Stonelick State Park — Attraction in Wayne Township

This was my first visit to Stonelick State Park. From Northern Kentucky/ Downtown Cincinnati it is roughly 30 miles and under a 50 minute drive. It is east of downtown Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky off of exit 57 on I-275. There is a free public beach with plenty of parking and rustic restrooms. The lake at the beach has soft sand and there are areas with good tree cover and shade as well as sunny areas. There were kayaks and small fishing boats on the water ( boat ramp a short drive away from the beach/ swimming area). I didn't see any motorized watercraft on the lake. It was shallow enough for young children to play near the shore and several were doing this. There was a rope to mark the end of the swimming area about 80 feet out from the shore. There were probably 350 or so people there and it didn't feel crowded as there was plenty of beach area and water to spread out. There is no lifeguard. All along the park driveway to the beach there were numerous grills, picnic tables, lawn areas, hiking trails, and disc golf courses. A few miles from the beach around the lake is the Stonelick State Park Campground. The campground had complimentary kayaks for campground guests to use. It has a nice and clean shower house with an ADA accessible stall. It has several restroom buildings and over 100 campsites for tent camping and RVs. The campground has an entry with check in. The campground was well maintained and staff driving through were seen. I didn't see any trash or debris anywhere. The restrooms and shower house all looked freshly cleaned and smelled good. The area was large enough to walk for hours on the different paths. The campground website for reservations (Ohio State Parks) gives information of sites on a map as well as a photograph of each site and information on how shady or sunny it is, size of site, distance to restroom, etc. The tent campsite we booked was large in area, had a fire ring with flippable grill top, plenty of shade, a picnic table, and parking for one car. There is a parking lot for additional cars near the basketball court. The campground playground is large and mostly shaded by trees. It had a little soccer goal set in the grass. It has a soft sand ground covering and many benches and picnic tables. There is a trail next to this playground also. The Cincinnati Conservatory Astronomy Club and The Friends of Stonelick State Park have signs up in the campground inviting campers on the night of the month furthest from the full moon, call the campground office for exact dates ( the darkest night of the month), people of all ages are welcome to view the dark night sky and utilize viewing in telescopes provided by the astronomers club. The area is far enough from city lights to apparently allow really amazing stargazing. We were there on a nearly full moon night, but I would absolutely go back to enjoy swimming at the clean and refreshing lake, camp in the clean and safe campground, and view the dark starry sky. Being under an hour from downtown Cincinnati, this is a priceless weekend experience. For getting back to nature and some old fashioned fun, I highly...

Beautiful state park, great lake views. Stayed for about a week in a 44' fifth wheel. I liked the premium sites with lake views. I liked that the grass was cut short and seemed to be cut regularly. Campground as a whole is readily accessible and easy to navigate with a big rig. It is a good 5-6 minutes off the highway, so just factor that in your drive. The sites and common areas seemed to be cleared more than wooded, so depending on your location it may seem like a giant lawn with sites spread across compared to private, wooded sites. This can be a pro or con depending on how you look at it. One major miss at this state park is the lack of fresh water at each site. Somehow I missed the fact that it is electric only at sites. Not sure why they didn't run individual water lines when building it originally. They have filling stations spread throughout park, but I completely missed the lack of water at sites when booking. The dump station is readily accessible and well designed location with dual side access for two at a time if needed. Another caveat to be aware of is we had extremely poor AT&T reception, mostly no reception during our stay...AT&Ts fault, but just FYI. Verizon service seemed to fare better. On Friday and Saturday it seemed to get very roudy and noisy with many cars at each site and lots of kids and gear spread about. I don't think they enforce occupant and car limits per site, as it seemed like many had 12+ people and 3+ cars, at least by our site. So it was really hopping and packed in weekend. Otherwise it cleared out during week and was peaceful. Many sites are shallow/short, so have to pick carefully with a big rig. Plenty of room to park...

First let me say that if you are camping in the summer months this review does not apply. The park is pretty, there are several trails and a beach...all good.

BUT if you are camping here in the off season (like April or early May)...Beware! There is almost no one at the entrance...during the week, the person working shows up whenever the hey feel like it...if at all. I had to go online to extend my stay because no one was ever at the main entrance. Most of the lights in the ladies shower were burned out, so it felt extremely unsafe after dark. On several occasions, after dark there were groups of men (non campers) spending hours in there car in front of the Ladies showers and restrooms. I don't know if they were homeless or possibly doing drugs...but it was not normal behavior. When I contacted the park rangers, I was told there were none patrolling the campground. The host camper people even went back to their home most nights...obviously they didnt want to be there either. The whole experience was scary...definitely not where I would want to bring children or camp...