Cars and campers roll onto the Lake Erie vehicle ferries at Marblehead and Catawba, islands already on the water ahead of the bow. Kelleys Island and South Bass stay in view while the crew packs the deck. The ramp smells like wet concrete and diesel, and the night on either island is in the trees behind that shore.
Kelleys Island State Park Campground is the Kelleys overnight, electric, non-electric, and full-hookup pads. South Bass Island State Park Campground is the Put-in-Bay night, hookup sites mixed with tent-only pads. Reserve the island site first, then match the van to that pad, because a tent-only site is a different rental from a full-hookup loop on the mainland.
Book vehicle space on the boat when you book the island site. Miller Ferry out of Catawba and the Kelleys Island Ferry Boat Line out of Marblehead both charge by vehicle and length, as of September 2026. If you need more sleeping space than a van, look at Ohio RV rentals and check the ferry's length brackets.
If you get in late, East Harbor State Park Campground is the mainland overnight next to the Marblehead dock, electric and full-hookup pads and no crossing. Maumee Bay State Park at Toledo is the other hookup night on this lake, at the western end of the same shore. From November through April, East Harbor keeps a limited electric loop open, and Maumee Bay shuts the water off at its full-hookup pads.
A Cedar Point trip sleeps at Lighthouse Point, the park's own RV campground in Sandusky. Full-hookup loops on concrete pads run under the coaster skyline, and patio sites face Lake Erie.
Burr Oak, Shawnee, and the Ohio River hills
Forested ridges drop into reservoir coves at Burr Oak and Lake Hope. Burr Oak State Park's family campground is small and mostly non-electric, with a few electric pads and primitive dock camps right on the water. Lake Hope adds camper cabins and a backpacking and equestrian camp in Zaleski State Forest around the lake, still primarily non-electric.
The 1924 Copperhead Fire Tower still marks Shawnee State Forest's ridgeline, the first fire tower Ohio built. Turkey Creek Campground is in those foothills, electric and non-electric pads, some of them tent-only because of the terrain. Down at Portsmouth, the Ohio River Campground off US-52 by the marina is the full-hookup exception, paved pads along the river.
Wayne National Forest runs wooded camps in these same hills, including Burr Oak Cove on the federal side of Burr Oak's reservoir. As of September 2026, Wayne National Forest keeps its water-and-electric loops open April through mid-October, and the smaller camps close in winter after the water is off.
Serpent Mound is the day on this loop, an earthwork whose curled tail you follow from the walking path around the mound. There is no camping on the grounds.
Cuyahoga Valley, Hocking Hills, and the rest of Ohio
Cleveland is the base for Cuyahoga Valley and the Grand River. Canton is the base for Mohican and Amish Country. Hocking Hills is the Columbus overnight.
Cincinnati's park is Hueston Woods. Dayton's is Caesar Creek.
Keep going north into Michigan and plan from Detroit. East into Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh is the city base. South of the Ohio River is Kentucky, and west is Indiana.