Best Equestrian Camping near Stanislaus National Forest

Join the fun near Stanislaus National Forest. With tons of outdoor activities and scenic camping, this is an excellent vacation spot for all kinds of travelers. There's so much to see and do, from exhilarating hikes or bike rides to exploring the local dining and shopping. Find the best campgrounds near Stanislaus National Forest, CA. Read reviews from campers like you and find your perfect campsite.

Best Equestrian Sites Near Stanislaus National Forest (32)

    1. Clark Fork Campground

    7 Reviews
    Bear Valley, CA
    15 miles
    Website

    "Clark's Fork is a large campground with 88 sites – all of which are situated with lots of space so that you aren’t too close to your neighbors."

    "It’s a nice quiet place away from cell service and nice hikes you can do."

    2. Bear Valley Dispersed Camping

    7 Reviews
    Sierraville, CA
    15 miles
    Website
    +1 (530) 994-3401

    "Lots of trails to ride your bike and walk."

    "Bear valley is my favorite place to go camping, the most you get close to the top of the mountain, the most curvy the road is, so be prepare."

    3. Eagle Meadow Horse Camp

    2 Reviews
    Stanislaus National Forest, CA
    10 miles
    Website

    "There were a couple of other spots taken, but it was off the beaten path and very quiet. I was able to watch the sunset from some rocks across the road."

    4. Forest Route 4N39 Dispersed

    2 Reviews
    Stanislaus National Forest, CA
    4 miles
    Website
    +1 (209) 459-9238

    5. Spicer Reservoir Campground

    2 Reviews
    Bear Valley, CA
    11 miles
    Website
    +1 (209) 795-1381

    "We got one close to the walking trail down to the lake, which took just a couple minutes. The lake is nice but better for fishing than swimming/paddle boarding/kayaking."

    "Great swimming and hiking around Elephant Rock and Union Res too. An easy weekend away!"

    6. Highland Lakes Campground

    6 Reviews
    Bear Valley, CA
    20 miles
    Website
    +1 (209) 586-3234

    "This campground is about an hour’s drive to any kind of amenities or cell phone service."

    "The views at the lakes are breathtaking. The campground is next to the smaller lake and has two sections."

    7. Top of Arnold - FR 5N56 Dispersed

    3 Reviews
    Arnold, CA
    20 miles
    Website
    +1 (209) 532-3671

    "Some noise from chainsaws in the distance one day, and some target practice, but neither lasted long. 2 bars LTE of Verizon."

    "There are a few people on dirt bikes ripping around trails so not fully secluded but still a good spot."

    9. Hermit Valley Campground

    3 Reviews
    Bear Valley, CA
    21 miles
    Website
    +1 (209) 586-3234

    "Historically this was the location of a pack station supplying goods to the silver mines over the pass. Many opportunities for fishing and hiking here."

    "Got to see great big Sequoia trees in Calvaras big trees State Park and then camped for Free in the Stanislaus National Forest."

    10. Scotts Lake Rd Dispersed Camping

    18 Reviews
    Echo Lake, CA
    36 miles

    "Rocky and steep road access to Scott’s lake, but easy camping on the edge of the valley."

    "come early for a spot. nice views around. lots and lots of bugs. i sleep in my car and crack the windows a little bit and i woke up to a shit ton of bugs that got in my car. even more surrounding the cars"

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Equestrian Camping Reviews near Stanislaus National Forest

194 Reviews of 32 Stanislaus National Forest Campgrounds


  • KThe Dyrt PRO User
    Jun. 17, 2019

    Hermit Valley Campground

    Beautiful area

    Dispersed camping, with several campsites available. Historically this was the location of a pack station supplying goods to the silver mines over the pass. Many opportunities for fishing and hiking here. It is rustic, with no freshwater or garbage service. Located in the Stanislaus National Forest.

  • Kristine K.
    Aug. 29, 2016

    Hermit Valley Campground

    Hermit Valley

    Got to see great big Sequoia trees in Calvaras big trees State Park and then camped for Free in the Stanislaus National Forest. It's right off the road but if you need a place to stay and don't mind no amenities it's great

  • Jul. 26, 2018

    North Pines Campground — Yosemite National Park

    Equestrian campground in the Yosemite Valley

    Great location right in the middle of Yosemite Valley. Great access to beautiful hikes and scenery. The camp sites are spacious. Because it's an equestrian campground, you will smell the horses and stables....be prepared. The river is close to the campgrounds and are refreshing on a hot day.

  • Aaron S.
    Aug. 11, 2016

    Clark Fork Campground

    Clark's Fork: A modern campground away from civilization.

    Clark's Fork is a large campground with 88 sites – all of which are situated with lots of space so that you aren’t too close to your neighbors. The availability of adjacent “double sites” makes this campground a great place for larger groups of families and friends. The 25 sites on Loop A offer vault toilets and cost $19 an night. Loop B sites offer flush toilets and cost $20 a night. There are also 14 nice family-sized equestrian sites and one group equestrian site. Sites are within easy walking distance of the water. No matter what kind of camping you want to plan, Clark's Fork offers options. A RV dump station is located near the entrance to the campgrounds. The Clark's Fork Campground is on a first-come, first-served basis. This beautiful wooded campground is on the Stanislaus River, recommended for your fishing and scenic pleasure.

  • Trl G.The Dyrt PRO User
    Jun. 11, 2024

    Obsidian Creek on Little Walker Road

    Quiet, tiny, love!

    Been here many times with my son and my horses over the years. Still quiet and not over ran. Close to fishing streams, high mountain lakes, hiking trails, off roading and don't forget that trip into Bridgeport and Bodie.

    Obsidian took a beating two cleaned up and they are still fixing some things. I would vonsider Obsidian more of a primitive campground, not dispersed but minimal.

    Outhouse is clean, bring your own water, can get 5G/LTE here.

    Tables, campfire rings, park at your site, tent, small camp trailer. At the end of the campground there is a bigger spot for groups.

    Horsetrailer parking/camping across from campground in a turn around spot.

    $12/Night for single unit $6/Night for extra vehicle

  • K
    May. 16, 2018

    North Pines Campground — Yosemite National Park

    Convenient, Great View

    This campground is in the heart of Yosemite Valley. It is great to camp on the valley floor, especially during peak season as traffic from all main gates to the valley floor is very congested. There is a shuttle stop right outside the campground. You are also in easy walking distance to the path to Mirror Lake and the ever popular Mist Trail. Shuttle stops at all valley attractions and you can easily get to the Pizza Deck in Half Dome Village, the deli in Yosemite Village, and many different hiking trails. Some spots are right along the Merced River. No showers here, but hot showers are close by at Half Dome Village. We will be back!

  • Christy C.
    Jun. 30, 2016

    North Pines Campground — Yosemite National Park

    Worth the wait

    It is hard to get a Camping spot in Yosemite but well worth it if you do. I got up early many a morning to try and get a day here or there for our summer trips out west. You can always try the daily lottery in the village office which we did one day. So Any campground in the valley is good and in close proximity to everything going on. This campground is located on the Merced river and is primitive. The horse stables are in this loop as well.There is a water station by entrance to fill up. No electric, sewer or shower. There are bathrooms with an outlet (Yea- can charge your Phone but get in line) You can bathe in river like I do or go to curry village and pay for a shower at housekeeping. You get a fire ring and a bear box at each site. Generator hours are limited so plan accordingly.

  • Tiffany M.The Dyrt PRO User
    Jun. 21, 2022

    Sly Park Recreation Area

    Best camping trip ever !

    This is a well-kept and forest-dense camping spot. There are tons of activities to partake in: relax and do nothing, hike (entire lake is 9.5 miles with a waterfall!), kayak, fish, sun bathe, swim, play games at your camp, if you have a horse- camp with your horse in one of those sites). It just really is amazing that this gem is only (approx) 1 hour from Sacramento! I cannot wait to go again!

  • Elliott B.
    Sep. 28, 2018

    Fallen Leaf Campground - South Lake Tahoe

    Nice location, but has a few major issues

    We got a last minute cancelled site at the Fallen Leaf Campground, and thought we’d truly lucked out. We stayed at site 87 which is nestled among towering native pine trees on the South end of the campground and one of the few sites which doesn’t have neighbors on all sides. The sites have the standard standing BBQ's and fire rings at all sites (but we couldn’t utilize them because of the fire ban), old picnic tables and various amounts of space for RV’s/cars and the tried and true bear box. In this campground you NEED to utilize the bear boxes. They have signs everywhere about the mass amount of bear activity and how there is a mother and her 2 cubs which have been terrorizing the campground for some time this season (2018). Again, you need to keep everything (food, toiletries, etc.) in the bear box at all times. The sites are reservable, and on top of the $35 (nonelectric) per site there is a $7 fee for a second vehicle, Yurts go for $86 which do have power and a nonrefundable $10 service fee…. While the campground allows dogs, they aren’t allowed in the Yurts.

    There’s lots of bear proof dumpsters around the campground, lots of potable water in strategic spots and a number of decent restrooms, and it was nice that at some of them they provided hot (pay) showers (at $1 per 3 minutes) and while the ADA has some control the standard one has no control over the heat or pressure its simply on or off. Also, the restrooms have no soap, paper towels, or hand dryers, etc. Which was a little disappointing for the cost.

    My biggest disappointment in the setup of the campground has to do with the bears and cleaning your dishes. There is no dish-washing area in the entire ~200 site, ~14 bathroom campground. They specifically ask that you don’t wash your dishes in the sinks or at the water spigots as they don’t want any food particles going down the drains. So, when I asked about disposing of the dish water they said to just toss it at the base of a tree, as it’s dry and the trees would appreciate it. This doesn’t help keep the bears away… While we scrapped and collected every bit of food waste we could and tossed it into the dumpsters, ff you’re just tossing food scrap-soaked water at the base of the trees the bears are going to come for the smell… I’ve stayed at other sites in bear country which have setups for disposing of the waste water and food scraps to detract bears and Fallen Leaf definitely is lacking and this is possibly part of the reason they’re having such an issue with bears.

    While, our site (87) would probably normally be a great location with the Fallen Leaf Lake being the only thing behind you and no neighbors on at least 2 of your sides, we happened to somehow book the same weekend that a corporate event was taking over the vast majority of the campground with almost 200 people….

    While, not entirely the campgrounds fault it was a little disruptive to have this mass number of people come directly next to us in site 88 for their meals as they’d decided to make that site the meal prep site for breakfast (they started prep at 5:30 am) and dinner (we actually had to ask the drunk group to stop screaming at midnight) these were both well outside the “quiet hours” and definitely surpassed the “6 people per site” rule.

    Otherwise this campground is in a great location to see the area as it’s only approximately one-quarter mile north of Fallen Leaf Lake. The trail from the campground was only 3 sites over from us. The Taylor Creek Visitor Center is directly across Highway 89 and is a great location to talk to the Rangers about other potential hikes in the area. They also have interpretive programs, guided walks on the Rainbow Trail and to the Stream Profile Chamber (which was closed because someone decided to break it. Although it should be repaired now… end of September 2018). Also, nearby Baldwin Beaches or Pope Beach, which cost $10, or you can go to the Tallac Historic Site with tours and events at its historic buildings and grounds and the free (dog friendly) Kiva beach which is exactly the same as the other pay access beaches….

    There’s also a really nice paved bike trail that runs 3 miles along Highway 89 and can be used to access all of the above. You have access to excellent day hiking and backpacking in Desolation Wilderness via the Glen Alpine or Mt. Tallac trailheads which are also nearby.


Guide to Stanislaus National Forest

Horse camping near Stanislaus National Forest in California offers a unique opportunity to explore the stunning landscapes while enjoying the company of your equine friends. With a variety of campgrounds catering to horse enthusiasts, you can find the perfect spot to set up camp and hit the trails.

Equestrian campgrounds include essential amenities

  • Eagle Meadow Horse Camp provides a serene environment with ample space for tent camping and horse accommodations, making it a great choice for those seeking tranquility.
  • Clark Fork Campground is known for its beautiful views and proximity to hiking trails, perfect for riders looking to explore the area on horseback.
  • Hermit Valley Campground offers a rustic experience with several campsites available, ideal for those who appreciate a more natural setting.

Activities for horse campers

  • At Bear Valley Dispersed Camping, you can enjoy a variety of trails suitable for horseback riding, allowing you to immerse yourself in the beautiful surroundings.
  • Highland Lakes Campground features numerous hiking trails that are also accessible for horseback riding, providing a scenic backdrop for your adventures.
  • Top of Arnold - FR 5N56 Dispersed is a great spot for those looking to ride along dirt roads and explore the rugged terrain of the Stanislaus National Forest.

Tips for equestrian camping near Stanislaus National Forest in California

  • When visiting Spicer Reservoir Campground, be sure to pack enough water for both you and your horse, as amenities can be limited.
  • At Forest Route 4N39 Dispersed, consider bringing a vehicle with good clearance to navigate the rough roads leading to potential camping spots.
  • Always check for local regulations regarding horses at Sand Flat Campground to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for you and your horse.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Stanislaus National Forest?

According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Stanislaus National Forest is Clark Fork Campground with a 5-star rating from 7 reviews.

What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Stanislaus National Forest?

TheDyrt.com has all 32 equestrian camping locations near Stanislaus National Forest, with real photos and reviews from campers.