Alum Creek Below Dam Area
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Alum Creek Lake is located in Delaware County, Ohio, just minutes north of Columbus. The lake provides an ideal location for boating, fishing, camping, hiking and hunting. A special events permit must be obtained if the shelter is used for commercial purposes, large groups that need more than 1 shelter, or if open areas around the shelter will be utilized. Contact the Corps Office at 740-548-6151 for more information. Keep reading
Recreation
Alum Creek Lake is known as one the best fishing lakes in the state. A wide variety of fish including white, rock, small and largemouth bass, bluegill, white and black crappie, sunfish, channel catfish, muskie and saugeye thrive in the lake. This spacious day-use area is also a popular spot for water sports and swimming. A boat ramp, large swimming beach and marina are all located nearby.
Facilities
Alum Creek offers three group day-use picnic shelters in the Below Dam Area. Each shelter is accessible, can accommodate up to 100 guests and offers electric hookups. Drinking water, tables and grills are provided. Flush toilets and playgrounds are on-site and the area has great access to fishing. Individual sites with picnic tables and grills are scattered around the shelters and are available on a first come, first serve basis. At the Visitor Center you will find interactive exhibits, programs, and a 48 seat theater to ensure that there is something for every member of the family. The visitor center is located 1 mile East of the Below Dam Recreation Area and Picnic Shelters! A friendly staff, maps and brochures are available to assist you at the Visitor Center.
Natural Features
The lake is situated among gently rolling hills, where open meadows and wooded areas cover the shoreline. A variety of songbirds and waterfowl can be found in the area.
Nearby Attractions
Alum Creek State Park is adjacent, boasting a 3000-foot swimming beach, a marina with a variety of boat rentals and a large campground. Hiking, mountain biking and horseback trails meander through the park. Other attractions near the lake include the Columbus Zoo, the Center of Science and Industry and the Olentangy Indian Caverns.
What the agency tells you
Shelter reservation is from 10am to 8pm, shelter must be vacated and groups dispersed by 8pm. Park is closed dusk to dawn except for fishing. Electric automatically shuts off at 8pm. No generators or portable power stations are permitted. Maximum occupancy for each shelter is 100 people. Groups exceeding this level may receive a federal citation and removed from the property. No refund will be given in this circumstance.
A special event permit is required for: Any event/group using more than 1 shelter If there are any vendors, sponsors, or fees of any kind including donations or fees charged off site. If there are any hired/contracted staff/vendors, for example: catering, decorator, event manager, music/DJ, rented equipment, etc There is a $75 non-refundable special event permit application fee. Please call 740-548-6151 or email alum.creek@usace.army.mil for more information. Failure to obtain a special event permit may result in a federal citation and/or removal from the park.
Parking is limited and is on a first come, first served basis. Park gates will be closed if parking is full. No parking along roadway or grass, no stopping to drop off or pick up supplies or people.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Any equipment that will be brought on site must be approved by the Corps Office at 740-548-6151 or alum.creek@usace.army.mil , and may require a special event permit. This includes grills, tents, tables, chairs, inflatable elements, bounce houses, obstacle courses, ziplines, climbing towers, gaming centers, and any other commercially provided rentals.
Amplified sound of any kind, including PA systems, must be limited so that it can not be heard from other shelters, or within 50 feet of the reserved shelter.
Water balloons and confetti are not permitted.
Alcohol, fireworks, pyrotechnics, drones, and projectile firing devices are prohibited.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…water, tables and grills are provided. Flush toilets and playgrounds are on-site and the area has great…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…100 guests and offers electric hookups. Drinking water, tables and grills are provided. Flush toilets and…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Beach, Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Ranger programs
- Fall color · reported 5 days ago, 14 km away
- Minimal color
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 16:24 UTC
The agency files 4 records here and marks every one of them day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 10
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 4
recreation.gov availability, read 16:24 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
4 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 3 mapped sitesAll 4 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 3 of the 4 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| ALUM CREEK | Alum Creek Cricket Field | day use | |||||
| ALUM CREEK | BUCKEYE SHELTER | day use | 15 amp | yes | 251 ft | 308 ft | 130 ft |
| ALUM CREEK | Maple Shelter (#1) | day use | 15 amp | yes | 166 ft | 322 ft | 122 ft |
| ALUM CREEK | Oak Shelter (#2) | day use | 15 amp | yes | 166 ft | 310 ft | 286 ft |
The agency files 4 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It files them as day use. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH)45 miMohawk Dam Campground48 miBurr Oak Cove CampgroundWayne National Forest · 64 mi
Paint Creek Dam Site68 mi
Caesar Creek Lake76 miFrom Columbus, Ohio, take I-71 north to exit 121 for Polaris. Turn right on Polaris Parkway, left on Worthington Road, left on Africa Road, then left on Lewis Center Road. Shelters are in the Below Dam Area.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Columbus, OH
Typical weather
Typical October night 45°F, day 67°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 22°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Alum Creek Below Dam Area is in Ohio’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Jim Jordan (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- The member who votes the moneyJim JordanU.S. Representative · Ohio’s 4th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationBernie MorenoU.S. Senator · Ohio
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJon HustedU.S. Senator · Ohio
Read the draft, or change the wording
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Alum Creek Below Dam Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Jim Jordan, I’m a constituent in Ohio’s 4th district. Alum Creek Below Dam Area, Ohio carries 4 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Alum Creek Below Dam Area (Ohio) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Alum Creek Below Dam Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Bernie Moreno, I’m a constituent in Ohio. Alum Creek Below Dam Area, Ohio carries 4 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Alum Creek Below Dam Area (Ohio) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Alum Creek Below Dam Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Jon Husted, I’m a constituent in Ohio. Alum Creek Below Dam Area, Ohio carries 4 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Alum Creek Below Dam Area (Ohio) via campanac.com