Agency-listedODNR Division of Parks and WatercraftFree
Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee)
Drive-up · public land · OH · 39.72737, -81.70592
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Ask about this camp →The land manager 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) · public land · OH
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · 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
public land
Elevation
919 ft
State
OH
Coordinates
39.72737, -81.70592
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee) · public land · OH (OpenStreetMap)
- Nearest townCaldwell · ~10.3 mi
- 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) · public land · 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) · public land · 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
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
- Burr Oak Cove Campground~22.3 mi · fee
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 →
Been here? Tell us what changed. This page is built from public records, so the fastest way it gets better is somebody who has actually pulled in. Road washed out, site gone, gate locked, or it is exactly as described — all of it useful. Send a report →