Best Equestrian Camping near Patoka Lake

I hope you like horses. I was backpacking and got to experience horse camps up close and personal. There are basic toilets and a pavilion. Rest is an empty grass field.

No set camp spots but great to set up and have no light pollution! Close to town but also right off some amazing trails! Sometimes the horse trailers get loud with generators but it is a horse camp ground!

We arrived near dusk on a Friday. The entrance is clearly marked and road is gravel but well maintained. The site is open space with soft, well maintained grass and no muddy areas. There are no marked sites but there is plenty of room for all types of campers. And there all types of campers there. Of 20 or so campers I saw horse trailers, couple of large RVs, teardrops, tent camping and vehicle camping. There are plenty of fire circles. The vault toilets are super clean and you don’t have to waste time flushing. Bonus - Cell phone reception was good! This is a horse camp where you’re welcome to stay without horses… so for etiquette’s sake please leave the spots with corrals and hitch rails for the horse campers! All in all this was a perfect location, extremely well maintained, not crowded with all types of campers peacefully coexisting.

If you come from the East you will pass horsecamp that only has paid for sites. Continue down the road you will see a sign for a second horse camp skip that as well! If you go to the end and take a right there will be spots at the beggining of the trail heads secluded with fire rings. They are drive in. Much more private as well as no smell of horse poop. lol

The park is well kept and organized. There are a ton of sites to visit and see. If you like hiking or mountain biking this is for you! Horse people love it also. The campground is near the trail to the old abandoned bridge which is well worth the hike. The fire tower has a commanding view. If you are not enjoying this park, not much else in Indiana will make you happy. Extra points: experienced cavers will enjoy the number of caves. These are by permit only however and novice non cavers should take a proper class and go with experts. There are multiple show caves in the area you can get a basic tour of also.

A quiet, peaceful spot in the forest. A few horses on the trail on weekends. French Lick is 30 minutes away.

Very clean campground near the Ohio River. Offers hiking horse back riding nearby fishing in the Ohio River. Or just kicking back and relaxing.

The area is nice and is taken care off. The camp is free and has a 14 day limit. the campground is loop with male and female outhouses and they are kept up nicely. there is also a dumpster at near the entrance of the camp. this is also a horse camp so there are some horse feces around so you have to watch for that. you do not have to have a reservation, i believe it’s just first come first serve. some areas have fire pits, some don’t; you can make one though from rocks. the nearest city is Bloomington which is about 15 miles from camp.

Ended up staying on the horse site post-labor day when there were only other tent campers. Site is a wide open and well-groomed, with trails just a short walk (or ride) away.

Toilets and covered picnic tables nearby.

Quiet with sparse campers. People who were there were nice and we felt safe. Free. Easy to find but slow going w rig on winding narrow roads. No water hook ups had to drive to Hardin 3 miles over and pay $5 for their shower and water for our horses

If you’re a solar person, this is your spot! It’s a giant open field with vault toilets. It says horse camp, but anyone can stay here. If you’re looking for shade or here in the summer months, you may try elsewhere as there is not much shade to be had.

There is an out hpuse and trash dumpster. Lots of room. Park where you want. Cost is free. There are fenced areas if you have horses. There are trails to walk. Been here 3 times and has not been busy during those stays. You can stay 14 days. Max of 30 days per year.

Beautiful surroundings, and lots of trails to hike.

Came in late on a Saturday and found a nice level spot to park for the night.

We have an RTT on top of our truck so being level is what we look for.

Very quiet and peaceful.  

Would recommend. You do not have to have horses to stay here.

I solo camped here overnight and had a pleasant time. Before arriving I had questions about where I'd be able to camp. I called the local ranger line and they were super helpful. A restroom is available on site. For being fairly close to a busy road, it's so peaceful you'd have no idea at all! Free camping if you don't have horses with you!

Great boondocking spot, plenty of flat land making leveling easy. Wide open so solar charging was easy. We were there for 7 days and while they have room for probably 50 or 60 rigs there was only 3 or 4 of us there most of the time.

• pits toliets
• quiet
• clean
• dumpster available

Although intended for horse trailers we did not see a single one there in our 7 days. Plenty of flat land making leveling easy.

Spring Mill State park is a little piece of history that is in the heart of southern Indiana. Here you will find a working frontier village. They have a working blacksmith shop, school and a grist mill with saw mill. You can purchase corn meal freshly ground from the mill. You can watch how they cut boards from logs. All driven from a water wheel that is fed by a natural spring that comes from a cave. Speaking of a cave, they have several caves on site. One of which you can take a boat ride through. Near Spring Mill is a town called Mitchel Indiana, there you will find a museum of Gus Grissom. They have items from his mission into space.  This is just a short trip but well work it. Lincoln SP also has an ampitheater where they have events through summer and fall. Check out the IDNR website for events that are happening.

A staple of our state here in Indiana. Unfortunately due to some storm damage, trails were rerouted or straight up inaccessible.

Great places to find and set up camp. We even discovered a few extra hidden sites just by being forced off trails due to the damage.

Every dispersed camper should add the hikes to the lake to their checklist.

My husband, 3.5yo, 1yo and myself went to O'Bannon Woods the weekend before the 4th of July and I can't believe I've never been there! It's an amazing little park. We camp in a 12' pop up and our site 111 was nice for it. We did have to back between two trees at about 10pm in the dark, but we made it!

We LOVED the nature center and the living history village! The nature center had plenty of critters for the kids to look at. The living village was a pleasant surprise since I didn't realize they had one. They also have demonstrations of the hay press on holiday weekends which was really neat to watch.

We only hiked one trail and that was the one from the campground to the nature center. It was fairly rough in spots but enjoyable. The nearby caves ran by the park were a nice escape from the summer heat. We went on the short one with the kids and it was just the right length for their ages.

Also, if you like wine, there's a little winery down the road, Scout Mountain and they had the best deal on firewood along with great wine!

I can't wait to go back, I honestly can't believe I've lived in southern Indiana my whole life and have never been here.

   We camped here 20 years ago with our kids& decided it was time to go back. This time as a couple. This park is great for families! The pioneer village, the trails. There's boating & fishing. The Guss Grissom Museum is on site. Hopefully, the pool will be open next year. 

   The campground is typical state park. Most sites are close together. If you get an inner site you'll be backed up into another site. There's VIP sites, but the only thing we could figure out is some of these sites (or all?) have sewer. We were camped in loop 1- 48. Some of these sites are pretty good. Some have really steep inclines. We were at site 7 20 years ago & it's still a good, level site. I decided to try site 8. It was listed as "private". It's a huge site! Unfortunately, you have to thread your RV between 2 trees to a slender gravel pad. The pad has an incline & to get to your fire ring & picnic table, you have to go down a small hill. It's covered with straw, so we were leery about what rain would bring to this site. We have a 16' trailer, so we didn't have much trouble. Someone on the Camping Indiana Facebook site said they got a 36' trailer with 2 slideouts in!

 Bathrooms/showers are typical state park. In other words, really old & need updating. Cleaning is also not mandatory. When you make a reservation, pay attention to the site description. You can save a lot of grief if you note how much of an incline the site has. Also, bring shower shoes. We camped at Spring Mill State Park in a Travel Trailer

Obannon Overall, this is a nice state park to camp in. Staff was very friendly. They have ice and wood. My kids enjoyed the nature center, pioneer village, and one of the easy trails.

We stayed in 220. It was nice to be right by the playground and bathrooms (which is what we wanted). Some spots near the back would be nice and secluded like the 180s and 190s and they’re still not too far from the bathrooms and playground. The better playground is in loop A.

I will say, I didn’t see any staff members cleaning up trash, getting campsites ready, or anything the 2 days we were there. Even though we went in November, it was a nice weekend and wasn’t dead, so I was surprised I didn’t see anyone cleaning. Wasn’t the cleanest state campground we’ve been at in Indiana. Certainly wasn’t awful though either.

My biggest gripe was they were hosting a huge cycling group. Like the whole loop A. We were all the way back in C. They held a concert that went on from like 8-11 pm. Being in a pop up, it was so loud and never ending. Made it difficult for my kids to sleep. If they’re going to hold (or allow) events like these, it should be posted on their website. Even with our sound machine, we still couldn’t block it out. I realize quiet hours aren’t until 11, but to me there’s a difference.

There is also hardly any signage and spots are difficult to find. No arrows about which way to go, signs saying which loop you’re in, and spots are only marked on the electrical boxes.

Overall, may stay again and try out the pool since we’re not too far from home, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to stay here.