Mt. Gilead St Pk.

[woodburner]

Have any of the Piggies camped here before? Mt. Gilead St. Pk. In Ohio...Near Mohican St. Pk. I was wondering because it seems NO ONE camps at Mt. Gilead....there are always sites available....even when all others are booked. What is it that turns people away?

[Superslif]

I thought the same thing. We drove thru there back about 3-4 years ago. I actually thought they have some nice sites for a group outing. They have a small lake a little smaller than Punderson's. I thought there were some really nice sites. They had 2 streets of sites, the first one had very large oak trees, with 90 degree turn in sites. Some had a raised deck where your picnic table is. The other street was set in a pine forest with the same 90 degree turn in sites. Some sites would fit your (Woodburner) size RV and some would not. There were a few sites at the end of that street that were in a more open area that had a longer gravel pad. I got a few pictures I'll post later today...Got-ta-hit a few garage sales this morning.....I think it is worth checking out.....

[Superslif]

OK, John here are a few pix's to wet your appetite. Actually it is a place I would like to check out. The sites with pine tree shade have a decent size to turn your RV in. The gravel pads are about 1-1/2 to double width. I punched up Friday June 11th and there was only 1 site reserved. It must be just like Mosquito SP. where it never fills up except holiday weekends....I believe we didn't camp there because of no showerhouse. I checked my picture dates and these would be from 2005. The campground sits on top of the hill. You would drive past the check-in station, thru the small picnic area and down the hill to the lake. I would say the lake is about about 150 feet below the camping area.

[woodburner]

I pulled it up on Google Earth and it seems like a really small park but the wooded sites seem to fill the bill for a 3 day stay. Not sure what there is to see in the area but I think we'll be giving it a look see later this season just for the heck of it.
Thanks for the pics Jim!
I think the cool thing about this place is you'd never have to make a reservation to get a site because NOBODY uses the place!
Think I'll use my rewards days to give it a try.

[Superslif]

John, give me a heads up when you might go....Our first week trip to PA. is June 11-22, so we have a few weekends open in May and early June.....If we don't make it then, Sept or Oct will fit the bill.....

[NLOVNIT]

We haven't stayed at that park because the majority of the pads are listed as slight slope or moderate slope - both of which aren't doable with a coach. Even when we had the 5-r & TT, I still shy'd away from ones not listed as level, but I don't know why we didn't try the level ones with the little TT at least. A large number are 40ft or less which are really too small for our coach (we prefer at least 45ft to have "wiggle room" for levelling). I think there's less than a handful that are long enough & level for us.

Although, if any of you decide to try it, post & we might consider driving up for campfire. It's only 45 minutes from our house.

Lori-

[woodburner]

I'll let ya's know when we are planning so maybe some will join us! I'm thinking September; early....
I think one of the things that turns people away from Gilead is the lack of amenities.
There is no shower house and they have latrine toilets. Janet picked up on that....But I think we can manage 3 days on our water supply and holding tanks....except maybe the kitchen sink. That thing fills up REAL FAST; but that's why we have a blue tote.
Lori: I think you guys could fit in there with no problem looking at Jim's pictures. I too was worried about the slight slope description but hey....we camp Westbranch all the time as well as Saltfork and very few in some of the areas we've set up are even close to level.
Westbranch being the absolute worst for site descriptions.

[Superslif]

I agree, I too clicked on the website to find some sites listed as sloped. Especially in the pet section. Over-all the gravel pads are extra wide and very solid. Sept. sounds good to me.....I don't even think we need reservations.

Quote:

Westbranch being the absolute worst for site descriptions

Check the West Branch site again. You can thank me for getting the site descriptions updated.

Having talked to Chris George who is in charge of Ohio's reservation system back two years ago, I convinced him to double check West Branch's site descriptions. He had said at the start of every season each park sends him any updates, and West Branch as far as he knows was correct. I informed him it was all wrong. I said trust me....especially the full service loop. So he said he would contact WB personally to see what was up.

So the beginning of the 09' season they were changed. For the most part they are right except there are a few pads where the front half of the pad is kind of level, but the back half of the site has a major uphill section. Some of those are listed as level still. It would be fine if you had a small pop-up where you could set the trailer near the front of the pad, but if you had a trailer or MH you are screwed.....

[woodburner]

I've never found a site that I could not set up on at Westbranch, or anywhere else for that matter...Just some are more comfortable than others. Site 108; which we use a lot has a bad slope to the front and site 114 has a REAL bad slope to the back....without our deck, the 1st step is 27": NOT GOOD! But hey....I still have 11" till my front touches the pavement. Here's the description for 114 right now.....Nothing has changed;: PET SITE, PAD MATERIAL - ASPHALT, PAD LENGTH - 50', PAD WIDTH - 10', PAD HAS SLIGHT SLOPE, CAMPSITE LENGTH - 90' CAMPSITE WIDTH - 40', GRASS/DIRT SURFACE, SITE HAS MORNING SUN, ELECTRICAL SERVICE - 20/30/50 AMP, DRIVER SIDE SLIDE OUT, PASSENGER SIDE SLIDE OUT, REAR SLIDE OUT, HIGH TRAFFIC AREA, DISTANCE TO SHOWERS < 100 YARDS, DISTANCE TO TOILETS < 100 YARDS, DISTANCE TO DRINKING WATER < 50 YARDS, DISTANCE TO PLAYGROUND > 150 YARDS, DISTANCE TO LAKE/RIVER < 50 YARDS, THIS SITE IS CLOSE TO THE SHORELINE FOR BOAT ACCESS

Slight slope???? My rear jacks are on a 4x6 and fully extended....slight slope?

[Superslif]

Before they had every site at WB listed as level. Whoever does the yearly site descriptions needs to walk around with a veteran RV'er for help in a final determination on what a site will classify as. WB did list some sites as "slight slope" and others as "moderate slope" which helps. I would say 80% are correct in there descriptions now. We just need to get that final 20% corrected.

We frequent WB, Findley, Mosquito for our short weekend trips. Findley and Mosquito are all level to start with. Findley you have tree issues, but the website does a decent job in their descriptions.

[woodburner]

I pulled Findley St. Pk. up on Google Earth and it looks interesting; especially for a quick 3 day outing....Any things to stay away from there Jim? Are the sites difficult to maneuver or are they spacious? I doubt they could be any tighter then Cook Forest pet area but ya never know; What say you? I noticed quite a few that have slide limitations..(TREES)..Do you know where the bigger sites are?

[Superslif]

John, Findley has 2 loops they added 50 amp electric to two years ago. (about 90 sites). A good part of the sites are very spacious. Here is a link to my Findley gallery. Sites 210 thru 217 are very nice. Those tend to fill up the fastest. The only one there would be site 215 I believe has a tree by the backstop. I have seen larger RV's in all those sites. Sites 219 thru 229 are also another safe bet. The other electric loop sites 169 thru 175 I see a lot of MH's on those sites. But those are mostly sunny sites.
There is a nice walking trail starting next to site 235 that goes behind the sites on that side of the street. I also see many deer in that area. Last weekend we were in site 213 where there were a bunch of I think huge falcons up in the tree tops. there might have been a flock of 20 mating with each other. Also there are know to be owls also in the loop. They have a lot of wildlife there.....

I think you would like it there, especially in the off season. When we went last weekend April (8-11) you couldn't reserve a site. It was all first come first serve. But I think starting next weekend you can reserve a site.

It is very easy to get to. Take 271 to route 18 in Medina, go 20 miles west to Wellington, at the main intersection go south for 1 mile. Be careful there is not much warning to the park entrance. Avoid downtown Medina during rush hour.....

[woodburner]

Thanks Jim; I am going to look into to that! It's nice to have a few places that are decent so close to home.
I'll bet that there would be plenty of openings there after the kids go back to school in September; especially mid week! Would suit us just fine.

[Superslif]

It actually easier to get a site there than West Branch in the shoulder season (April May & Sept Oct). WB now you have to make a reservation any time you go. For us it's 28 miles to WB and 53 to Findley.