Not knowing the distance you want to travel, I went to this web
click here site to see how far the max distance is from Cincinnati, Ohio to include all of Ohio. This distance in a straight line from Cincinnati to beyond Cleveland came out to about 290 miles. So, taking that radius you have quite a range of options. That radius would include Cleveland, Ohio, beyond Detroit, Michigan into Toronto Canada, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Beyond Chicago, Peoria, and Springfield, Illinois. St. Louis, Missouri, the Shawnee National Forest in Missouri, to Paducha Kentucky, beyond Nashville and Chattanooga , TN. Arch on around to Ashville, Hickory, and Winston Salem, NC. Keep going around that circle to Roanoke and (almost) Harrisburg, Virginia, inclusive Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and back up to Youngstown, Ohio. That’s a LOT of territory.
So I narrowed it down a bit, limited to only 150 miles with Cincinnati being the center and then decided to focus on Indiana only (since I’m most familiar with Indiana), and here’s what I came up with.
In Indiana, with Cincinnati being the center point, that would take you as far North as Fort Wayne, Indinaa to Lafayette, to Santa Clause and Tell City Indiana. Lots of NICE State parks and Recreation areas inside THAT arch.
Here’s my suggestions:
Our 2 favorites (Whitewater Memorial State Park and Brookville Lake State Recreation Area near Liberty, Indiana). Both has great campsites, and lots of water activities. Great for older folks and kids.
Versailles State park at Versailles, Indiana. Hiking, activities for kids.
Clifty Falls State park (Madison, Indiana). Hiking, swimming, lots of kids activities, playgrounds, you name it. Along the Ohio River, great for site seeing, and a visit to Madison downtown is a real treat! Little shops, coffee shops, quaint town. Very relaxing. Enjoy watching activities on the Ohio River.
Deem Lake State Recreation area … 2 campgrounds … horseman’s campground and everyone else who does not have a horse! Great swimming beach, trails, and horses. (watch for horse poop!) This is really an unknown secret in Indiana. But what a great place! If you have a canoe or kayak … it’s great too!
OBannon of the Woods State Park, near Leavenworth, Indiana. Really nice State park … LOTS of hiking trails. Very woodsy. Have horses.
Lincoln State Park, near Santa Clause, Indiana. Need I say more! Santa Clause Indiana has the theme park, plus other attractions about Abraham Lincoln. This is a REALLY nice State Park with REALLY nice campsites.
If you want to go just a little farther, New Harmony State park (West of Evansville, Indiana). GREAT park! Lots of hiking, along the Wabash River.
Patoka Lake (It’s a gigantic campground with a gigantic lake (Speed boats galore, boat rentals, you can even rent a gigantic houseboat on that lake too) Love the area! Lots to do.
Spring Mill State Park, Starve Hallow State Park, Hardy Lake Recreation Area, Monroe Lake and Brown County State Park. All in the Central South of the State. All fantastic spots for families, kids, pets, fishing, swimming, boating, hiking.
Trying to stay within that 150 mile range, it’s hard not to mention Racoon State Recreation area near Rockville, Indiana. (Little more than 150 miles radius, but oh, so well worth it!) Rockville and Racoon are located in Park County, Indiana. Park County, Indiana is noted as the Covered Bridge Capital of the world. There are more covered bridges concentrated in this county (space) than anywhere else in the world. Any of the State Parks are worth visiting. Lots of Amish in this area, and canoe rentals along Sugar Creek.
Going back Eastward now, Summit Lake State Park on highway 36, East of Pendleton is a nice State Park. Has an excellent lake for paddle boats, canoes, and kayaks They have canoe rentals there, nice swimming beach and 2 different campgrounds. One campground is all in the trees, but definitely need smaller trailers, pop-ups or tents. Many sites actually overhang the lake (kind of scary really). The other campground has one section in trees, very easy back-in campsites, and the other half is all sun. But all the sites are spacious. (this State Park is close to our home, so we go there a lot).
Now, going farther North (and within the 150 mile radius), there are a couple more. Chain-o-lakes State park near Wabash and Ouabache State park (Ouabache is old French and is actually pronounced “Walbash”) Even folks in Indiana don’t know how to pronounce it. They call it almost everything, except the simply “Walbash”… (ooh-cha-booch-ie / oak-a-bookie … and any variety of pronunciations. But it’s actually, just simply “Walbash”.) (Blufton, Indiana). Both are great parks!
And then there is Mississinewa Like State Recreation Area (North Central, Indiana), probably one of the larger campgrounds in the state. There are 2 campgrounds, beside each other. Both are GREAT. They have limited full hook-up sites. They get booked fast. Mississinewa has one absolutely GREAT swimming beach!
I give every one of these sites mentioned an A plus. Each one is dear to us, and we enjoy every one of them, over and over again.
Hope this helps.
