Campground Report - Hocking Hills State Park

We drove to the campground entrance to check in, expecting to drive on back to the campsite afterwards. The campground area features 111 electric sites, 12 non-electric sites, and 46 full hook-up sites. I knew I'd gotten a "primitive" site, but figured that was code for non-electric and pit toilets. Not the case. We were not in the fancy campground area with these sites plus 4 group sites, a couple of cabins, playground, amphitheater, and swimming pool. At registration I was given a map and told to turn around, leave the campground area entirely, drive down the road a ways, park in a gravel lot, and carry my gear .6 miles back to our primitive campsite. Oops.

There are maybe 30 of these primitive sites, and some are very close to the parking lot. It's numbered in a circle, with #1 close to the lot on the right and the numbers staying on that side, back around the turnaround loop and then ending up with the last numbers on the left side, close to the parking lot. We were in site 18, so nearly all the way to the end of the trail. Some sites are more private than others as they put sites where they could given the terrain. Ours was practically a shared site with #19.

There were single pit toilets designated for men and women all the way back the primitive campground trail, so no site was too far from a bathroom. The bathrooms don't have running water or lights, so make sure you take a light. Even when it's light outside, it's pretty dark inside when you shut the door.

The site itself was really nice, with a designated fire pit and picnic table, plus lots of flat area for tents. We saw lots of people with wagons to pull their gear back, which would have made things a lot easier. If you are prepared to carry your things, including water, I recommend the primitive sites.

Hocking Hills is a popular campground, and like the weekend we went, I think it often fills up. We were there a Saturday-Monday, and while Saturday was completely packed, there was a lot of availability on Sunday night.