Field NotesOhio
Upper Falls in the Old Man's Cave gorge, Hocking Hills, with visitors on the rocks

An independent field guide · 365 places

The field guide to outdoor Ohio

Parks and forests, ancient mounds, caves, waterfalls and back roads, with the story behind each place and where to eat and fuel up nearby.
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  • 117parks & forests
  • 64ancient mounds
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  • 33road trips

Old Man's Cave, Hocking Hills · Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0

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State parks & forests117 places, with cabins, campsites and trails117 places Waterfalls34 falls, with trail notes34 falls Mounds & earthworks64 ancient sites, from Serpent Mound to Newark64 ancient sites Caves & caverns12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters12 caves Lake Erie beaches20 public beaches, Conneaut to Toledo20 beaches Historic sites40 places, from the frontier to the Civil War40 places Road trips33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail33 drives Oddities19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops19 roadside stops The Buckeye TrailA 1,444-mile loop, all 26 sections1,444 miles

New to the guide?

Six places to start

One from every corner of the state, each with its full story inside.

01Old Man's CaveHocking Hills · SoutheastA gorge of waterfalls and recess caves where a hermit is said to have lived, with the park's visitor center. 02Great Serpent MoundAdams County · SouthwestA gigantic earthen snake on a hilltop over Ohio Brush Creek, built by a people whose name is still argued over. 03Brandywine FallsCuyahoga Valley · NortheastThe tallest waterfall in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, reached by an easy boardwalk with an accessible upper overlook. 04Marblehead LighthouseMarblehead · Lake ErieThe oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes, lit since 1821, on nine acres of limestone shoreline. 05Zoar VillageTuscarawas County · EasternA well-preserved communal village founded by German separatists in 1817, on the Ohio & Erie Canal. 06Longaberger Basket BuildingNewark · CentralA seven-story office building shaped like a picnic basket, with handles that are heated in winter.

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Lake ErieWest Virginia36 places368 places813 places135 places523 places2321 places2124 places2416 places1613 places134 places418 places182 places217 places1710 places1014 places142 places27 places76 places613 places133 places34 places414 places143 places3Harrison Lake State Park2 places22 places22 places26 places64 places4

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Parks, forests & wildlife areas

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117 parks in 7 regions

Stonelick State Park

Pleasant Plain / Owensville · Clermont County
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
1,258acres
—trail miles
1948established
2895 Lake Dr, Pleasant Plain Directions →Official source →

The story of this land

Clermont County sits in the Virginia Military District, the tract set aside west of the Scioto and east of the Little Miami to pay Virginia's Revolutionary War veterans in land instead of money. Allotments were scaled to rank and years served, which is why the survey lines in this part of Ohio are so irregular compared to the tidy grid elsewhere — the land was claimed in metes and bounds by individual soldiers rather than laid out by a federal rectangle.

Stonelick Creek runs through that country, and the name is straightforward: a salt lick over stone, the kind of place game came to and hunters followed. The lake was formed by damming the creek, and the park was established in 1948, making it one of the older parks in the Ohio system.

What it has stayed is small and unhurried. A 200-acre lake with a 10-horsepower limit, a modest campground, a beach, and a few miles of trail through second-growth woods and old farm edges. Cincinnati is forty minutes southwest, but Stonelick has none of the weekend crush that East Fork gets. It's the kind of park people go to specifically because nothing much happens there.

Things to do in the park

  • Quiet fishing on a 10-hp lake — crappie is the local specialty
  • Swimming beach
  • Easy hiking through second-growth woods
  • Boat rentals in season
  • Winter: ice fishing when conditions allow

Trails

Maps, reviews and recent trail reports for Stonelick State Park.

Find trails on AllTrails →

Things to do nearby

  • East Fork State Park, about 20 minutes south
  • Milford and the Little Miami Scenic Trail
  • Cincinnati, roughly 40 minutes southwest
  • Clermont County wineries and farm markets

Visiting information you can trust

Content last reviewed
September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source
ODNR park finder (search this park)
Location confidence
Verified property location
Stonelick State Park, 2895 Lake Dr, Pleasant Plain
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets
ReserveOhio — camping and cabin bookings
Hunting or permits
Permitted in designated areas with a valid Ohio license. Check current park boundaries before hunting.

Prices, hours, closures, campsite availability and trail conditions shown elsewhere on this page are not live — always confirm with the official source before you go.

Hiking trails

Several miles of easy to moderate trail through woods and along the lake, including the Southwoods Nature Trail and the Lakeview Trail. Flat to gently rolling.

Wildlife you might see

  • White-tailed deer and wild turkey
  • Great blue herons and waterfowl on the lake
  • Beavers along the creek arms
  • Woodland songbirds and spring wildflowers

Birding

Stonelick State Park's lake and wooded shoreline draw both forest songbirds and lake-edge waterbirds — scan the open water for waterfowl and raptors, and the treeline for songbirds.

  • Eastern Kingbird
  • Tree Swallow
  • Carolina Chickadee
  • Barn Swallow
  • Purple Martin
  • Tufted Titmouse
  • American Goldfinch
  • Ring-billed Gull
  • Carolina Wren
  • Killdeer
  • Canada Goose
  • Barred Owl

March–April and October–November for migrating waterfowl and raptors; June–July for nesting grassland and marsh birds. For a full, current checklist, search this park's name on eBird's Hotspot Explorer.

Fishing

  • Stonelick Lake (200 acres): crappie, largemouth bass, bluegill and channel catfish. A 10-horsepower limit keeps the water calm; well regarded locally for crappie.

Hunting

Permitted in designated areas with a valid Ohio license. Check current park boundaries before hunting.

Getting on the water

200 acres with a 10-horsepower limit. That cap is the whole point — it keeps the lake quiet enough to fish properly and calm enough to paddle comfortably.

Launches & facilities

Boat launch
10-horsepower limit. Seasonal rentals available.
Swimming beach
Sand beach separate from the boating water.
Shoreline fishing
Bank access around much of the lake.

Good to know

  • 10-hp limit — leave the ski boat at home and bring something quiet.
  • Crappie is what locals come for; fish the brush and creek arms.
  • Weekdays here are close to empty, which is the appeal.

A Salt Lick Over Stone

The name says what the place was. Stonelick Creek is a salt lick over stone, the kind of spot where game came to lick the salt and hunters followed. The lake was formed by damming the creek, and the park was established in 1948, making it one of the older parks in the Ohio system.

The land around it has an odd shape on the map. Clermont County sits in the Virginia Military District, the tract set aside to pay Virginia's Revolutionary War veterans in land instead of money. Allotments were scaled to rank and years served, and each soldier claimed his land in irregular metes and bounds, which is why the survey lines here are so crooked compared with the tidy grid elsewhere in Ohio.

Behind the legend

Both explanations are simple and documented: a lick, and a soldier's claim. What Stonelick has stayed is small and unhurried, a 200-acre lake with a 10-horsepower limit, a modest campground, a beach and a few miles of trail through second-growth woods and old farm edges.

Cincinnati is forty minutes southwest, but Stonelick has none of the weekend crush that East Fork gets. It is the kind of park people go to because nothing much happens there.

If you go

Paddle the quiet lake and try to picture deer at the lick. Look at a map of the area's survey lines, and you can see the old soldiers' claims.

Mounds & earthworks near Stonelick State Park

Ancient earthworks within easy reach of this park. Tap one for its history, legends and visiting details.

Elk Lick Road Mound (East Fork State Park)

Bethel · Clermont County · Southwest Ohio
A small Adena burial mound in the woods behind the restrooms at East Fork State Park's Indian Mound Picnic Area, with an ODNR marker.
National Register of Historic Places
About 14 miles from this park · The Adena period, about 800 BCE to 100 CE; the mound itself is undated

Waterfalls near Stonelick State Park

Falls inside or within reach of this park. Stay behind railings and on marked trails; wet rock is slick in every season.

Horseshoe Falls

Waynesville · Warren County
A wide, low horseshoe falls on Caesar Creek, reached by a lakeshore hike and a 103 foot suspension bridge inside a 3,741 acre state park.
3 ftModerate hikeLegend
About 19 miles from this park

Campsites

Electric site
Modest campground near the lake
$33–37/night
Non-electric site
Quieter, wooded
$23–27/night

On site

  • Showers and flush toilets
  • Swimming beach
  • Boat launch and seasonal rentals
  • Picnic areas
  • Dump station
Continue to ReserveOhio →
Field Notes Ohio isn't connected to ReserveOhio, so it can't hold a site or take payment. Tapping through opens it in a new tab — search "Stonelick State Park" there to finish reserving.
Prefer the phone?513-734-4323

Restaurants nearby

Pickles & Bones Barbecue
Outstanding brisket and mac and cheese. Wed–Sat only
Directions
Bite Restaurant
In an old ranch house; reservations basically required. Closed Mon & Sun
Directions
Tealside Diner
Attached to a gas station and beloved locally. Opens 7 a.m. daily
Directions

Gas stations nearby

United Dairy Farmers
Open 5 a.m.–1 a.m., clean, with parking that fits a trailer
Directions
bp
Across the street; UDF is the better stop
Directions

Details last checked 2026-09-22. Confirm hours and prices before you go.

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