Best Equestrian Camping near Lake Shelbyville

Just to let everyone know this used to be a Great campground and boat ramp, but the campground closed 24 years ago. The boat ramp is still available, but the Corps of Engineers closed the Whitley Creek pay and free tent campgrounds in 1994. In 1980 - 1984 I used to camp 14 days a month in the free tent camping area which gave you access to the shower house in the pay electric sites area. This was a nice campground and my home 6 months out of the year when I was young and carefree. Now there is nothing left but camping memories and it is strange to walk through it. Check out the video clip to see what 24 years of forest growth looks like. I want to set the record straight here, so someone doesn't go looking on the website and expect to find an open campsite in this area while travelling. You'll need to go to Wolf Creek, Bo Woods or the Sullivan Marina campgrounds if you want to camp in this general area of Lake Shelbyville. The boat ramp is a good place to launch here because not very many people use this ramp. Photos taken October 11th 2017.

We have camped here many times and this time was awesome as well. The park is huge and is one of the only state park's in Illinois with horse camping and horse trails. There are 13 horse camp sites and additional trailer parking for about 6 more rigs with tie out posts for riders that will not be camping. There are several miles of horse trails and the area is set apart from hiking trails and the other camping areas. There are hundreds of campsites in this park in addition to the horse campgrounds and the entire area is maintained by the US Corps of Engineers. There are full hookup RV sites everywhere with tons of flush toilet bathrooms and shower houses in each large section. There is also a tent camp area without electricity, these sites are cheaper and there are lake front sites available here too. There is a beach that closes after Labor Day, but there are lots of sites available all year round. There are lots of hiking trails and deer run through the park in herds in the winter months. The hiking is OK in this park and good if you like short 1 to 1 1/2 mile hikes. I recommend visiting in the fall after Labor Day, October when leaves are changing is my favorite time for this campground. Clean restrooms, showers and a small store at the entrance for bait, firewood or forgotten items make this a great place to spend a few days.

Website: https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/Parks/Pages/WolfCreek.aspx

These walk in sites check all the boxes.  At the western part of the RV loop, is a peninsula of primitive tent camping spots to choose from.  About half the sites were filled by the second day we were there.  We settled on 62, which is spacious and provides access to the path from the front and behind where you can walk into site 64 as well.  A parking area with a single spot for each camp site is well marked and by two vault toilets.  Park staff and host were great.  A decent fishing spot is just in front of site 64.  $8 for IL residents is hard to beat, if you don't need an RV spot with electric.  A water source is also by the parking spots.  The weekend we were there the weather had cooled some and a great breeze was coming off the lake.  Springfield being so close is a bonus.

The only negative is like any spot and how previous people leave the camp looking before you are there.  Some garbage in the fire pit and random spots are par for the course in any state park.  Pick up the trash and dump it in the dumpster by the parking lot.  Leave the site better than you found it is our motto.

We stopped in to Wolf Creek State Park later in the day on a Wednesday after trying to stop at a different campground that was closed. We were worried about finding a spot as the sun was going down so we called even though no one usually answers phones at state parks (esp during COVID). The woman that answered was SO nice and I was so happy to hear a voice on the other end. So that’s a huge plus. You can reserve spots online in advance but clearly we did not because we didn’t know we’d be headed there. Same day is first come first serve. We are tent people and love primitive camping in spots where we can really be away from everyone and at least pretend like we’re alone. Rolling in in the dark, we weren’t motivated to checkout the walk-in campsites. And it wasn’t necessary because the area - which if full would’ve been pretty cramped for our taste- was absolutely empty. So we were happy. Many many spots for RVs all next to one another but there was tree cover for some and the possibility of a little bit of privacy but not much in that area.

We had an almost full moon, but otherwise I think the stars would’ve been pretty awesome. The next morning we woke up and took a little hike down to Shelby Resevoir to see what was around. We were at campsite 18 and it was about 10 min hike down over there. Beautiful and big! Maybe good swimming I would assume? Too late in the year for us.

We will definitely be back to checkout more of the primitive/walk-in/hike in sites! Hiking trails look interesting and fun and Eagle Creek State Park is just across the water (that’s the bigger one). The 4 stars was because the sites are pretty close together which- even with RVs- I think people mind- but maybe not? We love to be back in the woods ans I do think there is an option for that. We just didn’t have time to check it out. Will update!