Best Equestrian Camping near South Windsor, CT

It's hard to find much information about this equestrian, first come, first serve campground in Connecticut's Pachaug State Forest. The best source I could find was https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/State-Parks/Recreation-Information/Horseback-Riding---CT-State-Parks-and-Forests

Campsites are located around a loop with a couple of composting toilets near the entrance. Water is available. There's space your your camping gear as well as a trailer and horseline. About half the sites were occupied in late October.

Three horseback riding loops leave from the campground. There's also fishing and hiking available in the forest.

Okay, I will try to update this information on the Dyrt site, but I’ve had mixed success getting that to stick. So if you are confused about things like location, let’s knock that out first:

This campground is located near 2185 Putnam Pike, Chepachet, RI 02814. It’s by Bowdish Lake, near the Connecticut border. This is a cool area of Rhode Island that I enjoyed getting the chance to explore a little bit. Great Italian restaurant if you don’t feel like cooking (Mr Z’s By The Lake) and some historical sites like a very nice covered bridge to the northwest.

Full water and electrical hookup and a very unique and fun play area for kids. The lake access is excellent, obviously. Pay showers of varying degrees of cleanliness. Open to tents, but clearly preferred by the RV crowd.

One of my all time favorite hikes.

This small state park campground offers basic campsites with running water and showers, open Memorial Day to Columbus Day.  This is NOT Wolf's Den Family Campground in E. Haddam, CT. Also, be aware there are 2 campgrounds at this State Park; the other one, Mashamoquet Brook, does not offer running water/showers, so if you want these amenities, be sure to select a campsite 1-35.

There's a small playground in the middle of the loop, a number of hiking trails throughout the park along with a few geocaches (download details for offline use a phone connection is spotty), a swimming pond, and a small brook with an old mill and blacksmith shop that is sometimes open on weekends for tours. It's a nice place to explore and have a picnic. In 2020 with Covid, there were restrictions on visitors to the campground, reservations required, and swimming was not allowed. 

The parking pads are paved and a few have overhanging branches, but the trees provide  separation and some shade on largely open sites that tend to open up toward the back with open areas for pitching tents. Sites have fire rings with grills and picnic tables. Site 20 is the only one with electric. The ones toward the back of the loop back up toward the woods and give you some more privacy. 

They don't allow hammocks in the trees or pets. For some reason, silly string also makes the list of prohibitions.

Stayed here on a Tuesday night right after hurricane Henri. The park was completely cleaned up from any damage or debris, all in great shape. No other campers here when we arrived, so totally silent. No road noise. Most sites are relatively short level pads, with little or no shade, but very pleasant. We picked site 33 for the best shade and longer pad. Wished we had time to check out the hiking trails accessible from the campground.

Son and I stayed from Friday to Sunday. Easy to find the camp and the plot, well marked. Very nice sized lots. Large open areas for kids and adults to play during day and star gaze at night. Close to a small walking path and a larger intermediate hiking trail. Bathrooms were clean and staff were friendly. Would definitely stay again.

They allow 2 cars per site. Kept very clean. Swimming area. Great for kayaking and fishing. We camp in our tent. They do allow RVs. Tons of hiking trails. Picnic tables and fire pit at each site. The folks a few miles down the road by the rotary sell giant piles of wood for $10. They do not have an on site store or sell firewood. So bring your own things. Simple but very nice.

This campground is quaint and is nestled in RI state forests. The sites do not have hook ups, but water faucets can be found throughout the camp, and there is is dump station. There are pit toilets around the camp, and there is a central modern bathroom. The beach is beautiful and would be busy on a hot summer day. We stayed in early October, so it was not crowded. The camp did fill up, even for October, however many sites were closed due to Covid. Tents, small and large RV’s occupied the many sites. Some sites are more level than others, bring some leveling blocks if your are towing a camper. We walked the 2 mile trail, there is a 6 mile and an 8 mile hike too. Dino’s supermarket is about 10 minutes away by car and has a traditional supermarket style, a welcome change from big box. I will come back here, it was peaceful, I need that.

Didn't expect not to have bathrooms, just porta pots. Enjoyed the hiking around lake Washington!

Secluded sites portable composting johns throughout. Central bathhouse very clean with pay shower. Gated camp. Website has wrong address Nice beach

I enjoyed this campsite. Great hikes and there are trees that separate campsites. Semi-private and a well kept campground.

Nice camp ground with friendly but not nosey neighbors. Fishing was great for the grandchildren to get excited catching something, lots of small blue gill. Kids loved the bike riding. If you have a small craft or paddle boards the water adventures look fun. Life guard on duty kept safety high. Nights were so quiet you could hear crickets on the other side of camp. Water not to far from sites. Tenting was great.

I stayed at site 31 in the month of July. It was flat and easy to put up my tent. Partial shade.There are RV water faucets throughout the campground.

Beautiful site and really good sized spots.:)

This is my second time here with my Airstream. Clean and well kept campground. I’d easily tent camping here. A lake and great trails to hike.

This campground fronts on a lovely lake. The sites are spacious and most are fairly level. If I were coming in a large RV (and the sites are big enough to accommodate large RV’s) I would stick to the main road & avoid the loop roads. No hookups, but a really pretty campground. BTW: Your GPS may take you to a maintenance site about 2 miles west of the campground entrance. There is room to turn around! Just continue about 2 miles & you will get to the campground.

Sites were well spaced and provided some privacy depending on your site choice. Grounds were well kept, bathrooms were very clean with hot showers (bring quarters, $1.50 for 6mins). Staff was friendly and helpful, with park rangers making regular rounds.

Very clean, not as busy, and has all the basics. Everyone complains about the local small wildlife getting into your food but basic practices can keep them out so it’s not a problem I had

Camped out here for two nights after reading about this place in the"Best Tent Camping: New England" book. It's better than the other campgrounds in Rhode Island that I looked at (Burlingame, Fort Getty) but isn't my favorite campground. If you're not a Rhode Island resident the fee for most sites is$36/night. Is it worth it? Eh, probably not unless you're really jonesing to camp for a weekend in the Ocean State. 

It does have some great things going for it, namely the hiking trails and views of the lake. There are some tent-only sites which are numbered T1-T5. I stayed in T5 and it was the best of the bunch because it had the most privacy and space, including a grassy area. The other tent-only sites were fairly small and if you go to any mixed use sites you run the risk of having an RV next to you. The A1-A7 sites are remote and hike in, but you're going to have to hike either 0.4 or 0.6 miles through some uneven terrain. The next best group of sites would be 19-24 which are on their own small loop near the lake. 

The things I didn't like were the streetlights over the port-a-potties that shine all night. There is a manned gate where you check in and you have to get let into the campground during the day, but at night the gates are wide open and it seems like some people know this because there are a few oddballs around in the early morning. There is swimming at the lake but it looked way too dirty. 

Overall the place was managed very well, the sites were cleanish and the grounds were taken care of. The employees drove by at least once an hour, I thought they were collecting trash from dumpsters but the only place with a dumpster is near the entrance. I couldn't figure out why they kept driving by so often. I had a good time, it was relaxing and scratched the camping itch.

I THINK THIS IS A NICE PLACE IF YOU WANT TO VEIW THE SKY AT NIGHT COME AND ENJOY IT I KNOW I DID

My family and I come here twice a season it's quiet it's calm and never crowded. There's fishing and hiking right in the park

We stayed for two nights with twelve families with twenty kids under the age of 8. The campground was safe, nicely laid out so we could have a series of sites next to one another. Biking was a blast for the kids along with trail hike around pond, beach, and fishing. Bathrooms were new and convenient. Was a nice get away, and only ten minutes from a grocery store. We will go back for sure next summer.

Very reasonable camping. Water and showers well places throughout park. Recreation areas keep kids busy

Big open sites, really quiet, great place to relax and hike

beautiful place to stay for the night. quiet and secluded.

ThIs is a lovely campground with a beautiful beach, new pay shower and bathrooms. We enjoyed swimming and fishing.

Has great hiking trails going around some lakes. Clean showers