Caesar Creek State Park Campground, Wilmington, Ohio

Park Info                                                 Caesar Creek State Park Campground

                                                             9000 Center Road, Wilmington, OH 45277

                                                             Latitude: 39.537745

                                                             Longitude: -83.972012

                                                             937-488-4596 (Campground) / 513-897-3055 (Park Office)

                                                             caesarcreekstatepark

                                                             Open All Year

Date(s) of Stay                                       May 19 – 20, 2017

Facilities                                                 20/30 amp, paved pad, picnic table, campfire grill

                                                             Dump and water stations

                                                             Restrooms with Showers

                                                             Playground, Hiking Trails

Daily RV Rates                                        $26 to $40 depending on site and season

Rate Discounts for                                 n/a

Big Rig Friendly?                                   Yes

Access                                                     

The confirmation email that the park sent provided the following: From I-71, take St. Rt. 73 East for a short distance to St. Rt. 380 North. Follow 380 to Center Rd. Turn Left on Center Rd. The Day Lodge is located off Clarksville Road. Clarksville Road is located off of State Route 73 East/West or off of Oregonia Road. Follow Clarksville Road to Middletown Road.

Comments

The campground at Caesar Creek State Park has over 280 sites, only 3 of which are full hookup. The rest are 20/30 amp electric-only sites. (There is a 2-week stay limit.)

Due to some logistic issues, this campground reservation left a sour taste with us, and I am afraid that it is going to taint my review. But hopefully in my sharing these issues with you, I will save you from making the same mistakes.

1 – I reserved our site online. I only wanted to reserve the site for one night – a Friday night. But a message popped up saying that over the weekend (Friday through Sunday), there is a 2-night minimum. (Note: This is not an inexpensive state park. We were being charged $29 per night for an electric-only site.) According to the rep at the campground’s check-in office, had we not booked online, we could have reserved the spot for just one night. So then we asked her if we could be refunded for the 2nd night stay. She said she did not have the authority to do that, then led us on a bit of a phone-calling goose chase, which ended in no one getting back to us. Oh well. Lesson learned.

2 – The second irritation was their $8.00 “transaction fee” when you reserve a spot – regardless of booking via phone or online. Because we were exclusively traveling in a large rig, we don’t have much experience staying at state parks. So perhaps this is just a routine fee for state parks. Regardless, it seems ridiculous to me.

It was also quite a bit of a drive off of I-71. I was thankful we were in the camper van, rather than in our Class A, due to road width and low hanging branches. But please don’t let that scare you off. Bill did not share my concerns in this regard.

Once there, it was easy to set up the camper van on the concrete pad. The campground area is nice enough, with plenty of trees behind the sites. Rain was on its way, so while I still had a few minutes before it hit, I checked out the restrooms and showers. They were the worst I have seen yet, and that is saying something.

I am sorry. I realize this review is a down, down, downer. And maybe it should not be. If you have stayed here, and have other perspectives to share, please do! Had we stayed longer and/or had better weather, hiked some of the trails, headed to the marina, etc., etc., perhaps this would be a glowing review with just a small footnote about the reservation itself. If we stay here again, I will be sure to update this review!