Mt. Gilead State Park — Attraction in Gilead Township

The office called us at 5 min after 1. check out time is 1. We totally understand RULES and would never consider being late checking out. Unfortunately there was a terrible incident where a deputy sherrif was shot and killed in Mt Gilead. The whole entire town was at a standstill and roads were ALL blocked while a huge procession brought the deputies body home. We were caught up in this and out of respect to the deputies family friends and community we paid our respects rightfully. The state park would NOT even consider this and charged an additional night. Late 35 minutes!! We talked to them on the phone to let them know. They said if we weren't there in 10 minutes we would be charged and we were. The whole town was shut down. We were back there at 1:35 and previously had the motorhome all packed up ready to go. They were very insensitive.a not make an exception and I spent alot if time on the phone to resolve the issue with the ODNR. .It was NOT about the money, it was the principle of the matter. At the same time, behind me was a couple checking in at 1;35. Check IN is 3:00.. WHY are you permitted to check in early but get charged for 35 min late? I feel we were treated very unfairly.. in NO way am I using this awful tragedy as an excuse. God bless him and his family. You would think they would make a small exception for the procession process. No, they were very rude and misunderstanding. We did get notification 2 days later that the money was refunded, but along with an email scolding us and basically said we better never do this again. Up until then it was a good experience....

Okay dude straight up I'll be honest here I can't really recommend stopping by this park. Like It's extremely muddy almost all the time. Like sticky deep mud that is real hard to navigate through if you're not properly prepared to do so. If you have boots or something it's fine but I really don't like hiking in waterproof boots. It's such a pain in the neck and I mean it's muddy to the point that my dogs can't even walk across the mud. I can't stand it like maybe after a drought come by and visit but if it rained at all you're going to be a mess when you leave here. Like I don't know man If I was driving a four-wheeler through here or like a dirt bike or something that would be a different story this would be awesome but you can't bring vehicles in here lol You definitely can't dress casually you will ruin a pair of shoes if you come in here You're probably going to leave a mess I just recommend going somewhere else. Like I said it'd be different if you could bring in like ATVs or something but this is pretty much walking only and it's just extremely frustrating sometimes especially if you have dogs. It's an okay park but the mud gets overwhelming sometimes. Just know that if you're going to bring a dog here you're either going to have to take a lot of detours to avoid the mud or you're going to have to have something set up in your car so they don't make a mess when they get back into...

Mt Gilead is an interesting state park. The camp sites are located within a short, hilly walk to a very small, scenic lake with two bridges and dams or spill off areas. The hiking trails are good with a few steep areas so I would recommend being in decent shape before hiking or walking down to the lake. We are 62 & 63 and pretty fit. The camp site, we reserved (#6) was small with a wooden terrace, which we enjoyed. I put up blankets along each side of the terrace for additional privacy and also so our old dog wouldn't bark at our very close neighbors. The terrace also kept us from public display. It was a full service site. The sites are close together throughout the campgrounds but there are a few electric sites that are spacious. We had excellent neighbors and our area was quiet. We really enjoyed our stay, clean surroundings, good hikes, good neighbors and the privacy our little terrace gave us. I would strongly recommend looking how close the sites are before reserving, especially with a pet but other than that, it was another great stay at a beautiful, unique...