Alum Creek State Park Campground

Alum Creek State Park encompasses a 3,387-acre reservoir and 4,630-acres of fields and woodlands. It is within 15 minutes of Polaris Parkway, a large shopping mall to the north of Columbus and about 30 minutes from downtown Columbus. At first glance you may think this would be a disastrous combination for a camping location but the park provides many well spaced out sites with good use of existing trees to provide a significant amount of privacy between sites. Most sites are 50A and all accept pets. There are a handful of full hook ups but generally they are electric only.

Arrival is straightforward, stop by the office 100 yds after entering the park. If you have reserved online and the site was not booked the day before your tags will be at the site, just stop at the window, let them know your name and site and you will be waved through. No need to get out of your car. They have firewood at the office also.

We prefer the sites north of the Cheshire Road bridge. A little more open and great for trailers including larger 5th wheels but still reasonably private. Many of the sites further to the south are fully wooded and great for tent camping or shady trailer camping in the summer. A few of the sites are marked as "Premium", typically the ones at the end of each spur. Some of these sites have access to the lake which is ideal for the locals who boat during the day and camp at night. They can get their boats right up to the camper. Its generally best to pick a spot midway down the spur. These are typically quieter than at either end. We have not used any of the shower houses so can't comment on them so have graded Cleanliness in the middle below.

Cell service is pretty good (Verizon) but bandwidth can be very patchy since you are pinging cell towers in a well populated urban area which are in heavy demand, particularly during the weekends.

Downsides - this park is close to a big city so it can get a bit "urban" at peak times (July 4th etc), particularly in the areas to the south of the park that are wooded and hence shady and cool for tent camping in the summer. In these areas, very occasionally, people can be a bit noisy with music in the evenings up to quite time and sometimes a bit later. Camp hosts normally take care of problems like this in a timely manner if made aware.

Don't let this put you off though. If you are passing through or need somewhere to stay close to Columbus this is a great park. We have tried just about every State and National Park within a few hours of Alum Creek and we keep coming back.

The sites for the most part are pretty big, like most Ohio state park campsites. This particular park is nice because the sites are heavily grown between sites so it gives you a feeling of being secluded. The park is located near major shopping and a couple of RV dealers including RCD RV Sales and Colerain RV. The lake is nice with a swimming beach area. Restrooms are adequate. Noise level is acceptable. Phone reception is sketchy.

Nice campground. All campsites have paved pads, picnic tables and fire rings. Most Sites are not that big but with vegetation grown up between sites there is plenty of privacy and shade. The lake has a small swimming beach and a few campsites have a path to water (to launch kayaks). The bathrooms are standard and the showers at shower house are Ok (there are only 3 shower houses for more than 200 sites and not that clean) with small bench and hook.
Campground offers children's movies Saturday night, pancake breakfast Saturday morning and coffee & donuts Sunday morning. This is a very busy campground on the weekend but is quiet during the week.

20-30 minutes into Columbus to tour for a couple of days - Scioto mile (bike trail), arts festival...).

Per night includes reservation fee and half price nights with Passport America.

This was an ok state park. Fairly wooded and overgrown. We paid extra for a premium water site. Save your money. Had to walk down a very overgrown trail and splash right into the lake. No bank but it did smell.

Our site was small. Just fit our 30' trailer and TV. Campground host was right across from our site. Saw him on several occasions- never a smile or wave.

Other sites closer to front actually looked nicer.

This park was disappointing after staying at Maumee Bay State Park near Toledo.

We’re learning how many really nice state parks with lakes Ohio has, and how close to home. This is one of them, right on the outskirts of Columbus. The sites are variable but almost all would be acceptable, with level pads and ample grassy space, plenty of shade and variable but usually really good herbage between sites. The lake is the draw, and it’s huge and beautiful. There is a nice little beach in the campground and a boat launch with a lot of parking. Some of the end-loop sites have lake views and even water access, but they also looked somewhat more open and were certainly busier. For direct kayak access we decided we would prefer to camp up the loop a bit and simply cart the kayaks to the beach, as it’s not far at all. There is no camp office or store at the moment, the poor employees were using picnic benches to do all their work until a new one is constructed. While very popular and bustling during the day, at this and the other state parks we’ve been to, once quiet hours begin people all seem to settle down quickly and we’ve never been annoyed. I just caution you to be very vigilant for kids on unlit bikes. The latrine and shower houses were fine. There is not a shower house in every loop here, but they’re not far. Although there are only about three shower stalls in each, we didn’t have any real wait time and it’s not a big deal. The lake itself if an unlimited hp one, so the only downside for us as kayakers was the wake. It’s not a paddler’s paradise but still fun. Kids have fun here, as the loops don’t get a lot of traffic and there are playgrounds and that nice little beach. The other advantage is its proximity to Columbus, the shoppiing meccas of Polaris and Easton, and the Alum Creek Trail for cycling. The price you pay for that is some road noise-you’re always aware you’re in an urban location unless you just tune it out. We’re in Columbus frequently so this may become one of our go-to spots for weekend excursions.

This was the second time we camped at Alum Creek. The first time was in site A44. During both visits we were very pleased with our private, shaded, and level campsites. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the bathrooms had been updated since our last visit in 2014. Even though the campground was completely full over the weekend, our campground loop still had a quiet, peaceful atmosphere (not at all rowdy like some parks near big cities where we've camped in the past). The state park is also ideally located to so many tourist attractions in downtown Columbus. We hope to return in the future!

First camping experience in our travel trailer and it was a nice wide space and plenty of room to park and still have room for truck and dog pen as well as picnic table and cooking prep table.

Our site and others we’ve seen are all paved and level with some trees between the sites. Even on the weekend, it’s not too noisy. It is a bit smoky from campfires on the weekend, but that’s a given with trees and humidity all around.

This was conveniently located to many attractions in Columbus. We stayed in a tent so that we could go to IKEA the next day. The sites were clean, nicely wooded, and the staff were very helpful. Maintenance guys helped us get the tent stakes out of the ground in the morning. The ground was so dry and I didn't bring a traditional claw hammer, just a rubber mallet. We were 20 minutes from IKEA. The bathrooms need updating and it was awkward to get to the restroom closest to us. We had to "cut through" someones site. Fortunately, no one was at the site but if they had been it would have been weird. I received 1/2 off with the Golden Buckeye card. GPS totally misguided us to the campground.

Nice park. However the park needs some basic upkeep like trimming trees and some maintenance done (almost every drinking water station I tried was broken). Didn’t use the bathrooms so can’t comment on them. Had to move sites because first site was hard to get level.

My biggest issue with the park is it has one single fill/dump station for the whole park. Alum creek has something like 200 electric-only campsites. Only 10 full hookup sites. It has one dump station that has two lanes with two open sewer holes so two rigs can dump at once. There is one drinking water spigot to fill your rig. And it has very little pressure. So it is always backed up. You can stay for 14 days, so even with minimal use, you’re going to have to dump at some point.

As we were leaving, we dumped before hitting the road (we were there for 14 days). As I was pulling out, an employee blocked my exit and told me I owed him $10 for using the dump station. I told him we had been there for 14 days and even gave the site numbers. He refused to listen and kept telling me I owed him $10 since he “saw me come in off the road to dump”. Very unprofessional. Definitely made me leave the park with a sour experience.

AT&T and Verizon both had good signal in the park.