Dow Lake is where Athens goes to cool off. The 161-acre reservoir fills a narrow hollow in the 2,606-acre Strouds Run State Park, about four miles east of the Ohio University campus, and the state maintains a 700-foot sand beach on the east shore off Strouds Run Road. The beach is free, open from sunrise to sunset through the summer, with changing booths, drinking water and restrooms behind the sand and a marked swim area out front. There is no lifeguard. Pets are not allowed on the beach, and Ohio's BeachGuard program samples the water and posts advisories at the entrance when bacteria counts run high after storms.

The lake was built in 1960 by damming Strouds Run and is held to a 10-horsepower motor limit, so the water stays quiet. Strouds Run Boathouse, the concession near the beach, rents canoes, kayaks, paddleboards, pedal boats and pontoons through the warm months, and paddling the lake's forested arms in the evening is one of the better hours you can spend in Athens County. Anglers work the coves for bass, bluegill, crappie and saugeye from the bank, the boat ramp near the beach, and the fishing pier. The swim beach faces west across the water, so the last hour before sunset is the warmest and the prettiest time to be in it.

Strouds Run is also a trail park. The Broken Rock Trail is a two-mile loop, Vista Point climbs a mile and a half to an overlook of the lake, and the Lakeview Trail runs seven miles around the shoreline through oak and hickory woods. Bridle trails cross the northern half of the park, and the singletrack network on the ridges is a regular after-class ride for Athens mountain bikers. The park connects to the Athens city bike path system by road, so it is possible to ride out from town, swim, and ride back. The Strouds Run name comes from the creek that drains the hollow, and the park preserves several old farm sites and a section of the historic Athens-to-Marietta road on its ridgetops.

The campground is old-school: 57 non-electric sites, first-come first-served, with pit toilets and no showers, plus two camper cabins and a group camp. It sits at the north end of the lake a short drive from the beach, and on football weekends and during OU move-in it fills. The rest of the year it is one of the quieter state park campgrounds in Ohio. Athens itself, with its brick streets, breweries and the Court Street strip, is ten minutes away, which makes Strouds Run a good base for a weekend that mixes a swim, a paddle and a night out.