar through all through the night and day. The campground is a skinny patch of land between two high ridges, which makes for very strange acoustics- you can hear noise from all over the campground, no matter where you are. I was at the far end, yet I could hear the loud, echoing screams of children from the front end. They screamed until 11pm at night. In the morning. I was awoken by someone running a leaf blower up the road for hours, because sound here seems to travel very far. It was far from peaceful, and I was there in November! The campground did have a new bathroom building, with four unisex toilets and showers for the entire campground. It also seemed to have a lot of shade (I don't know for sure, because I was there after the leaves had fallen). So it gets its one star for clean bathrooms and shade.

we visited when the leaves were changing and it was absolutely gorgeous. hiking was great. campground is small, some sites too small for our 20’ trailer and truck. campground was busy, lots of kids.

This campground had a good, laid-back vibe.  I had a site where I was able to put up a hammock.  Many sites are along a pretty running stream.  It was just a nice campground - I think it would be beautiful in the fall, it's a pretty winding road to get to the park.

We enjoyed our stay here. Just an fyi to others- it rained quite a bit and many of the sites got flooded. The ground here doesn't drain well. 

Some good trails here. The lake wasn't so great for swimming, too many geese. The campground has been recently renovated with newly paved roads & camp pads.

We travel around and prefer to stay in State Parks because they are usually so nice and well maintained. The trails here were all over grown with down trees everywhere, they have a disc golf course it was over grown and had so much poison ivy we could only play two holes.

They have 79 sites plus a group site and they only have 4 flush toilets and 1 pit toilet to service all of them. None of the sites were full hook up so everyone had to use the four bathrooms.

It rained the first day we were there and people were literally bailing there sites out with buckets. The places that weren't flooded were very muddy.

It was our first experience dry camping and it was a complete success

Love this spot, very secluded and quiet .. not many spots , but makes it nicer , minimal noise .. nice little lake to fish or kayak

Site 57 - this site backs up to the ravine and is nice and large. It has a lot of shade and grass. We were able to run a line between trees for a dog run. Great neighbors on both sides but right across the site is the playground. It’s a little noisy but if you have kids, it works. The fire ring was nice, but trash was left inside of it. I found out that there Is no campground host. They did have park staff cleaning the bathrooms both the shower house and the drop toilets. All of the water fountains were closed due to COVID. There was one pump available for water. There are two trash bins on either side of the campground. There is another bigger playground right across from the campground with more parking. There is a small lake with a beach. You can kayak, but it’s really small. Lots of trails to hike and the camp store was open. I would recommend bringing your own wood as it’s just slab cut. The trees and shade were the best part - lots of birds and pretty views.

Ranger Review: Morsel Spork at Pike Lake State Park

Campground Review:

We stayed at site 67 next to the camp host. The camp site was nicely shaded with a small creek behind it. We had a lot of shade and didn't feel like we were on top of our neighbors. Not all the sites were as spacious as ours so be careful which one you choose. In fact, there was one so small, I'm not sure where a tent would go...maybe plan on sleeping in your vehicle? The campground has drop toilets in a few spots (very clean) and up front they had a great shower house. There were four in total that had the toilet and shower all in one. There are baby changing stations in each of them as well. They were kept nice and clean. We walked up to the camp store which had a ton of items. If you forgot to bring it, they probably had it. There are two playgrounds, one in the campground and one right across the way. There is a small pond/lake that has a beach you can kayak or canoe and fish (renting them is an option). We like to hike and there were plenty of trails to follow. Some of the trails are horse and some are not. There is no cell phone service - we didn't get service until we were on our hike on top of the hill. We will definitely go back again.

Product Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time- today I am testing the Morsel Spork and Morsel XL. I was able to get 4 products. I ordered 2 Morsel Sporks and 2 Morsel XL. I got green (my favorite color) and my husband got blue. They stay in our kitchen box that we use for camping. For dinner we had a salad and mashed potatoes with Backpackers Shepherd Pie. The fork part of the spork was used for the salad and did just fine. I then used the spoon part of the spork to scrape up the small leftovers (cheese, crouton crumbs, etc.), it cleaned up really well. My husband was able to use the XL Spork to stir in the Backpackers bag, and guess what? It reached the bottom without his hand having to go deep inside to reach the bottom. The rubber edge on the spoon part is like having your own little spatula to make sure you get every last piece of your food. In the morning we had Biscuits and Gravy (in a bag) and again we used the XL Spork and ate right out of the bag instead of dirtying more dishes. They are dishwasher safe, but as my husband tells you, it's clean...I just licked everything off.

I'd recommend getting a Morsel Spork - find the size you need, they have a few to choose from.

My daughter and I stayed here last year in late September. We rented a cabin (#4) for a weekend. While not luxurious, the cabin was clean, beds comfortable, AC worked great, functional kitchen and bigger bathroom than I expected. The lake is smaller, but nice beach area and pedal boats are fun. We hiked the Greenbriar and CCC Trails. They are not too challenging but beautiful. Parts of the CCC trail were overgrown with briars and narrow. The campground looks nice, we plan on bringing our camper next time. Not much nearby, but Waverly has some good eats. Seems popular with horse riders.

It was a great weekend! It was our first trip with the kids in tow so we only stayed from Sunday to Monday. But it was a great time. The staff at the store was nice, check in was easy. Other campers were nice, quiet enough and respectful. No Hassel check out. We went on a short hike around the lake with the littles, there are longer hikes if you wish. We rented a peddle boat but there are canoes and kayaks as well.. all in all a great time!