A quiet night at Dillon State Park’s campground. (Credit: Ken Drenten)

By Ken Drenten

My family and I live in Zanesville, Ohio, and one of the area’s biggest assets is the city’s proximity to Dillon State Park, just a few miles north of town.

We have been camping here many times, and when I say many, I mean more than 40 times in the past 14 years. During that time, we’ve gone from having a tent camper to a travel trailer to a hybrid camper to another travel trailer to what we have now, a Class C motorhome.

The 2,180-acre park’s campground has 195 sites (two are ADA-certified), including full hookup, electric only, and non-electric sites, as well as separate areas with 28 two-bedroom cabins and equestrian camping. The campground has ample shade and paved sites with fire rings and picnic tables; restrooms with flush toilets; showerhouses, water spigots, playgrounds, a camp store and newly installed Nature Center.

The state park also offers a 1,560-acre unlimited horsepower lake that offers excellent opportunities for boating, fishing, birdwatching and a swimming beach. The lake has two boat ramps and a 90-slip marina. Fish species in the lake include bluegill, crappie, largemouth bass, saugeye, striped hybrid bass and catfish. A number of nesting pairs of eagles call the area around the lake home.

View some of the highlights of Dillon State Park in this short video. If the video does not appear in your email, please use this link — https://youtube.com/shorts/xlT_yntMATA?feature=share

Recreation opportunities abound at Dillon. The centerpiece is a par 61, 18-hole disc golf course that winds through and around the campground area. A nearby stargazing deck is a great place to scan the skies at night.

The park offers hiking, archery, bridle trails, mountain biking and multi-use trails, picnicking and reservable shelters. In winter months, a fine sledding hill is open to the public.

Aside from these features of Dillon, the park has provided my family with some great memories of camping with family and friends. Here are some of them.

• Hearing coyotes howl from the distance as we bedded down safe and warm in our camper.
• Suddenly seeing the green-white flash of a meteorite passing overhead as we sat around the campfire one evening.
• Sitting in our camp chairs from the bluff overlooking the disc golf course watching golfers.
• Playing a game called “Pass the Lantern” around the campfire. One person starts a story, then passes the lantern to the next person, who continues the story any way they like. The results are frequently hilarious.
• Seeing dozens of children dressed up for trick-or-treat on the Halloween weekend campouts held annually.
• Taking leisurely boat rides on a friend’s pontoon boat on the lake.
• Watching our grandchildren enjoy the Nature Center as well as the simple joys of hot dogs and chips that taste better eaten at the dinette in our camper.

These kinds of memories are available at many different campgrounds, but for my family, they have mainly occurred at Dillon. And we hope to be back very soon.

Dillon State Park is located at 5265 Dillon Hills Drive, Nashport, just off SR 146 (740) 453-4377.

Ken Drenten is creator and editor of Dusty-Tires.com, a travel blog for out-of-the-ordinary places in Ohio.

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