Agency-listedODNR Division of Parks and WatercraftFree
Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee)
Drive-up · Ohio Division of Parks & Watercraft · OH · 39.72737, -81.70592
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Ask about this camp →Ohio Division of Parks & Watercraft lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
FREE camping -- ODNR labels Hook Lake '(no fee)'. This is the family end of Jesse Owens State Park, on State Route 83 north of McConnelsville (Morgan County): youth-only (15 and under) fishing ponds, several shelter houses, an archery range, multiple latrines and a self-registration kiosk at the campground. ODNR's own page says Jesse Owens 'offers four no-fee campgrounds' and that 'campers should follow the self-registration process' -- free, first-come first-served, with a TWO-WEEK maximum stay. Sites are primitive: no water, no electric, no pad; each has a picnic table and a fire ring. Open seasonally, generally April 1 to mid-December; from November 1 to April 1 the park is walk-in only with latrines available. BRING YOUR OWN DRINKING WATER. Careful: the same park also runs TWO FEE campgrounds -- Big Muskie (50 full-hookup sites, reservations required) and Sawmill Road (fee-based, reservable) -- so 'Jesse Owens' is not free across the board; this free-camping listing is for the named campground only. This is reclaimed strip-mine country, the former AEP ReCreation Land, now Ohio state park and wildlife-area land; the surrounding wildlife area is open to hunting, so wear orange in season. Confirm current rules and the season with the park office (740) 558-6040 before you go -- we have not visited.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 919 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee)NIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee) · Ohio Division of Parks & Watercraft · OH
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail4 mi
- GGrocery9 mi
- FFuel9 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- ShShower10 mi
- DDump10 mi
- HHardware15 mi
- +Urgent care18 mi
- PPropane20 mi
- AAir-up20 mi
- RxPharmacy21 mi
- LLaundry21 mi
- OOutfitter21 mi
- WWater23 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 23-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 9 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee)
Access
Drive-up
Land
Ohio Division of Parks & Watercraft
Elevation
919 ft
Ground slope
12.2% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~9.6 mi · industrial lead
Nearest highway
~8.9 mi · Interstate 77
State
OH
Coordinates
39.72737, -81.70592
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee) · Ohio Division of Parks & Watercraft · OH (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureOhio Power Company Pond Mb-165 · ~0.4 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townCaldwell · ~10.3 mi
- Nearest rail line~9.6 mi · industrial lead
- Nearest highway~8.9 mi · Interstate 77
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelSunoco · ~9.1 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~19.7 mi
- Dump station~9.9 mi
- GroceriesGrocery · ~8.8 mi
- PharmacyRiesbeck's Pharmacy · ~20.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicGenesis HealthCenter New Concord · ~18.4 mi
- HardwareStarrett & Son Pro Hardware · ~14.9 mi
EV charging — from Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee) · Ohio Division of Parks & Watercraft · OH — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger9.5 mi straight-line E — Pilot Travel Center 309, Caldwell, OH · eVgo Network · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach9 within 25 mi · 37 within 50 · 255 within 100 · 533 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)19.8 mi — Cambridge, OH Rechargery Relay - Southgate Rd, Cambridge
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO19.3 mi — Walmart 3262 (Cambridge, OH), Cambridge
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)17.7 mi — GARLAND HOTEL GARLAND 2, New concord, OH · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 372119 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee) · Ohio Division of Parks & Watercraft · OH — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaGuernsey I77 SB · ~15.5 mi NE
- Highway rest areaGuernsey I77 NB · ~17.4 mi NE
- Highway rest areaMuskingum I70 WB · ~18.9 mi NW
- Vault / pit toiletWildcat Hollow Trailhead · ~20.4 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee) · Ohio Division of Parks & Watercraft · OH
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Ohio Power Company Pond Mb-165 as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.4 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 12.2% — noticeable. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Rail line mapped ~9.6 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as an industrial lead. The nearest track the atlas classes as a main line is ~9.9 mi from the pin. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Interstate 77 is mapped ~8.9 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee) elsewhere
Other camps near Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Jesse Owens State Park - Sand Hollow Campground (no fee)~1.5 mi
- Jesse Owens State Park - Maple Grove Campground (no fee)~1.8 mi
- Wayne National Forest - Wildcat Hollow Trail and Trailhead (dispersed camping)~20.4 mi
- Burr Oak Cove Campground~22.3 mi · fee
Who holds the land at Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee)
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as American Electric Power, manager on record: a private owner. Our own record names ODNR Division of Parks and Watercraft as the manager. The two sources disagree, and we have not checked which is right. That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee)
Stay limit
14 nights (two-week maximum stay)
Source
public land records
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
Source: ohiodnr.gov 'Jesse Owens State Park Campground' (/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/jesse-owens-state-park-campground), read 2026-07-29 -- 'Hook Lake (no fee) ... at the east end of the park at 9160 N. State Route 83 in McConnelsville. The campground offers youth-only (15 and under) fishing ponds ... primitive (no water, no electric, no pad) ... features multiple latrines, shelter houses, and archery range.' Coordinate: ODNR GIS DSP_Services/Viewer_CampingUnits_Amenities/MapServer/1 'Points of Interest (P&W)', WHERE LANDS_NAME LIKE 'JesseOwens%', outSR=4326 -- ODNR's GIS does not print the name 'Hook Lake', so the cluster was identified by matching that sentence amenity-by-amenity and pinned on its 'Campsites' POI (39.727370,-81.705917): 'Youth Fishing Access/Youth Fishing Pond' 0.11 mi, three 'Shelter house' POIs 0.06-0.11 mi, three toilet POIs 0.06-0.11 mi, 'Archery range' 0.34 mi, 'Kiosk/self registration' 0.11 mi, two further 'Campsites' POIs and a 'Campground' POI in the same cluster. Address check: 0.127 mi from SR 83 (OSM way 19179012), matching '9160 N. State Route 83'. Name-to-pin link is by amenity match, not by a printed label -- see confidence. Free status: ODNR's own page labels this campground '(no fee)' and separates it from the park's two fee campgrounds. No Ohio state-park entry/vehicle permit exists, so there is no access fee under the free-only guardrail; self-registration is free. Coordinate cross-checked against ODNR's own published street address using true nearest-point distance to OSM road geometry (out geom, not out center). Nominatim reverse geocode: Bristol Township, Morgan County, Ohio. Ingest 2026-07-29.
--- NIGHTSHIFT REVIEW 2026-08-21 (fire 1220, leftover backlog) --- HOLDS UP, AND THE PIN IS NOW AGENCY-GRADE. Re-read ohiodnr.gov 'Jesse Owens State Park Campground' (https://ohiodnr.gov/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/jesse-owens-state-park-campground) this fire; every recorded quote is still verbatim: 'Hook Lake (no fee)', 'Hook Lake sites are located at the east end of the park at 9160 N. State Route 83 in McConnelsville', 'The park also offers four no-fee campgrounds. Campers should follow the self-registration process for the no-fee campgrounds. Campsites may be occupied on a first-come, first-served basis with a two-week maximum stay.', 'Open seasonally, generally April 1 to mid-December', and the off-peak line 'From November 1 to April 1. Walk in only, latrines available.' Big Muskie and Sawmill Road are still confirmed as the FEE campgrounds. NOTE ohiodnr.gov 403s a plain WebFetch user-agent; fetched with a browser UA. COORDINATE UPGRADE: ODNR's own GIS (OIT_Services/ODNR_POI/MapServer/0, queried live this fire) returns a 'Campground/Campsite' point at 39.72737,-81.70592 on LANDS_NAME='JesseOwensSP' -- that is THIS row's coordinate to six decimals, 0 ft. The pin is no longer an amenity-cluster inference; it is ODNR's own published point. APPROVED.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee)
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee)
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →Fire rules & restrictions →Getting unstuck →All field notes →