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Reviews for East Fork State Park
(click on name for more information)
Batavia, OH

Overall TRAIL RATING with 13 votes:
Overall CAMP RATING with 9 votes:
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Individual Reviews

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We enjoyed our weekend. The trails were very nice with great scenery, overlooks and places to tie horses and rest along the trail. There were some muddy spots, but we had just had a few days of rain just before our trip. Trails have some steep ups and downs, but overall the riding wasn't too strenuous for our out of shape horse. The most scenic trail we rode was the Red Fox (orange) and it was mostly easy ridge riding with lots of nice views. The campground had a nice shower house, electric sites, and was quiet. They do have nonhorse campers in the same loop as horse campers, and we did get a few who asked if they could pet our horses. We also had to use our own rope- posts were there, but no lines.
Reviewed by: B&B Lambert on 10/15/2017 2:44:20 PM
 Experience: Intermediate Ride Date: 10/15/2017 Hometown: Raymond, Oh

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My horse and I are not scared of mud, after all we live in Ohio. If you can't handle mud ride on the road. My wife and I have mixed feelings about his park, it is a beutiful place to ride and with the proper maps very easy to navigate. The camp office told us we were not allowed on the perimeter trail with horses, they also told us they only had a little poorly drawn trail maps. In all accuality there is a very well done color coded ariel map for sale in there very own store not 5 feet from the counter. It is very obvious to me that the people in this campground do not want horse around! The riding seems very mixed, we have discribed the perimeter trail as a mixture of deer creek, beaver creek, hocking(in some places),all in a alum creek structure. We loved the park and summer seems to be the best time for this place. We will go again but not for a little while.
Reviewed by: Northern Ohio Farrier on 12/29/2012 7:04:41 AM
 Experience: Expert Ride Date: 8/1/2012 Hometown: Northcentral, OH

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Mud mud mud mud, mud to the hocks everywhere. Stay away unless it has been hot and dry for a LONG time. This place does not dry out. Its to bad cause it could be a good place.
Reviewed by: Anonymous on 6/21/2012 1:42:47 PM
 Experience: Expert Ride Date: 5/25/2012 Hometown: , Select State

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Mud mud mud mud mud. We went over memorial weekend and the mud was up to the horses hocks. Horrible and dangerous in my opinion. I think the trails would be fantastic if it was dry. The campground is great. Elec at all sites, shower house. Only one spicket for water for all horse sites.
Reviewed by: Anonymous on 6/9/2012 7:24:47 PM
 Experience: Expert Ride Date: 5/25/2012 Hometown: , Select State

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Campground was very nice but not good for large rigs. No space was big enough for our motorhome and trailer. Smaller living quarter trailers can fit but a large trailer will have to unhook truck.
Reviewed by: Anonymous on 6/10/2010 4:30:30 PM
 Experience: Not Specified Ride Date: 6/4/2010 Hometown: , OH

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I am a "local" and therefore don't stay at the campground so I can't speak for the accommodations there. In the busier seasons, I've noticed that non-horse people sometimes take sites in the horseman's camping area so horsemen may occasionally have to deal with neighbors who ride around on bikes, have screaming children on Big-Wheels, etc. I ride the park several times a week and am familiar with the trails there. Wherever you go, you should be prepared for mud due to the soil type and poor drainage. Some trails, like the Yellow/Cascades and Orange/Red Fox/Overlook usually drain pretty well. From the Horseman's Day Lot, if you take the gravel/asphalt road straight back past the grassy field, it's an easy and mostly-dry way to get to the Harrison Place. The Blue trail is often extremely wet and muddy throughout the year, unless there is a major drought (like the last two summers). The Perimeter trail, marked in green, is a good day-ride. Not particularly scenic, and you'll have to navigate some hills including one fairly steep hill with large rocks. If you plan to ride the perimeter trail, I advise contacting the park to find out what the schedule is for the dam being opened (especially in the spring and fall). The Perimeter trail includes two river crossings (upstream and downstream of the lake). If the dam is open, or if there has been a lot of rain, getting across that river will be challenging, if not very dangerous. If in doubt, stick to riding the other trails. Efforts are being made by the local OHC to improve the trails and horseman's parking area. They were in good shape last summer, though the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew quite a few trees down in September 2008, and a couple of winter storms brought down still more trees. Volunteers did a great job of marking the trails with bright, very visible colored plastic squares nailed into trees. Sadly, vandals apparently saw it as a challenge and tore many of the squares down and simply left them on the ground. There are new tie posts at the Overlook (orange/Red Fox trail), and a new picnic table as well. Strongly advise taking a map, as many of the smaller trails criss-cross and overlap each other. If riding around the lake/perimeter trail, pay attention to stay off the designated mountain bike trails and keep your eye out for bikers at some of the intersections. Happy trails!
Reviewed by: Audrey on 3/3/2009 11:40:37 AM
 Experience: Expert Ride Date: 3/1/2009 Hometown: Cincinnati, OH

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stop here on our way to land between the lakes. campground very clean. shower was good. only one place to get water but they have electric. very nice people. we rode the trail for a very short time. we didn't feel that they were marked very well and we didn't know where we were. but if we were staying for a few days it would have been better.we would like to return for a longer trip and ride the trails longer.
Reviewed by: patty on 5/12/2008 11:20:52 AM
 Experience: Not Specified Ride Date: 5/18/2007 Hometown: girard, OH

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Directions from 1-75 - 275 East to 32 East. Go past the East Gate Mall - Walmart, Kohls, Meijer, fast food galore. Go 11 miles and get off on 1/2 Acre Road exit. Turn right. Go over rail road tracks to stop sign. Turn left at stop sign (don't go straight). Gas station and bait/tackle store on left. Go approx. 1/10th of a mile to reach park entrance. While in park, you will reach a sign that says horseman's area (straight) and campground (to the left). For day use - go straight. For overnight horse overnight camping, turn left at the camping sign. The check in station will direct you to the horseman's overnight camping area (1st area after the dump station on your right). Camping check in station: very friendly and dog lovers. Campground: Spartan and simple. There are 17 sites available with electric. No park fee, just a camping fee. Can reserve campsites via Ohio DNR website. One shower house with three showers and three toilets each - men and woman, heated and hot water for showers available. We chose site #13 - shaded for the horses; a.m. sun for the rig. The one water faucet for the horseman's campground is between Site 8 and Site 10. Site #15 - when it says slight slope, it means very slight. (more site details for each site are on the Ohio DNR website - select campsite number and it provides the size of the site, pad, a.m. or p.m. sunlight, etc.). Rig Parking: Asphalt pads. Trailers can only be backed in, cannot pull through the site. Tents: can go just about anywhere. Lots of room for tents. Water: only one faucet for the entire horseman's camp. Another potable water faucet is available at the dump station. Electric - available at each site (more details are noted in the Ohio DNR website). Horse picket: the area for the horses is behind your rig, so not so good for the worry-worts. The two poles for the horses were 6x6's. Dump station: two provided. Big enough for large rigs. Day use area: small to medium size parking lot (like 10 -15 rigs). There was an area off to the right that may be overflow for busy weekends (this area was very large and had 20+ 6x6's. Trails: No change from the older reviews. Ground is mostly heavy clay. Our visit was a spring time visit - some areas were very wet and deep (above the fetlock). No sharp stones on trails, just flat rock in areas (like streams). A part of one trail was asphalt. Trail markers - not many, bring your sense of direction and GPS. Unfortunately, we would review the trails, but we are not sure which ones we were on. We just rode and figured it out as we went along - saw blue spay paint, medium blue spray paint, yellow tape and yellow spray paint on trees (few and far between). Don't let this deter you - the trails are well used with great scenery and accesses to the lake. We found one trail that meandered along and in and out of a stream, went to the lake and up and down hill after hill. Passed by many wildlife ponds with wild water iris. Only had time for the trails South of the overnight area and West of the day use area. Saw many gaited horses >> possibly a great area for gaiters (there is a 32 mile trail). Also, there is a horse stable area, (offers lessons, stables, horse rentals), across the street from the horse overnight camping area. Park: saw lots of deer as we were coming into the park. The lake is beautiful and surrounded by the hills. Great place to take a swim after a hard day of riding. Will plan another trip there to explore the other trails and ride the 32 mile trail around the lake.
Reviewed by: L Tomson on 5/7/2007 12:28:29 PM
 Experience: Not Specified Ride Date: 5/6/2007 Hometown: Williamston, MI

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Awesome weekend!!! And yes..some trails are very, very, very muddy. The trail to the overlook was a challenge...but we all made it. Great campsites..can't wait to to again
Reviewed by: sharon on 10/16/2006 8:26:35 AM
More reviews by sharon 		Experience: Intermediate Ride Date: 10/13/2006 Hometown: Erlanger, KY

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I've ridden Eastfork 5 times in last 3 months. I am good rider on green horse. I find terrain here for everyone, flat for my beginner friends or kids, med. for green horses like mine, and lots of hills for my jumper/eventer friends. Yes it ALWAYS seems to have muddy spots, some can be ugly, it's all woods & creeks draining to the lake, that's why it's so BEAUTIFUL & FULL OF WILDLIFE. Nothing is terrible, unless u ride after it's been raining. Trail marking could be improved, but most trails (except perimeter) loop back to main & park is small enough & busy enough that an adult shouldn't get lost. The lake overviews are nice, and have mounting blocks. Plenty of creeks to water horses throughout the ride, pit potties at the (big) day parking lot. Nice park,LOTS of trails
Reviewed by: Vicki on 8/7/2006 5:42:32 PM
 Experience: Intermediate Ride Date: 8/5/2006 Hometown: Milford, OH

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We loaded our horeses up did an overnighter on the perimeter trail last year and it was beautiful and a wonderful ride. However, the perimeter trail is very poorly marked. It is supposedly marked with green, but someone made a lot of other green markings in the trail and it goes every which way. If someone from OHC would be willing ride that with us so that we could mark it better, we would love to go and would even provide a horse.
Reviewed by: Natalie Harvitt on 5/5/2006 2:11:41 PM
 Experience: Not Specified Ride Date: 10/1/2005 Hometown: Findlay, OH

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This is a nice place to camp and ride but the trailmarking sucks. The trails can be muddy and not well groomed so if you can ride and take a pair of nippers and trim have at it it needs it. The people are friendly and the camp is great. Picket line area can get awful wet too.
Reviewed by: Lee on 10/24/2005 10:34:27 AM
 Experience: Expert Ride Date: Hometown: Caledonia, OH

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It's a small park and makes for a good day trip. There is one huge hill that's fun to slide down. The campground is small but it's never really crowded.
Reviewed by: LN on 6/9/2005 10:00:20 AM
 Experience: Expert Ride Date: 10/25/2005 Hometown: Walton, KY

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East Fork, OH, is a pretty nice place to ride. We went primarily because the weekend we were there was one of the Ohio Horsemans' Council's "State Rides" and we get to see many of our riding friends that we otherwise don't see a lot of. There is a "Class A" campground at East Fork, although we stayed at the group campground because of the State Ride. If anyone is looking for people to ride with, I'd suggest joining one of the many county chapters of the OHC. Some of the counties with more active scheduled rides are Fairfield, Wayne, Franklin, and Lorain. You don't have to live in the county to join its chapter.
Reviewed by: John on 10/12/2003 12:56:08 PM
 Experience: Expert Ride Date: 9/20/2003 Hometown: Sunbury, Select State