Maple Grove Campground

Join us on a video tour of Maple Grove Campground, Jesse Owens State Park in Ohio. There is a serviceable vault toilet and a trash dumpster at the campground. This is a primitive camping, boondocking, and dry camping area with numbered sites that are available on a first come, first-served basis. Registration is required at the on-site kiosk. Free camping at the Maple Grove Campground, Jesse Owens State Park in Ohio is limited to 14 days. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 9.20 Mbps download speed and 0.54 Mbps upload speed. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 1.79 Mbps download speed and 0.36 Mbps upload speed. This campground is former AEP Recreation Land.

Campground is small with 10 sites. The spots closes to the road have noticeable road noise but are still good. The 3 sites on the back circle are the quietest and best of the bunch. Overall it is a very good place to camp if your looking for a location to hangout around the camp area. Cell service is spotty (no service to 3bars 4G/LTE) but best on circle sites (AT&T). There is one path behind the back sites that offers a scenic overlooks and some primitive hiking. If you drive off the grounds there are additional hiking areas and other activities within 1-20 miles. Site amenities; trash disposal-no cans just one main dumpster, pit bathrooms-not great but usable, picnic tables-need replaces but useable. Overall the location is good. Consider its free and unlike many campgrounds it is generally sparsely used.

Pretty decent site for being free. Campground is easily accessible off of St Rt 284 and is relatively small in size with 10 sites. A few sites are large enough to accommodate RV's and campers. When we camped in late January, there were about 5 other campers there at the time; we were the only ones in tents.

Camp host was extremely hospitable and offered us free firewood as they had a surplus; cant beat free warmth when it is 20 outside!

Downsides of these sites:

- There is a lot of muddy ground. Pack extra tarps if you will be heading down after rain or snow melt.
- Not every site was in the same condition. We were lucky to find a site with an intact fire ring and picnic table. Other sites around us looked like the rocks from their fire rings had been used to make other fire rings, and their picnic tables were run down.
- Water is turned off in the winter, or at least it was off when we were there in late January. If you are coming down in "non-peak" season you may want to bring your own water.
- Sites are not as secluded as they are at Sand Hollow down the road. You can see all other sites from any site in the campground here (BUT IT'S FREE!!!)

Tips for these sites:

- If you are picky about pit toilets, this may not be the place for you. All of the AEP campgrounds have pit toilets, and you may want to bring your own TP as it may not always have some. I bring my own TP on trips so this was not an issue for us.
- Come early in the day (shortly before or shortly after noon) if you want to get a good plot with a view. Some plots have a better location than others, and these sites are gobbled up quickly. If coming in spring/summer, it would be a good idea to come early as these sites are first come first serve.

Bottom line: if you are looking for a free place to pitch your tent for a night, or a quick camping get-away on the cheap, don't pass this up.