West Branch State Park — Attraction in Charlestown Township

Been going here regularly since 2003 for the boating season.

It's not the largest lake, but water levels remain consistent throughout the season. Compared to neighboring inland lakes, this makes it a much safer place to go to avoid prop damage, bottoming out, ingesting things into your impeller, etc.

There are plenty of coves where you can escape and find solitude, and the entire side of the lake west of the Rock Spring Rd bridge is no-wake, so if nothing else, you can find tranquility there.

Ramp-wise, the calmest and nicest is in the campground, and you can get a day-pass without camping there. It can get congested in the summer, though, and there's a long no-wake to get to the main lake. There are also unisex bathrooms at this location, but no water. They usually are relatively clean, but can get a pungent smell as the temps raise.

The West ramp is further south on Rock Spring, and has similar bathrooms to the campground, so don't expect luxury. There's a picnic area there, too. This ramp is going to be a little more choppy than the campground, but is usually reasonable. Lines can get up there, and you always seem to get stuck behind someone who is learning to manuever a trailer for the first time, but people tend to be polite.

The East ramp can be accessed from RT 225 by turning down Cable Line, and then there's a hidden road named Gilbert where you'll find the ramp. They recently paved Gilbert, so it's no longer riddled with potholes larger than moon craters. We'll see how long that lasts. This ramp has actual running water in the bathrooms, and there's a nice pavilion area and mini-beach near the ramp. This is a perfect spot if you own some PWCs and want to spend a day at the lake.

You're more prone to run into folks with a lack of ramp etiquette on this side for some reason....they'll jump in front in line before prepping, etc. It also tends to be the choppiest ramp since the wind cuts through this side of the lake.

If you have a faster craft, it can get boring pretty quick here...it only takes a couple minutes to ride from one side of the lake to the other. However, for boats/PWCs that don't exceed 50mph, the lake can provide an entire day of fun.

The camping facilities here are excellent as well. Great bathrooms, private and spacious showers, ample site sizes. If camping is your objective, I've found this to be the best state park in the vicinity.

There are also mountain bike trails that are well assembled (but not clearly marked) amd equestrian trails that, despite being in a busy park, are able to keep you tucked away from noise and result in a pleasant ride.

I haven't been able to experience the snowmobile trails, so I can't comment on them, but they exist!

ATV trails would be an ideal addition, but it might make the park too noisy...

9-4-14: This is by far the best campsite that we have found and tried. Not far from home, reasonably priced, full bathroom, shower, electric, water hookup. Lake is safe to tan and fish on with our boat, no large waves. Besides camping there past 3 years, we also take our boat there to fish frequently since it's close to home for us.

3-4-15: Ok so in past years, we always called on March 1st to reserve for Labor Day Weekend. And if you do not call that day, you are out of luck for an electric site. Well this year I was told I had to call on March 4th, had to put a note in my phone to remember to call again. I tried this morning, before work, but after 15 minutes on the phone with the reservation line person, nothing was reserved. Reason is, she did not know where we were last year, or the year before that...because you switched to a new computer system that only saved future reservations and not past. She could not identify shaded areas from full sun, she could not give me a selection of campsites around coves. She was poorly trained to be unable to answer simple customer questions. After 15 minutes, I had to leave for work. When I got home I had to dig up my paperwork from previous years to determine where we could go this year. Luckily, there is one last site available for us that weekend. Samantha was very helpful 8 hours later when I called back after work today. Told her that I was going to email you about the poor training issue there. Don't put someone in the customer service position that cannot answer basic simple questions. It was merely ridiculous, and a...

The park is well run and the sites are spacious. Lakeside sites are the best views. Lots of trails to hike and you can also mountain bike or horseback ride. The sites are spaced out well in between so you don't feel like you are cramped next to your neighbor like at other parks. The shower/restroom buildings all have washer and dryers and are very clean and tidy. The lake looks amazing and if you have a boat or kayak is an excellent place to go. Update from recent visit 7/21-7/24 The park is still beautiful and well kept up but I do have to lower the review due to the volunteer hosts who were like none I have ever witnessed. The park is large, big enough to need a golf cart to go to the beach, and while there is a ton of grass they have a very no nonsense no parking policy, additionally they continued to follow us around over the weekend and make us move cars and adjust to meet there 2 tires on the pavement policy. This isn't to say that we were the only ones in 300+ spots but they appeared to be focused in on us the entire weekend. We were not loud, destructive, or disrespectful in the slightest but the volunteer hosts took their respective jobs more seriously than the park rangers in Yellowstone. They also stopped us several times as one of the golf carts to not have a license plate but only a temporary registration that was not printed off they would not let us write it until we showed them. Needless to say none of their John Deere Gators they rode around in had any sort of plates and their cars were not following their own two tires to...