Best Equestrian Camping near Gasquet, CA

Pack it-pack it out. There is no trash service. The trails are amazing. Briggs creek runs all year. The horse camp is getting a little run down, but still nice. We go every year with our horses. Its primitive camping. No drinking water, showers, or cell service. There is a spot about 3 miles up the road where most can get service.

I camped here in late March 2021 during a 2 night, 3 day hike of the Redwood National & State Park. This campground is the first one you come upon while hiking in from the Orick Horse Trail Trailhead. There are picnic tables and two bear lockers, (there's another by the horse coral). I stopped for lunch at this site on my first day. I think this is the primary campground used by most hikers, (and the gravel bar near by).

If I were to plan another trip I would only use this campsite as a way point on the way to more secluded sites. This is a main thoroughfare, so people will pass by your site. It's also the only horse camp. There was a sign that directed hikers to camp on the gravel bar instead of Elam. I think this is more likely in summer because of traffic as I only saw one horse rider on day hike.

This is wilderness, so appropriate caution must be taken, Bear canister is required is you do not have access to a site with a bear locker.

We used this as a checkpoint in 2021 when traveling from Oregon to Southern California via HWY-101. The park is clean, and we had a great time walking around and resting between the legs of our trip. We arrived after hours and our stay information was available in an envelope at the main building. Here's a view from the back-in site 510. We would stay here again.

Rosevelt Elk roam through the campground. They were obviously used to people. We stayed on the “meadow” side where the elk roam through your campsite. The “forest” side is quite dark as you are camping in the redwoods. We had full hook ups on the meadow side. I am not sure if the forest side had full hook ups. They have a small pond with a ton of polliwogs in it (end of June). No fish in the pond as a couple of otters came in and ate the all the fish. Close proximity to the southern end of Redwoods National Park and many California State Parks. All in all this was a once in a lifetime experience!

Had booked and paid for a site but when we arrived it was closed up and no record of my booking. We just found an empty space and parked up for the night. No info on facilities. Left early

When we pulled in the herd was on the property . All our stay info was in an envelope hanging on the office porch . Clean warm bathrooms , coin operated showers .not a lot of other campers felt private and cozy to sleep with elk surround by redwoods

Didn’t get to see any elk when we stayed which was a bummer but it was a really nice site with a cute little lake. Hosts were great, and it was a nice location. They have showers available, pay with quarters. Will definitely be back, hopefully will get to see elk next time!

Only stayed for one night and it was a great experience. The bathroom is super clean and had hot water. Would come back.

No cell signal. WiFi is iffy at best and you are only allowed an hour of WiFi a day unless you want to pay for a “package”. When a place advertises it has WiFi all qualifiers should be stated. The sites are not well maintained. Worst place I have been in 6 months of traveling.

This is a nice place to stay while visiting the Redwoods.  Make sure you stay in the meadow portion, the forest looked dark and damp.  Meadow spaces are spacious, although our rig is small.  Bathrooms ok, pay showers.  Cell service not good.  Office staff ok (didn't seem too outgoing, but could have been the day).  But the ELK, so cool!!!  Also, a trip to Fern Canyon is totally worth it.

We’ve only stayed here one night but Would recommend staying here. Pretty expensive and still had to pay for the shower, which was kind of dirty.. staff is really friendly tho.

I’ve driven by this RV campground at least 20 times in my life now and have ALWAYS seen elk. It has never disappointed. I wanted to bring my kids to see elk, so we booked a site in December. It was wet, rainy, and cold (at no fault of the campground lol) but we’re not fair weather campers and came prepared.

Lo and behold, ELK AS PROMISED! My kids were fascinated and very excited. We kept them a safe distance and followed the campgrounds rules and precautions about being near elk.

The campground is HUGE. There are over 500 sites so I can imagine how mobbed this place can get when the weather is nicer. We didn’t have any issues getting a site in the winter. It was rather empty with a few other RVs, schoolies, an van lifers around.

The restrooms were big and clean. Showers had plenty of hooks for keeping dry things dry.  

This campground is conveniently located right on the 101 Hwy, close by to the ocean and right down the road from tons of Redwood Nat’l Park trails. Because of its proximity to the Hwy, this means you will hear vehicles but it’s not obnoxious and didn’t bother us. The closest amenities (groceries, gas, and one or two small restaurants) are about a 15 min ride south in Trinidad. Orick, the closest town to the north, is very run down, but I think it has a gas station and small market. The grounds are very lush and green. You do have to watch where you walk because there is Elk dung everywhere, but that is a small price to pay for being able to see an herd of Elk almost every day. The ladies at the front desk were very friendly to us. They did warn us about keeping distance from the Elk and doing things like, looking out your RV’s window before walking outside in case the Elk were right there. When they say that the Elk come right into the campground, they are not joking! We stayed in a site in “the meadow”. They are quite close to each other but we got lucky with and end spot and no one on the other side of us during our 2 night stay. Our site had full hook ups, a picnic table, and fire pit. They had a clean laundry room, which we didn’t have to use during our stay so I cannot attest anything other than it’s cleanliness. The bathrooms were also very clean, but sadly the showers required quarters. We didn’t have any but we’re able to exchange cash for some at the front desk. It was $1.50 for 6 minutes of shower time. Overall, we liked this campground a lot and would stay here again.

Stayed three nights over Thanksgiving weekend in a 29 foot travel trailer.  Due to the holiday the office was closed when we arrived so we picked up our paperwork at the front door.  To my dismay, our site was different than the one we reserved and it was the closest to the highway.  This is one of a couple black marks against this campground - I was moved and received no heads up and no avenue for recourse since I arrived on a holiday.  All in all, the site wasn't too bad.  It was large enough for our trailer and truck and decently spaced from our neighbors.  The road noise was there but not too bad.  The second black mark was the wifi.  Not sure if it was our site location, but the signal was poor - very rarely were we able to connect (also we had Verizon with barely any signal).  All the utilities were in decent shape and worked fine.  Bathroom was clean and there were plenty of toilet and shower stalls.  I never used the laundry but there were three washers and three dryers that looked fairly new.  The store had some basic grocery and supplies (a bit overpriced, but that's because there isn't much local competition).  There was an old one room schoolhouse on location that still had a lot of displays in it from when it was a museum (just ask at the office to be let in).  And the ELK!  

Let me tell you about the elk. Our first morning the herd came in the far side of the campground.  We kept an appropriate distance and watched as they grazed and roamed the meadow.  Then we didn't see them for a few days.  The morning we planned to leave, we got up before dawn to make an early get away.  That plan was foiled when we opened the door and realized we were surrounded by the herd - over 40 elk surrounded the trailer, some as close as 10 feet away.  We watched, and waited, and eventually they moved away, allowing us to go outside to break down.  

Overall, a nice campground.  It's very close to the local parks.  I would stay here again.

We rented an RV and discovered we couldn’t fit down the narrow roads to the campsite we planned for. Praying for plan B we drove back to this RV park we saw from the road. Thankfully they had space for us. We learned about the roaming Elk herd that passed right through the camp. The camp host made clear the Elk were NOT domesticated in any way. Our site was a comfortable distance from neighbor vehicles, included a picnic table and fire ring. Had a beautiful coastal foggy sunrise on the meadow which have clear views in all directions. Friendly neighbors, clean bathrooms and showers (bring quarters). Hook ups were in good condition. Visited nearby state park and beaches. Elk herd arrived the next day, slowly making themselves at home amongst the campers. The meadow, the elk herd, friendly people, good campground…. was probably our favorite stay that week.