Guilford Lake State Park (OH)

July 23, 2020

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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This campground and lake were just okay to us. The campground was small (only 40 spots?) and fairly crowded with not a lot of privacy between the sites. Reservations only. It seemed like every spot was either at or over their allotment for vehicles. We stayed on a Thursday at the end of July, so I’d imagine the weekends are even MOAR packed.

We lucked out in that no one had the “tent spot” next to ours and we were at the end of the loop, so we had a bit of privacy on the one side where all our pictures were taken. If you get a spot on the water, it might be better as you’d have a nicer view and possibly more space overall.

When we walked along the waterfront, there were lots of small docks that you could fish from. Not a lot of boating activity. Later ZTL found 10 HP max limit signs, which explained the lack of water skiers 😉

We arrived after the camp store had closed for the day but well before sunset. We asked the camp host if we could purchase firewood because we saw a ginormous load of it behind her under a tarp. Apparently due to covid, they aren’t allowed to sell firewood for cash and you can only buy it from the camp store with a credit card. Frustrating because it was literally right behind her. Why couldn’t we just leave money in a bucket or something?

Right after our walk around the campground to try to find firewood, a storm rolled through and we actually used our awning for the first time. Works well! After brats and corn for dinner, our entertainment for the evening was a “fire” with fire-starter log flakes on the grill’s tiny propane flames. There were some neat colors! Just before bed, we thought we saw a cat sauntering by but it turned out to be a skunk! He/she didn’t seem too bothered by us and just kept on truckin.

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It was a good stop for an overnight but we have no plans to come back here. BTW, it turns out If we would have expanded our firewood search to the blocks of houses just outside the campground perimeter there were several yards with signs announcing “firewood” and I highly doubt they would have required a credit card.

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Guilford Lake State Park

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Audra State Park (WV)

June 25, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Easy check-in at the campground store on a Thursday afternoon/evening in June. Reservations only in 2020. Some of the sites are right on the water (Middle Fork River), which was awesome. I think about half of the waterfront sites have electricity. We could hear the rushing water all night long. Amazing!! Gorgeous Scenery. Next time we will spend at least two nights here so we can have a full day to enjoy it!!

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It turns out the only bad thing about having a spot on the water is that other people may go right through your camp-zone and may also hang out at your picnic table, smoking their cigarettes whilst watching their kids play in the water… ZTL attempted to engage said stranger in conversation without much luck. It was kinda of a bizarre interaction. But we didn’t let that ruin our fun, splashy time in the water!! The water temperature was a lot warmer than we were expecting it would be at that point in the summer.

Each site has a picnic table, high-backed wooden bench, and fire-pit. The fire-pits have nice big WV stamp-outs around the sides to let the heat out! We grilled up sausages AND made some gourmet fire pies for evening meal.

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The camp store sold reasonably priced, firewood bundles (not sure if you can buy after the store is closed). The only reason this place didn’t get 5 stars from Zombie Team was due to the “No alcohol” signs distributed throughout the campground.

No AT&T or GoogleFi (Sprint/T-mobile) cell service but there was WiFi available if physically near the campground store.

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Audra State Park

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