The park is close to Lake Erie, a man-made lake near the lodge offers good panfishing opportunities with wheelchair-accessible piers, and the campground has ponds open to fishing for campers only. There’s a nice state park and campground here, too, and activities that include bike riding on country roads to swimming and enjoying a little downtown area with its restaurants and night spots to fishing and boating. Shawnee State Park, a vast area of wooded hills that’s a classic spot for those who like peace and quiet for their vacation, is near the Ohio River and west of Portsmouth. There still are more places worth a vacation, like Atwood Lake east of New Philadelphia with its own lodge, campground, golf course and two marinas, which are good fishing for saugeye; Leesville Lake has some of the best muskie fishing in the state; Pymatuning State Park has more camping and attractions, a chance to see ducks walking on the backs of carp as they compete for bread crumbs, and more. You can get information on Maumee at (419) 836-7758, South Bass and Kelleys Island respectively at (419) 285-2832 and (419) 746-2360, Atwood Lake at (330) 343-6780, Shawnee at (740) 858-6652, Hocking Hills at (800) HOCKING, and Pymatuning at (866) 644-6727. read more

