Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Bristol, CT

Most amazing weekend with tons of woods (privacy is huge for us). Very friendly guests and staff! Amazing weekend with lots of fun for the kids and even the dogs! We’ve been to campgrounds with playgrounds worse than the waters edge dog park. Every one of us had a great time with the perfect campsite deep in the woods (still able to park my 26’ camper trailer). Swimming pool, great playground, among lots of trails and wooded area surrounding almost every site. Best camping weekends we’ve ever had have been at Waters Edge.

Quaint little campground. Not many tenting sites but along a beautiful lake. Pets allowed. Bathrooms close by 10, something to keep in mind. And they’re cash or check only! Taylor Pond is not far and a great hike to bring both kids and pets. This campground was perfect for us and our dog. Bring your own kayaks or use the campgrounds free of charge.

Ashley here with The Dyrt. I would like to welcome your host, Mary, to our platform. There are 2 lodging options to choose from. Pets welcome! Book your stay today and come back here to leave them some love.

Clean, family friendly campground. Pet friendly with plenty of area to walk. Close to I-95 and 15 minutes from the beach. fishing areas for the kids. Spots are well organized and no issues with hookups. Propane is available at the store.

Let me just start off by saying we did stay at the end of the season so the campground was quiet… But this is a stunning park and totally worth a stop if you’re traveling via hwy 84! They had such great customer service and the amenities are on point. 2 separate ponds: one for fishing, one for swimming; large outdoor games; Rec hall with video games, 50¢ pool table, live music; volleyball; boat rentals; and even a baseball diamond! (We picture kickball more than baseball happening here) Facilities were east to use and clean. Sites were wide open and easy to access, my only complaint being that they offer “full hookups” but you’re told to just leave your grey tanks open. We chose to wait and dump on our way out. If you’re a pet owner, you’ll absolutely love the dog run!

Hidden Acres is a great family campground. Family-owned and it’s got a really friendly group of family and staff. Sites are nice and the restrooms/showers are the cleanest I’ve seen anywhere. Lots of fun at the beach, kayaking on the lake or just hanging at your site. Petting zoo, craft cabin, arcade, bingo and lots more! While you’re there, run down to the snack shop for yummy snacks, meals and ice cream sundaes! Definitely a must-camp if you’re in the area.

I have camped here many times. There are three campsites; two that require short hikes (.5 miles and .75 miles, respectively) and a third that can be driven to. Each one is far away from the others. The two that are closest are still divided by several hundred feet of wooded area; you can hear if someone at the other campsite shouts loudly enough, but you can't hear normal conversation or see any lights.

There is no cell phone coverage at any of the campsites (if you care about that while camping).

All of the campsites are right next to the Shepaug River. There is a very crude outhouse between campsites #1 and #2, but none at #3. Each campsite has a designated fire pit, and the Steep Rock Association provides ample firewood. SR 1 and SR 2 both have picnic tables at them; SR 3 does not. Pets are welcome; there are many people hiking and camping with dogs, and people ride horses down some of the trails.

On 9/2/17, when camping at SR1, we saw a Dumpster on the side of the trail that leads from campsite SR1 to campsite SR2. I have never seen a Dumpster anywhere at Steep Rock before, so I don't know if that is a permanent new addition or if it was there temporarily.

Reservations are required and can be made by contacting the Steep Rock Association office during the week.

Beautiful area to hike. Quiet off the beaten path. There are 3 yurts available May-October (no dogs allowed in the yurts☹️. There are several tent sits available. Dogs are welcomed here! Every site has a fire pit and a picnic table.Highly recommend staying here if you are in the area!

We love this campground. It is a small family/dog friendly campground. Large clean pool my kids loved swimming in. Staff is super nice. Small arcade

My family and I stayed here a few years ago in the tent area. Not all sites are secluded, but we were the only ones so it was nice and private. At the time there was only one port-a-potty for the tent area we were in and no water source. It’s a dog friendly park which was good for us, our dog could swim in the lake with us. Cute patio overlooking the lake as well with seating. Wood delivery is awesome especially since tent area is a slight distance from office, but that is also a bonus so you’re away from the RV sites. Also price is reasonable for a private campground considering the rates a lot of other places charge.

We had really high hopes for this place based on all the glowing reviews, but boy were we disappointed. We pulled in and quickly learned that there must have been a weeks worth of dog poop all over our site. I had gone to the camp store to ask if they had a shovel to help me clean everything up, but they didn’t. My husband and I spent 35 minutes instead of setting up, picking up someone else’s dogs waste. Despite our efforts of clean up, we still couldn’t figure out the smell. Turns out, their dogs had also went all over the rocks and ledges leading to the stream.

We then noticed that our picnic table was less than a foot from our neighbors leaking septic dump and hose, which might have contributed to the rancid smell.

Live and learn right? We will just eat inside, but then we noticed that our fire pit was 6” away from the corner of our neighbors older motor home, which had exposed wood. While the friendly woman at the camp store encouraged us to have a fire anyways, (two of our planned meals required the fire) we opted not to, since we noticed cigarette butts and what was more dog waste in the fire pit itself.

We ended up really testing out the inside of our trailer, eating, hanging out, watching tv - not something we wanted to do this weekend. Luckily we had a scented candle stashed in the camper, so we closed up the windows and tent ends and tried to make the best of this. While the full hook ups were nice, it definitely wasn’t worth the smell or energy.

What saved the trip was the beautiful area and the awesome hiking trails.

Everyone was friendly despite the lack of maintenance and sanitary measures provided by the campground, and I do have to say it was nice and quiet all weekend, but maybe that was just because we were hauled up inside our camper. You can’t win them all, I think we will definitely be sticking to state campgrounds and forests... I’m really hoping we just got a bad site on an off weekend... :(

This is an interesting camp ground. As I am set up for bed I see one other large green tent that looks deserted. People left their left over food scraps in the grass by my camp so not only has my dog been eating it, I also hear coyotes. Won’t be surprised if I see a bear in the morning..

Stayed in October 2018. Tucked away in the woods I never knew this was there! Beautiful pond and a good mix of seasonal and overnight sites as well as cabins. Plenty of areas to walk our dogs and have them swim. Playgrounds, bath houses throughout and fully stocked camp store with anything you could ever need. Organized events, cafe on site and quick drive (or Uber ride) to Mohegan Sun.

Close to the city and civilization, yet large enough to have nice trails and creeks to feel away from it all. The camping sites are very different so it’s useful to go in person and select the area. Parking is close, but some of the sites are also pretty close to each other so there is less privacy. It’s a good site to do a quick camping trip. Dogs are welcome on a leash.

We’ve stayed from F-Su. We got a tent spot and it was perfect since it was the furthest one away and there was no one near us which is probably why we loved it so much bc we were so isolated. a little disappointed in the site though, we found broken glass on the walking trail near our tent and by our fire pit which was really dangerous for our dogs. We would visit again though, we loved all the parks and hiking in the area and we left the camp for the day Saturday to hike in the area.