Kelleys Island State Park — Attraction in Leamington

This is a very beautiful campground with awesome views of the lake! The staff and volunteers were very pleasant. There is store across the street from the campground if you need essentials and they sell ice cream. However, our site 126 for 5 nights had much to be desired. These campsites in this area were pretty close together and don’t offer much privacy. The campground is generally quiet at 11 pm and very dark. So bring flashlights. There is limited parking in this area for your vehicle behind the park office. The water spigots in that area do not work which is unfair for that area. Bring water jugs. We wish we were told about it. There isn’t a port-o-potty near this campsite except you can find a restroom on the beach. There are two trails behind campsite 122 to get there and the beach isn’t a big one. Watch for poison ivy in the brush. The restrooms/shower houses are near site 94 and the first street away from the lake without parking so ADA accessible can be a challenge. There were also restrooms near the group camp with parking but it was not a shower house. The bathrooms weren’t especially clean and some of the toilets were not in working order and could have used a sign. There weren’t any garbage cans at this campground. This campsite is also challenging since some areas are covered in berries. Another problem is the Wi-Fi which caused a constant struggle at this campground and all over the island for guests and the people in my group. T-Mobile would work in and out, AT&T the best and Verizon was the worst. The icing on the cake was being bit by a tick on the campsite and packing up our supplies we keep in tubs to find plentiful earwigs in each and every one of them. We also found them when we got home. Ugh. We would not book this campsite again. Overall, we had a great time watching fireworks and visiting friends on Middle Bass by boat. But, honestly, Put-in-Bay offers much more to do. Kelley’s is more laid back for nature, bike riding and parking can be a challenge in town. The restaurants were good with friendly staff on this very, very pretty island. We would have enjoyed ourselves much, much better if we had a better campsite to meet our expectations....

I’ve tent-camped at Kelleys Island 4 or 5 times in the last 20 years. The lakeside premium non-electric sites are the best. The lapping of the waves on the rocks and the constant breeze act as a buffer against the closeness of the sites. Unfortunately, it was necessary for us to reserve a site in the U behind the yurts this time. The campsites are tight with little privacy. We had the privilege of being in the middle of two late-night drinking parties. It seems that the party-hearty element of Put-in-Bay has discovered Kelleys Island, which is a shame because KI used to be a family-friendly, relatively quiet place to relax. A worker at the State Park campground informed me that there is only ONE ranger present on Friday and Saturday nights! I remember when there was a full-time ranger there every day. Apparently, word has gotten out, and the obnoxious drunks and disrespectful jerks are starting to take over the campground. Rule and Regulations? LOL. We got very little sleep because of idiots still talking out loud at 2:30 in the morning, with no concern for their fellow campers. We were supposed to stay 3 nights, but the drunkards and bigmouths convinced us to pack up and go home. People were setting up 3 huge tents on one tiny lot, and they were all in their 20s, drinking beer for breakfast. Unbelievable. Perhaps, the state should charge more money for camping to keep the riff-raff out, and also to hire a full-time ranger(s). Although the campground itself contains much natural beauty, the amenities leave much to be desired. There are no restrooms in that area, the closest ones being on the beach, which are vault toilets that smell like something died, and are full of little flies. There are only a few showers in the main shower house. And only 2 toilets….seriously. Don’t know if we’ll ever return to KI. Now that the Kelleys Island Ferry Co. has little competition….their fares have jumped considerably. RT—for one car and 4 persons will run you about a hundred bucks. KI still possesses lots of charm and natural beauty, and it is a touristy destination, but it’s beginning to resemble South Bass Island a little too much...

BEWARE OF BUGS! My family and I rented out the Sherman Cabin 101 in Mid-July. We checked in and went on with our day until it was dinner time. That’s when the current occupants came out, Earwigs. How did I know? One CRAWLED across the microwave as I was heating something up, BARF. Then another one appeared from under our Air frier, I lost my appetite. As the night went on they seemed to multiply, I looked them up and they are nocturnal. There was an infestation. I took my kids and we slept in our Mini-Van, it was hell on Earth. The next day the cleaning staff were very apologetic, offered solutions and cleaning supplies but insisted they were not allowed to spray anything. I went to the office and management was not there, the office was closed for the whole day. Then Thursday I spoke with an office rep and they said they didn’t know when the manager would be back. He took my name and I never heard back. The next day (after looking for him again) the manager said he couldn’t do anything but would come by to check it out, he never did. I got a hotel for two nights (almost 1,000.00 total) with my children because bugs crawling on the bed was enough for them to see. It ruined our vacation. There was no assistance offered from management nor a mention of a money back. They do not care. It’s pretty much “deal with it.” The last day I had a few items left in the cabin and they were actively crawling out of shoes, bags and the Heavy cooler! We came home and they came home with us. It took me over three hours to shake out all of our things because they were still alive. This place should be condemned, this park should be ashamed of themselves. What a waste of money and time off to spend buying our own bug defense. If you are ready to have claws bite you, bugs in your food and sleeping next to you, then this is your vacation spot. The feeling of being there made me want to throw up so the pictures were taken in a hurry. You have...