Jesse Owens State Park - Sand Hollow Campground (no fee)
FREE camping -- ODNR labels Sand Hollow '(no fee)'. It is the lakeside one: the campground borders Horse Run Lake with boat-ramp access and several sites sit right on the water, at the north end of Jesse Owens State Park off State Route 284 north of McConnelsville (Morgan County). There is a shelter house and several latrines. Old maps and listings call it 'Camp C' -- the letter it carried as AEP ReCreation Land. 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.
Everything you need — measured from Jesse Owens State Park - Sand Hollow Campground (no fee) · Ohio Division of Parks & Watercraft · OH
- @Mail5 mi
- GGrocery9 mi
- FFuel9 mi
- ShShower11 mi
- EVEV fast charger11 mi
- DDump11 mi
- MMechanic11 mi
- HHardware14 mi
- +Urgent care18 mi
- PPropane18 mi
- AAir-up18 mi
- RxPharmacy19 mi
- LLaundry19 mi
- OOutfitter20 mi
- WWater22 mi
The read: water is a real 22-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 - Sand Hollow Campground (no fee)
Nearby & resupply — around Jesse Owens State Park - Sand Hollow Campground (no fee) · Ohio Division of Parks & Watercraft · OH (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureOhio Power Company Pond 9515-001 · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Horse Run (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townBristol · ~2.5 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~8.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~11.0 mi
- GroceriesSunoco · ~8.7 mi
- PharmacyRiesbeck's Pharmacy · ~19.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicFamily HealthCare Partners · ~19.7 mi
- HardwareHardware · ~19.6 mi
EV charging — from Jesse Owens State Park - Sand Hollow Campground (no fee) · Ohio Division of Parks & Watercraft · OH — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.9 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 · 38 within 50 · 252 within 100 · 534 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)19.9 mi — Cambridge, OH Rechargery Relay - Southgate Rd, Cambridge
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO19.5 mi — Walmart 3262 (Cambridge, OH), Cambridge
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)17.2 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 - Sand Hollow Campground (no fee) · Ohio Division of Parks & Watercraft · OH — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaGuernsey I77 SB · ~16.0 mi NE
- Highway rest areaGuernsey I77 NB · ~17.8 mi NE
- Highway rest areaMuskingum I70 WB · ~17.9 mi N
- Vault / pit toiletWildcat Hollow Trailhead · ~19.5 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Jesse Owens State Park - Sand Hollow Campground (no fee) · Ohio Division of Parks & Watercraft · OH
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Ohio Power Company Pond 9515-001 as a perennial lake or pond, under 0.1 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- 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 - Sand Hollow Campground (no fee) elsewhere
Other camps near Jesse Owens State Park - Sand Hollow Campground (no fee)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Jesse Owens State Park - Hook Lake Campground (no fee)~1.5 mi
- Jesse Owens State Park - Maple Grove Campground (no fee)~2.0 mi
- Wayne National Forest - Wildcat Hollow Trail and Trailhead (dispersed camping)~19.5 mi
- Burr Oak Cove Campground~21.4 mi · fee
Who holds the land at Jesse Owens State Park - Sand Hollow 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 - Sand Hollow Campground (no fee)
What we don’t know about Jesse Owens State Park - Sand Hollow 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