Best Equestrian Camping near Sumiton, AL

While staying in the area we stopped by and checked out this campground and associated trails. It is in a wonderful part of Bankhead and close to so many trail access points. Additionally the campground is located directly on the horse trail so you can stay here with your animals and get up and go trekking the next day. For people like me who are more hikers than riders you just drive 15 min down the road and you are right in the heart of Sipsey wilderness. The campground doesn't have much in terms of amenities but if you prefer a little more you can stay at Brushy lake nearby. The major advantage to this site is its access to the horseback riding trails.

What an amazing campground! Alabama knocked this one out of the park. From the first time you enter the park, which isn’t too far from BHam or the interstate, you’re transported to a different place where things move much more slowly just the way we like it. The campground is a 5 mile ride from the main entrance. A beautiful winding road takes you all the way, deep into the property. If you’re lucky, you will see plenty of wildlife (we saw 7 deer and one rabbit). The campsites are very spacious, we stayed in site A30 which was great! But if you want a view, try A26 which overlooks the lake. There is a general store on property that even has propane. If you’re active, they offer bike and hiking trails, horse riding, kayak and paddle boat rentals, and a couple of beaches. Don’t wait, book your stay here ASAP!

I've been wanting to visit Oak mountain and we booked last minute May 1st-3rd. They were booked completely except for an equestrian pull through site. I had already made plans with my family and another (both first timers with our own young families). I asked about pitching tents on the gravel and they said people do it. We had two tents on complete gravel and had enough tarp and mats that it really didn't bother us. The stables were right in front of our eyes, and we could hear the peacock next door, which was lovely actually. Their horses on their farm were roaming around and it was beautiful! Bathrooms were absolutely perfect and cleaned what seemed twice a day from the cleaning logs. They were maybe 300 feet from us and since the RVs all have hook ups we seemed to be the only ones using them, really. Everything else was basically closed down, but when we went to hike the water fall trail, it seemed so crowded that I wasn't surprised when we saw the ranger show up to send people out of the falls, so we didn't waste our time. I'd go back to enjoy the beach and trails, with a bike definitely!

We needed a one night stopover Campground. Aesthetics are important, so we chose Oak Mountain State Park for its mountain beauty. We thought we’d reserve the campsite (B36) based on its being at the end of the area and near the shower/restroom. Major pros to the campground would be an apparent lot of things to do: what looked like a zip line water skiing place, lots of major inflatable stuff in the beach swimming area, equestrian trails and stalls for horses, hiking trails... and our site was near one of the playgrounds in the campground. The staff in the office and host folks were wonderful and friendly. But, our site was an asphalt pad ( perfectly level) with no grass around it. While the campground is surrounded by forest, There were some trees, and some shade, but not enough space around us to sit back ( on our asphalt) to enjoy them. The shower was perfectly hot and adequate water pressure, but there is one shower in each shower house/restroom, and it was right inside the restroom door with a bend in the wall and one plastic shower curtain. My daughter felt exposed, but there weren’t so many people using the showerhouse to be problematic. The two toilet stalls were also enough for the number of people that needed to use them. (There are other similarly sized showerhouse/restrooms not too far away.) This campground met our needs well, but we weren’t overwhelmed and didn’t rush to book a return overnight after our trip. There are many reasons to love this place ( and the tent camp spaces looked fantastic!!!) but for what we needed I’d have to say it was just perfectly adequate.

This state campground in the Birmingham AL metro area is a quick getaway for city and suburban dwellers. We were looking for continued warm fall weather on a slow trip north; this met the warmth and fall criteria in late October. The proximity to the city made it a good choice for exploring Birmingham.

Campground as Hotel

We left in the morning and came back in the evening. Using the campground strictly for accommodations worked out well; it wasn't a place where we would have wanted to hang around the campground all day. The large RVs crammed on sites that weren't very large gave us a closed in feeling. We pulled down the shade in our teardrop to avoid the light pollution from the campers who leave ground lights and other decorative lights on all night. (Do they leave their outdoor holiday lights on all night at home?)

Tent Only Sites

• The tent only sites are the best feature of this park. You can pitch your tent among the trees away from the RVs packed together in the rest of the park. 

• There's no power or water at these sites.  

• These sites are listed as tent only, but the park office attendant told us there were a few where we could fit our vehicle and teardrop. We declined because we thought we'd be too close to the road although we later saw several that would have been fine

• Site 42B is the BEST SITE IN THE PARK! You walk down to the site from the parking area, and then there's a great view of the water. I took a photo looking back at the site from the beach area.

Other Sites

• All sites not designated tent only have electricity and water. There are some sites with sewer hookup as well as 50 amp power. See site map photo.

• Loop A's sites are more spread out than sites in Loop B.

• Loop B: B33 was ok. I recommend sticking to the outside of this loop because there are two roads down the center where you'll have sites on both sides, across the road and behind you. Inside the loop seemed crowded because there were large RVs.

Restrooms

Several restrooms are spread throughout the park. They each have a couple toilets and a shower along with hot and cold water in the sinks. Restrooms are clean and a checklist indicates they're inspected 2 or 3 times per day. Everything works fine, but they could use an update inside. If the usage at the end of October is any indication of overall usage, this park is heavily used. It's close to Birmingham which has over a million people, one-fourth of Alabama's population. The state of Alabama should step up and do some renovation.

Site Taxes are HIGH

Be prepared for a significant jump to the cost when taxes are applied. Our campsite fee was a reasonable $22.65/night which included a 15% senior discount. Regular price is $26.65. Taxes and a $4.50 one-time fee were added for a grand total of $85.62 for 3 nights. If you're counting, that's 20+% in taxes.

Things To Do In The Park: boating, fishing, swimming, hiking. You can purchase a detailed hiking map for $1. If you aren't from the area and want to take in some Birmingham history, there are options.

• Red Mountain Park has hiking trails along with old iron ore mines. There's an adventure park with zip lining, climbing, etc.

• The base of Vulcan, Alabama's entry in the 1904 World's Fair, is the best place to see Birmingham. The museum next to the statue was well done; it provides a history of this steel city.

• The park across from the 16th Street Baptist Church (site of the bombing on 9/15/1963 that killed 4 young girls) is a window into the sad part of Birmingham's history. There's also a civil rights museum nearby.

• The craft breweries (Good People and Avondale) were good. And great barbecue at Saw. Pizza was good at Post Office Pies but they need to put more basil on a pizza advertised as a white basil pizza, not 5 little scraps.

This is off the beaten path a bit, but it has its perks. Here you can find potable water from the spickets all year long. It is essentially a large field with some very large loblolly pines. The nights sky is wonderful. Also, from here you can link together 22 miles worth of trail. We rode our bikes, the trails are more geared for the equestrian rider, but was friendly enough for bikes. We enjoyed staying here after being out of cell service for a few days at brushy lake, so we were able to catch up and coordinate our next destination.  As far as campground amenties outside of whats already been covered there are a had full of picnic tables and a pit toilet. 

Cost is $5 a night or $3 for day use. 2 bars of Verizon 4G LTE.