Vicki H.

Wilmington, OH

Joined August 2018

Great first time KOA experience

We have never stayed at a KOA before and were very happy with this campground. The staff were friendly and professional, the sites were clean, and there were a wide variety of sites to choose from. From primitive tent sites tucked back in the woods to large RV sites with water/sewer/electric/cable hookups. We are first-time owners of a 29 ft Fifth Wheel and got a pull-through site. It offered little in the way of privacy, which was the only negative about the whole experience. Our site included a fire ring and a picnic table, along with all the hook ups. The night we arrived we were too tired to cook so ordered a pizza from the front office and they delivered it to our site. They also deliver wood directly to you. They escort you directly to your site so you don't get lost or go down a one-way road the wrong way. There was a nice little pool, but it wasn't open for the season yet. The shower houses were immaculate. The front office includes a little gift shop, ice cream, and pizza. This campground was also located close (within a few miles) to all the main hiking trails,and about 12 miles from Logan. The little road going up to the campground is VERY bumpy. It's not the campground road, it belongs to the Township, so its completely out of their ability to make improvements. This was only our second time out in our fifth wheel camper so it was a little scary, but we just drove slow and our truck handled it just fine. We will definitely be back to this wonderful campground as we love Hocking Hills.

Not Good

Stayed at Middle Fork Oct 25, 26, 27 (Thu, Fri, Sat) although we were forced to pay for Sunday too because it was some kind of special weekend having to do with Halloween. IMO this is just a BS way to make more money. The majority of people who do the whole trick or treat and Halloween stuff, do it for kids, and those people most likely have to leave on Sun to go back home for school on Mon. So why be forced to pay for Sunday night?!
Our water spigot sprayed water everywhere when our hose was hooked up. They sent a plumber over who tried to fix it with a wrench and a propane torch which didn't help at all. Fortunately we had no neighbors so we hooked to the other sites spigot. It sprayed too. The next day the campground turned off all the water to the campground, brought in an excavator and were excavating a broken pipe elsewhere in the campground. They didn't bother to let anyone know they were turning off the water, there were probably 5 campers in the entire campground. I wonder if they are aware that if a hot water heater runs out of water, but the heating element stays on, that it can destroy the element?? Fortunately we were there when we ran out of water and turned our water heater off.
The light. The damn 30,000 watt LED security light that lights up the night like a spaceship coming in for a landing, 10 feet behind our site. Forget having the cozy campfire experience, it's like sitting in daylight when that sucker is blasting down on you. The dump station. You have to park your camper on the wrong side of the road, facing uphill into on-coming traffic to dump your tanks, the water spigot to hook up and flush your tanks wasn't working so no water. The girl working at the check-in booth was clueless, saying she "didn't know nuthin about it". And didn't offer to pick up the phone and find out if there was a way to turn the water on. In addition, because we were parked facing uphill our gray water tank wouldn't dump at all. We had to stop at another campground on our way home and pay to dump and flush our tanks.
Overall, this campground was a negative experience and we will not be back.

Would be 5 star except for this

Alum Creek is just beautiful, nice sites, most of them are at least partially shaded, lots of woods, hiking trails, the lake, it is what I think of when I think of State Park campground camping in Ohio. There are a couple problems. 1. Only ONE little dump station. This is a big campground, so if you're leaving Sunday, you better get up at the crack of dawn to get to the station, otherwise be prepared to wait in a long long line of RV's. We by-passed the long line and stopped at a different State Park campground on the way home and paid 10.00 to use their dump station. 2. They never answer their phone at the campground office. I mean NEVER. If you have a question you will just have to deal with the reserveamerica people who really know nothing other than what they read on the campground website. So basically you know as much as they do. It's maddening. We will go back, but it's a 2 hour drive so it won't be anytime soon.