Forked Run State Park — Attraction in Ravenswood

Poorly maintained facilities and access, lovely landscapes, not up to par with other state parks in Ohio. We stayed two nights in July 2019 with another family with children 4, 6, and 7. I always read reviews, and since this park had so many good reviews, I'm going to give a full picture of our experience:

Good- it is very peaceful, quiet, and picturesque. Even the drive in is lovely. It is heavily wooded all around. There was hardly a soul camping in our cul-de-sac of campers, so we had the run of the place, and the kids could scooter and explore safely.

There is a nice, big swim area and beach. It's pretty and gradually gets deeper.

The camp store/office is well-stocked and stays open.

Bad- It is very spread out in a many cul-de-sac style areas from a main road, and they are steeply laid out without pedestrian accommodations, so you can't really walk from here to there (ex: to the camp store or to the beach). You end up driving.

The camp sites are largely not good. They are not marked "primitive" because you have electric, but they should be. They are small and weirdly shaped, and they need graded up. They are spread out so far, if you aren't right by the shower room, you have no real access...which brings me to...

The beach is beyond not accessible. We were ok because we're a healthy bunch, but if you were elderly or had infirmary, you would be in trouble. It's very steep, and the graded road to the water just stops partway down. I am not sure what the thinking was here.

Ugly- The pit toilets were DISGUSTING. They were full of bugs. I am country raised, and I have a tolerance for doing my business in various settings, including a cornfield. A cinder block building TEEMING with bugs to the point that the 7-year old cried when she was told to go potty seems extreme even to me. We ended up spraying the interior down with deet-based spray to make it tolerable, but this is not what I expect from the State...

We arrived on a Sunday afternoon with reservations. There was nobody at the entrance to go over the campgrounds or to show you how to reach your campsite. We tried using the map to try to figure out where our campsite was, but had all the information on our phones and could not access it do to no internet. We had to turn around and travel miles out of the campground to get a signal. Once we were able to obtain the information we headed back and tried using their map which was very uninformative in regards to how the campsites were set up. We found a number that matched our reservation campsite number, but it was so small there was no way our trailer would fit, plus it was so unlevel we thought surely we were in the wrong place. We drove around to the other campsites and quickly realized the one we saw was our site. A cleaning guy came by and ignored our wave for help and once we caught up with him and asked about other sites he advised we just pick a larger one in the middle of the circle which we did, but again barely fit. Our trailer is 30’. This campground is not for those who desire any internet service or amenities while camping....

We were visiting Marietta and this was the closest State Park for a campground. we were here the day after a major holiday and the dump station is overflowing onto the road. EWE! we will dump elsewhere. The grass is on the high side. We heard mower running yesterday but they didn't cut our area. the staff at the office was very accommodating and helpful. A+ to the staff. There are 2 shower houses the 1 closest us was pretty dirty. we ended up using the farthest shower house. It was somewhat better. There are a lot of sites probably a couple dozen that will accommodate a Larger travel trailer. we have a 25 foot travel trailer so it's not like we are pulling a 34 foot toy hauler. even with our smaller camper we had to park parallel to the road to fit. if you are passing through I would recommend calling ahead to see if there is a site big enough to fit you if you have a large camper or motorhome. ...