Kenisee Lake RV Campground - Thousand Trails

The Thousand Trails Kenisee Lake RV Resort is located near Jefferson Ohio. In this video, we give a tour of both a cabin and the campground at Kenisee Lake Thousand Trails. Kenisee Lake Thousand Trails makes a great base camp to explore Geneva-on-the-Lake and Geneva State Park, both located on Lake Erie. In addition, Thousand Trails Kenisee Lake in situated in the heart of Ohio’s Lake Erie wine country. For those interested in history, the Garfield National Historic Site is a short drive from the Kenisee Lake RV Resort. Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile cellular service all had minimal connectivity and upload speed was terrible. I was able to stream video on Verizon during our stay.

I'm giving it a three star because people say how good this place is, but my standards are high. Trash cans overflowing with bees swarming. Sites need to be built up more since deep puddles form in the rain. It seems like 80% of the guests are long-term or full-time RVers. The best views of the lake are taken by them or blocked by overgrown trees and bushes. Many people like this because of the area and some late-night parties that can be disturbing at midnight. There are interesting places to visit like Geneva on the lake and many wineries. For that, they gain a star. Remember to watch out for the low bridge that Google maps will direct you to go under.

Kenisee Lake RV Resort Thousand Trails in Jefferson, Ohio is a another great Thousand Trails park! This park is very large and has a park-like setting with 2 lakes. There is fishing on the lakes and the campground has rowboats available to use. They have all the amenities a family could want such as swimming pool, playground, mini-golf, and more! The staff is friendly and very accommodating. Kenisee Lake has 30 and 50 amp FHU back-in and pull-through sites. The only downside is the internet which is lacking in this area. We have really enjoyed our stay here and will be returning! 👍🏻😬

For videos on this campground and others, check out our YouTube channel: Jeff & Steff’s Excellent Adventure.

Overview: We found good staff, clean bathrooms and roads, pretty views, nice neighbors, well maintained and clean campsites plus internet that was very workable with a little effort on our part.

Internet: At the front of our camper we got strong signal in our spot. At the opposite end (back) of our camper we got horrible signal in our spot. Using some apps we have to identify tower location and what we were connecting to, we realized that at the back of the camper our hotspots switched to an entirely different tower, which was not performing as well. SO -- we setup our best hotspot with a MIMO antenna suction cupped to the window that was facing in the direction of the fastest tower and we got speeds in the 20-40 down/4-12 down range with AT&T. Tmobile was barely there at all, .3/.2 for instance. Verizon struggled as well. I feel confident saying most people can get AT&T here decently depending on the exact location in the park. We needed to be pointing away from the park entrance to get the tower that worked best for us. This may also explain some of the variable reports of internet speeds even on the same carrier in this particular location. If you are willing to finesse your equipment, you can probably make the signal work here especially with an antenna or perhaps (although we didn't have) a booster.

The sites are nice gravel sites in A. Some are bigger than others. We had a nice view to the small fishing pond at the back of A and the dumpsters were just near the pond. Big new-ish looking picnic table was at our site. Our spot was a hike to the bathrooms though, which are halfway down the loops from us. Staff was super helpful the few times we interacted with them.

The location for us was ideal as a stopover for a short time when we were waiting out a storm in our next location (hurricane). Now we are boondocking, making our way slowly there once things have dried out. They didn't have enough space for us to stay longer at this park, which is absolutely OK. We were last minute reservations here and just glad to have the opportunity to stay at all.

I would kind of call this park a gem and definitely be back.

Overall, this is a very nice park, but there are a few dings against it. Kenisee Lake is about 10-12 minutes from I-90; the approach from Austinburg was fine though the road leading up to the park entrance is a bit narrow and winding.

Upon check-in we were put in a 50-amp site and told we would be charged $3 per day. We hadn't seen this anywhere on the Thousand Trails booking site and didn't specifically request a 50-amp site, but went ahead and paid it. There are MANY seasonal/annual sites where we were (over 50%), but those we met were friendly, helpful, and did not make us feel like intruders like at some other parks.

As far as the sites go, most are wide and landscaped with gravel. The roads, however, were narrow and we had trouble backing into our site while trying to avoid a short light at the end of the site across from ours. The road is also very rough with potholes; they did try to grate the road while we were there, but the incessant rain was working against them.

There is plenty of green space between sections and by the lake to walk dogs. We also used the small yet effective laundry room at the front of the park; coin-operated machines were $1.75 to wash and $1.50 to dry.

We would stay again on our way through the area, but would not make this a destination park.

Kenisee Lake RV Campground is a wonderful place to work from remotely if you have an external antenna to cellular internet. The campground is clean with plenty of open space and trails. The staff was wonderful. I called because I was going to arrive late past closing hours. They checked me in over the phone and left all of my site information on the outside of the building. Great Staff!

We stayed mid-week in mid-September and the place seemed so empty though full of RVs. We didn't mind that at all. A little bit of a challenge to find as our cell signal kept cutting out. A little farther from Cleveland than I thought, but close enough to Lake Erie and we liked Geneva-on-the-Lake for a lot of reasons. Big props to Harvey's RV in Andover several miles down the road as we had tire issues and he gladly hooked us up with the tire place across the street who fixed us up with courteous, timely service.

Stayed 5 nights for free as part of our Thousand Trails membership. We stayed in site B2 in the larger pull-through sites. Full hookups. 50amp, water at 56psi, sewer.

The campground isn't really close to much but it's also not too bad to use as a basecamp to explore hikes and Lake Erie for day trips.

We went fishing in the lake and caught some fish. We also rode our bikes around the campground trails. It's a large campground with lots of fields and space between the different camping sections.

The registration process was ridiculously long as we read a long list of rules, but the front office was very understanding and allowed us to stay an extra night when our truck was having problems and needed to be towed to a shop.

Google Maps has the address out in the street a little down the road from the entrance. That was confusing when we arrived but just keep driving. You'll see the entrance.