Best Equestrian Camping near Muscle Shoals, 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.

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.

This place was still being built and was already amazing. There are large spaces in the woods only minutes from Huntsville. A quiet piece of heaven. A beautiful large creek runs through it, with miles of walking paths, a horse barn, and spaces to play and relax. LOTS OF SPACE Lee and Joy are fantastic hosts and will do almost anything to make the stay comfortable. We got a sneak preview while they were just getting open and I cannot impress on you how much this Park has to offer. Did I mention fossils? All over the place some of the oldest creatures to crawl the earth are there for you to find! I'm not kidding we saw trilobites everywhere along the creek. I cannot judge access really as they were still working on the roads and with the plans they have, it will be very easy to get aro[und. We have a 44 ft DRV and with a little care were easily able to get around. we had a boondocking site and had to go fill and empty tanks and could do so easily. Did we mention how much space there is? We did have poor coverage for our mobile data but the phones and texting always worked.

Small but secluded backcountry site with easy access to the river for pumping water. This site is nice because it is level and removed from the water enough that there is no concern of flooding. This site does have less privacy though so take that into account. 

Sipsey Wilderness is a protected but unmaintained area in Northwest Alabama that is well known for its intersecting creeks, streams, and rivers that play together with the many waterfalls and magical rock faces. The wilderness area is contained within the larger Bankhead National Forest and is accessible from a variety of different trailheads many of which are only reachable on dirt roads. Hiking here you definitely get the feeling that you have left the rest of the world behind and are in complete wilderness. Different times of year provide completely different experiences whether its the exciting and boundless blooms of spring, the overgrown wild of summer, the bold and expansive colors of fall, or the high river levels and easy boating access of winter. Just make sure to always do your research and plan ahead since it can change so drastically depending on when you go. My favorite is either fall or spring since the summer can be particularly hot and buggy. This trip we had planned to kayak down the river from the Sipsey River Trailhead to the Highway 33 Bridge take out but were thwarted by a recent lack of heavy rain and unusually low river levels for the season. Several sites online suggested over 4 feet gauge height would be fine but after talking to the Rangers we were told the only time that it was really navigable was in the winter or fall for a couple of days after a major rainfall. With that plan out the window, we decided instead to throw some packs in the car and move our gear around to make it a semi backpacking/hiking trip.

The campground is quite large with lots of things to explore. A lot of the roads, especially around the campsites were in need of repair. I had full hookup with 30 amp service, though not all of the sites have sewer. All of the lakeside sites are taken up by resident campers (of which there are a lot). I had absolutely no cell service through Verizon and my T-Mobile 5g internet had no reception either (even with a booster). Luckily, I was able to rely on my Starlink. A lot of the buildings looked like they had seen better days, but were maintained as well as they could be. Staff were nice and pleasant. Meriwether Lewis death/gravesite was nearby and interesting to check out. Not a whole lot else to do in the area. There is a low bridge (11ft) that you need to pass under to get onto the Natchez Trace Parkway. If you can’t fit, you have to take Napier road north several miles. There is a wal-mart in town about 20 or so minutes away.

This park is rundown very little to know sewer or RV dumps most of the people there are permanent residents seems to be more that of a mobile home park for RVs all the sites that have blackwater dumps are taken up by the permanent residence that live there has no access to the lake for campers have no trails in order to hike or explore the outdoors phase 2 campsite that does have a few maybe six or seven sanitation or sewer dumps is about 3 MI from the store or any of the amenities that they say they have in the park the tennis court looks like it has not been used in 10 years the pool was empty and the rest of the park looks run down the roads within the park look washed out and have not been in repair in a long time