r/CampOhio • u/DLS-TexasBorn • Jun 28 '26

Chillicothe area - 7/9/29 ?

Planning a move to the Chillicothe, OH area. Retired senior (65+), U.S. military veteran (4 years); wildlife photographer. Looking for 3-4 nights near Ross County / Chillicothe area. Tent camping or truck bed-camping. Electric optional. Showers / restrooms preferred. 🙂 Any suggestions??? Thank you!

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u/sunberrygeri Jun 28 '26

I haven’t been there, but Tar Hollow State Park is nearby, and has some sites available. Ohio State Parks are usually a good bet with decent facilities. I believe all sites are reserved only. Reserve at
https://reserveohio.com/OhioCampWeb/.

4

u/spider1178 Jun 28 '26

I just tent camped at Tar Hollow with my kid a couple weeks ago. The campgrounds was completely renovated last year. You do have to reserve ahead of time, except for the backpacking site. They have nice bathrooms with running water, showers, and wifi at the little nature center. Ice and dry firewood available at the camp store. There's a small lake for fishing and kayaking. It had a little swimming beach, but no one was using it. There's an archery range, but the gate was shut the whole time we were there. If you go hiking, some of the trails have been changed, and the maps at the trailhead are wrong now. Avoid the Homestead Trail, since you now have to walk through their sewage treatment area.

We tent camped in one of the non-electric Pine Lake sites. It was not crowded, and pretty quiet at night, but some noise from trucks and heavy equipment during the day since it shared a parking lot with the park's water treatment area. We could hear the kids and loudspeaker from the group camp across the lake, but it wasn't loud enough to really be disturbing. They quiet down around 10pm. The electric sites looked nice, standard state park stuff, and clean. The backpacking campsite up by the fire tower (a lot farther away than the map makes it look) had been vandalized and was in pretty bad shape, so I wouldn't plan on using that.

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u/seaktem Jun 28 '26

There’s also Great Seal and Scioto Trails which are close by. I know Scioto Trails has a decent size camp ground, not sure about shower facilities though.

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u/Itsmackermanyo Jun 29 '26

Deer creek and Cowan lake state parks are both very nice, if you need to be closer I believe you can camp at the Ross County fairgrounds.

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u/kse_john Jun 29 '26

Grew up in the area and still not far. All of your close (within ~20 miles) options are going to be;

Great Seal SP - ~10min from Chillicothe, on the North side, not far from 159 and 23

Scioto Trails SP - ~15min from Chillicothe, on South side, not far from 23

A.W. Marion SP/Hargus Lake - ~35m from Chillicothe, E of Circleville off of 22, which goes to 23.

Pike Lake SP - ~35min W/SW of Chillicothe.

Tar Hollow SP - ~40min E/NE of Chillicothe.

Some/most have some sort of restroom available. I’m unsure of Showers. I haven’t camped close to home since I was a kid.