Best Equestrian Camping near Adairsville, GA

If you’re looking for amazing scenery, this is not the place. It is, however, a free, primitive camping site just a short 5 min drive (or walk) from the Rocktown trailhead. The close proximity to the many wonders of Rocktown is a dream for climbers. Meant we could spend most of the climbing, rather than making a long approach. My group went for several days over thanksgiving 2018, and the weather was absolutely beautiful. Nights turned a bit chilly, so make sure to pack layers if camping in the fall or winter season. I think you’re technically supposed to have a Georgia outdoors permit to stay here (which we did), but we did not encounter a single ranger during our six-day stay. Check the Rocktown forum on Mountain Project for up-to-date info on permit requirements.

The road leading up to the campsite is extremely rough and washed out. We were in a Subaru Outback, and it was a very slow-going, bumpy ride — we bottomed out several times.

You can pretty much set up camp anywhere there’s open ground. Plenty of trees around for hammock camping as well. My group of 10 people had no problem finding open areas to set up camp together. There are several man-made fire pits, and plenty of wood and brush lying around to scavenge for fire-making. There are no water hookups, so make sure to pack plenty of water with you. There is also an area at the campground for equestrian camping, though we didn’t check that out, as, alas, none of us had horses.

This campground is definitely designed to be a launching point for those wishing to go horseback riding in the Cohutta Wilderness. We stopped through here on our way to go backpacking in the area. There were several large sites with campers on them and almost everyone had horses tied up near their vehicles. There is an outhouse on the site but it does not appear like there is any regular upkeep being done. There are many really nice trails in the area and several are designated horse only so if you own a horse this is a great option that is very close to the trailheads. Another nice feature of this site is that it is right on the water so that provides a nice atmosphere. Overall though it still smelled like horses and unless that is what you are going for I would not suggest setting up a tent here. Instead go down the road to some of the campgrounds more set up for tents or just head into the backcountry and take up one of the MANY free sites that aren't too long of a hike in.

Was a very nice and open area to camp at. Came in at night so was hard to see spots. Despite it being November there were a good amount of people. If you come in summer when it’s busy, I would recommend going to the first open field when you enter which is to the right. I decided to go all the way back down the gravel road to the back and every spot was taken so I wasted about 30 minutes. I had just a little bit of service, and there were no amenities that I could find. If you have a trailer or rv I recommend coming in from the west direction, if you can tell from maps. The east way had 180 degree sharp turns up the mountain, so may be difficult. Views were very nice going up that way though. Would stay here again if I needed to