Best Equestrian Camping in Hawaii

We stayed here Thanksgiving night prior to spending a day in Volcanoes national park. Given the holiday, everything was closed in town so make sure you bring some food and supplies. It was also pretty quiet and felt very safe.

In the middle of the night we woke up to RAIN! And if anyone knows rain in Hawaii is HARD - so make sure you are prepared if you decide to camp in Hawaii.

This is a great way to be close to the volcano park to get an early start.

There is a paystation on site and restrooms, firepits and picnic tables.

This website is in error. There are no dogs allowed on ANY Hawaii State Campground!!! Don't know if you know this or not. So if you have a dog in Hawaii, you cannot bring your loved one(s) camping anywhere. Too bad.

A beautiful, safe, clean campground, run by the State of Hawaii, that can't be beat.

This campground is nowhere near the beach, but brings you to the interior of the island. From here you can view the Kalalau Valley lookout and look out over Waimea Canyon, known as "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific." Also you have access to hike the Alakai Swamp, which is one of the wettest places on Earth, or take a couple-mile hike up to the highest point on the island.

This campground offers indoor toilets and showers, a nice restaurant, and a gift shop.

We were able to snag a walk up site right at check out time, which is when you should arrive if you want to camp here. The campground was full by dinner time. The huge upside of this campground is the proximity to the Jagger Museum and the inner caldera of the volcano. You can hike from the campground to the caldera overlook and if you get lucky with a cloudy night sky, you'll be treated to a fiery display with the volcano glow lighting up the sky. The only downside of this campground is that there are no showers for tent campers. Definitely not something that would prevent us from returning.

The campground was lovely. Great location, just down the road from Volcano House (where you go to check in). We stayed in a cabin and it was excellent. The doors have key cars swipe (don't forget your key, the doors lock automatically behind you!) The shower was good and even the complimentary shower gel in the women's shower was nice! Dinner at Volcano House was good. I only wish we had stayed more than one night to be able to explore the area more.

As others have said, the hike in and out of the canyon is not easy.  But the reward is being totally isolated and quiet down in the canyon.  So gorgeous!

The main thing that we learned the hard way is that the river that is near the campground can become impassable after a rainstorm.  We left our camp to go for a day hike further into the canyon, and crossed the river with no issue.  There was a downpour while we were on the other side of the river, and weren't able to cross back to get to our camp.  We had to spend the night on the other side where thankfully there was another shelter.  Luckily we had some food and our water filter and hammocks, and someone left a brand new sleeping bag that we used to keep warm.  We were able to cross back over the next morning.

Also, our car got broken into where we left it parked on the road.  Dont leave anything valuable in the car!

Despite being stranded and getting our car broken into, we also got engaged in the canyon...so this was definitely my most memorable backpacking trip.

A friend came to visit from off island and I had to take her to see Volcano National Park. We tent camped one night at this campground. It has toilets and a large pavilion, that we utilized to cook and eat under due to early morning rain. The night we stayed was verily quiet with not many other campers. I paid in the onsite dropbox with a check, but I am sure there is a way to probably pay online. Unfortunately there are no shower facilities.

The all time highlight is that when it got dark we made the 15-20 minute hike up to the Jagger Museum overlook/observatory to see the glowing lava in the crater.

The campground is technically outside of the national park and if you hike in there is no park fee.

Pretty epic experience sleeping so close to Pele. The best entrance to see the volcano at night is a bit of a drive/back ride but well worth it! Talk to locals in Pahoa and Keaau for tips on how to see the best views of the volcano. Cheap site about like $15 i believe.

First let's talk the Smith Sunglasses. These were sent to me as a winner of one of the dyrt contests and I couldn't be happier. I never looked seriously at Smith sunglasses before and stuck with the other name brands (RB, Oak..etc) and I don't know if I will go back. I received the Smith Clark with brown polarized lenses and this is my favorite overall pair of sunglasses I own. The lenses are super clear and the world looks amazing. The other great thing is they are stylish, but hold to your face well enough to do activities in them. I could run around, sweat, paddle, and they never slipped off my face. These are awesome. The only downside is when i went to clean them, I think I had sand on my lens rag and I put a nice swirl in the left lens. Dissapointing, but probably my fault.

Bellows beach is also a great place to spend the day or night. The beach is huge and neighbors another popular beach (Waimanalo) which is great as well. Bellows is sometimes closed for military training etc so if it is, just go next door. There is plenty of space for even the largest crowd on the beach, and there is a nice forested area behind the beach to cool off in the shade. The bathrooms are pretty good too if needed. This beach is a great boogie boarding site and some people were even surfing. Great place! On a Tuesday there were 4 people taking wedding photos, so you know it's beautiful.

Very quiet location with nearby access to incredible hiking. The higher altitude kept the temperatures in the low 60's and perfect for sleeping. Not very many campers so it was a peaceful evening.

great camp site, had everything you would want at a tropical camp site.

Oahu's famous east coast is lined with beautiful white sandy beaches, and Bellows is somewhat of a hidden gem. Why? Because you need to have military access to enjoy this beautiful beach park. Go for a short drive from Waikiki along the scenic southeast coast and keep going past Makapuu Lighthouse bend, and you'll see some of the most sea-green bluest waters ever. Keep going past Waimanalo Beach Park and you'll be at the entrance of Bellows. You can keep going on the long driveway in, but you'll need military access or sponsorship to get in.

I stayed here in spring of 2007, and was struck by how similar it was to Northern California, with the tall eucalyptus trees, and cute little cabins.

The camping bathroom didn't have showers, but the communal bathroom for the cabins did, and a sympathetic cabin renter let me into that bathroom. (I'm a bike tourist, so I really need the shower.)

I spent two nights here, because the second day I went for the dusk hike among the lava fields. Note to bikers, make friends with someone at the bottom who can drive you up, because it is a big climb not to be biked up in the dark.

There was a pavilion with a stone fireplace that was very attractive for groups.

Nice, open sites with decent amenities. You don't really have a lot of privacy at all... but you should be off exploring the park! I say desert, because it can get so hot during the day and turn around and get really cold at night.