The lodging
Overnight guests may choose from lodge rooms, cabins or campsites. Guests may rent a room at the Hueston Woods Lodge & Conference Center, which overlooks Acton Lake. The lodge has 92 renovated rooms, including king rooms, queen lake view rooms, queen rooms, ADA-compliant rooms and luxury suites.
It has a coffee cart, a fitness center, a game room, a gift shop, an indoor pool and an outdoor pool. Hueston Woods Lodge & Conference Center is also home to the Smokehouse at Hueston Woods Lodge, which serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and Johnny Appleseed Lounge, where adults can purchase alcoholic beverages. Guests can order food at The Outback Shack, located by the outdoor pool, too.
The state park offers cabins in a wooded setting, too: Folks who rent the cabins can use the lodge’s swimming pools and other amenities. It has 24 two-bedroom cabins, 10 one-bedroom cabins and two premier cabins. They all have TVs, wifi and kitchens.
The cabins also have screened-in porches.
Camping is a cheaper option, and campers can get day passes to the lodge’s amenities. Hueston Woods State Park Campground has 228 campsites with electrical outlets and 137 non-electric campsites with vault latrines. Each site features a fire ring and picnic table.
The campground has a camp store, flush toilets, laundry, showers and a trailer waste station. Recreational offerings include basketball courts, outdoor checkers, playgrounds, and volleyball courts. Leashed pets are permitted.
Additionally, there is an equestrian camp, east of the lake near the bridle trails. It has electric and non-electric sites. Folks can camp with their horses. The facility has tie rails (to tie the horses) and manure pits. Amenities include a fire ring, horse trails, a pavilion and a riding arena.
There are also three group campsites on the north side of the lake, and they are all non-electric. The campsites feature large fire rings and picnic tables. Sites one and three can accommodate up to 100 people, and site two can accommodate up to 50 people.
The outdoor activities
Hueston Woods State Park has an 18-hole championship golf course. It is a 7,044-yard, par 72 golf course with five sets of tees ranging from 5,251 to 7,044 yards. The 260-acre golf course has more than 30 sand traps plus unique water holes.
The resort has a marina at Acton Lake that offers boat rentals, dock rentals and fishing. Boats for rent include canoes, fishing boats, paddleboards, pontoons and single kayaks. Valid Ohio fishing licenses are mandatory for anglers ages 16 and up. Acton Lake is home to bluegill, channel catfish, crappie and largemouth bass.
Lodge guests can borrow discs and play disc golf for free at “Distractions” — the resort’s disc golf course. Distractions has 27 holes with two sets of tees per hole.
Other activities include archery, badminton, cornhole, court sports, fossil hunting, geocaching, hiking, S’more-making at the group bonfire fit and individual fire rings, and visiting The Hueston Woods Covered Bridge. The resort also features a children’s playground and a dog park.
The nature center
The Hueston Woods State Park Nature Center is an indoor and outdoor attraction with amphibians, bees, fish and reptiles inside of the building. Outside, the nature center features birds of prey and mammals. Nature center residents include a bald eagle, barred owls, a golden eagle, great horned owls, red-tailed hawks, a rough-legged hawk and turkey vultures.
The nature center has a Raptor Rehabilitation Program, which nurses injured birds to health and then releases them back into the wild. The nature center is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
How to go
What: Hueston Woods State Park
Where: 6301 Park Office Road, College Corner
More: (513) 523-6347; ohiodnr.gov
Events
Hueston Woods State Park Nature has weekly programs set from now until Labor Day.
Wednesdays: Morning Hike at 11 a.m., Raptors of Ohio at 1 p.m., Orienteering at 3 p.m.
Thursdays: Archery at 11 a.m., Kayak Excursion at 1 p.m., Canoe Excursion at 3 p.m.
Fridays: Big Woods Hike at 11 a.m., Hooked on Fishing at 1 p.m., Fossil Expedition at 3 p.m., SUP Excursion at 5 p.m., Campfire at 9 p.m., and Night Hike at 9:30 p.m.
Saturdays: Wildlife Invasion at 11 a.m., Kayak Excursion at Noon, Afternoon Hike at 1 p.m., Canoe Excursion at 2 p.m., Creekin’ at 3 p.m., Raptors of Ohio at 4 p.m., Orienteering at 5 p.m., Reptile Show at 6 p.m., Cast Netting at 7 p.m.
Sundays: Archery at 11 a.m., Fossil Expedition at 1 p.m., SUP Excursion at 3 p.m.
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