Do you love the outdoors and horses? If you're looking for a rustic but comfortable experience, horse camping in Algona is the way to go. Camping with horses is a beautiful way to experience nature. These scenic and easy-to-reach Iowa campsites are perfect for your horse camping excursion.
$16 - $22 / night
Clear Lake State Park offers diverse activities on one of Iowa’s most popular lakes. The 3,000-acre lake is a draw for boating, fishing and windsurfing. The park features 50 acres of open spaces and mature oak trees along with a highly popular campground. Several acres of picnic grounds with tables and grilles are available for day-use. The nearby town of Clear Lake is a summer tourist destination with numerous stores and restaurants. Camp in one of the most popular campgrounds in Iowa’s state park system. The campground contains two modern restrooms, shower facilities and two dump stations. A quarter of the campsites are available on a first-come, first-serve basis and advanced reservations can be made online through the online reservation system for Clear Lake State Park.
$10 - $16 / night
Legend
We tend to stay at campgrounds during the off or shoulder season for a quieter experience so it was with some apprehension that we reserved this campground for a summer weekend so that we could meet friends for Paddlefest. We were happy to discover that despite being a full campground, it was quiet at almost all hours of the day and night. It was, however, an entirely different story on the lake itself, where boats gathered all day to party!
There is little separation between the sites but there are trees located throughout, some of which provide shade to the site. The camper pads were a mix of dirt and gravel and mostly level. We were lucky to snag Site 34 (reserved about three months in advance) – it was on the end, making it a much larger site than the interior sites (all end sites in our section were larger) and we had plenty of shade trees, a welcome relief on a very hot weekend.
The paved roads leading to the sites are very narrow and would appear to be one-way but are not designated as such, resulting in some confusion. The site numbers are only listed on one side, even though most of the sites appeared to be pull-through.
The restrooms and showers were clean and had soap and (dated) air dryers.
Overall, we had a very pleasant two-night stay even though we were prepared for a different experience.
Guide
Standard site without electric was only $10.00 a night which includes a nearby water spigot to fill your tank with. Put toilets and showers available. The friendly hosts made a point to come by to chat. Two fawns were born there, under one of the picnic tables and they were around all weekend. I’ll be back !
GuideNice place to spend the weekend or a week! Came in late and a resident helped me find a great spot. When driving to my site two fawns were laying near the playground.
GuideNice campground with grassy pull thru sites. But very close together. If full, you would have no privacy. Fortunately, it was 1/4 full, so no problem. Bathrooms clean, nice warm showers! Nice beach, lots to do. Would be a fun place if you don’t mind camping next to neighbors!
GuideThis is our second time camping at the Clear Lake State Park. The park is clean, the shower house is nice. It’s hard to control the temperature in the showers, too hot for little kids to stand directly in the water. The playground was fun for the kids, nice beach access! Limited full hook up sites. I wish there were more full hook ups that you could reserve. Paved roads are great for bike riding. Great shaded spots. DNR cruises the park daily which is nice to see.
ScoutOverall nice place to stay. We stay each year with family so there are about 4 of our campers all there together.distance between sites can be wide or narrow depending on which site you’re on.
Pros: Clean/well maintained, easy short path through the trees to get to the beach, sturdy picnic tables all around, long “driveway” for campsite
Cons: pads are gravel and not very level, pads are very narrow, beyond the trees on one side of the campground is a major road so you’ll hear cars passing by, not a lot of restroom/bathhouses
GuideWe spent 4 days here and the park is a busy place! Very clean!!!!! Dump station was easy access! We were right by the shower houses. Check in and out was simple. We made our reservations online. The park had paved roads, great for bike riding, playground was a hit! The sunset was gorgeous in the evenings at the beach! We will be back!
Guide
I like beach camp, but I LOVE north equestrian camp. Wish the boxes accomodated my rig. It's easy in spring or fall, we can get by with 30 amps. If you need 50 amps, you're going to want to head to the Beach Camp.
GuideGreat sites, phenomenol hosts. LOVE the playground, and the culture; this is home during the summer months. Terrible WIFI, absolutely no cell coverage out here. Not sure how they justify raising camping rates here if the ameneties do not reflect modern needs for family enjoyment. Yes we like smores, and watching the birds, and fishing, and hiking; but so help me, we like our Netflix too, and I sure would like to be able to watch the weather report. Even Dish coverage is spotty out here. It's weird, we're not down in a valley or anything. Not sure why this is such a dead zone out here.
LegendGeneral: A mixture of tent (non-electric) and electric sites, mostly arranged in several rows.
Site Quality: Mixed. Not all sites are level, and most do not have delineated parking pads (there is a small pavement indent to show where to access the site). A fire pit and picnic table complete the site. Most of the sites are too close together for our liking, however, when we were there (a Monday at the end of August, the day before school started), we were only one of three sites occupied so for our stay it didn’t matter.
Bathhouse: Basic but clean. My biggest complaint is there were no hooks or shelves for toiletries by the sinks. The showers looked nice but we did not use them.
Activities: Horseback riding (there are trails for this), hiking, fishing. Although we did see several trailheads, I did not have a map so didn’t explore them. There is an observation tower, but it is a two-mile walk/drive from the campground (on paved roads; I didn’t try to find hiking trails to get there).
Misc: A shout-out to the great host, Pam, who greeted us as we arrived. The observation tower, entrance gates, and picnic shelter were all constructed by the CCC and were beautiful. It almost seemed like the campground was an afterthought as it is outside the entrance gates and nowhere near the tower. The layout of the campground would be challenging if all sites were occupied.
ScoutWe love coming to Clear Lake! The campgrounds are always very well kept, bathrooms very clean! Easy access to the lake, and the town has so much to do during the summer months!
ScoutBeautiful campground. Well maintained. Nice facilities. You can’t beat this place for the price. Nice hiking trails too.
ScoutFor $12/night on a 30AMP hookup, I really can't complain. This is my first of many stops in the new RV, needed a place to camp out before getting it serviced the next day. Enjoyable scenery, especially at sunset
GuideGreat place to camp if you like fishing, horseback riding or a nice place to get away.
ScoutClear lake state park is a nice campground. It does get very busy during peak season and traffic is continuous. It is clean and close to the beach. Down town and other shopping is a short drive away. Lots of families camp here. Spots are nice.
ScoutThis is our favorite place to camp. Never overcrowded, they have activities put in by Friends of Pilot Knob such as movie nights. Lots to do like hiking, biking, and fishing. Very clean bathhouse and bathrooms, park. Family friendly and quiet place to camp.
TravelerThe only open site was in the North Equine Campground so we took a chance. We really did like the Campground, it was well maintained, clean and quiet. There were a few campers with horse but not many. Hitching posts behind each site which we enjoyed seeing. The roads inside the campground were all asphalt so lots of bikers enjoying rides around the grounds. There was also a nice playground for the kids surrounded by a well maintained, large, grassy area.
There were many empty sites because so many had no electric. It made for lots of nice open space. Unfortunately, we had no shade in the afternoon so weren't able to eat dinner outside or enjoy a fire in the evening. We are fortunate we camped in a 5th wheel so we could escape the heat, we would have left after the first night otherwise.
We did drive through the Beach Campground and the South Equine Campground. Beach had very little shade and was primarily families with younger children. The beach looked real nice, not too crowded for a hot,
July day.
North Equine was where most of the horse folks were staying it was quite crowded. A very bustling area.
Guide
A hidden gem in Northwest Iowa. It is Memerial Day Weekend and on Friday night we had one other tent camper on Friday. None on Saturday.
The bathrooms are the old hole going down into a pit. They are very rustic.
There are plenty of trails in the park. The big creek that runs through the kiddos can play in. It is not deep but it’s water. There are some other small little creeks too.
Around the camping area, the kids rode their bikes. We did ride around the roads as a family.
The camp site are dirt.
There are permanent fire rings and grills at each site. Only place to get firewood was at Hy-Vee. Our site had electricity with 50, 30,& 20 amps.
There is only one water spot in the campground. We drank the water and didn’t die.
There is a golf course next to the park that is fun.
My only real complaint would be there is a lot of people just driving through.
GuideLoved this state park. Sites not too level, but spacious. Camped in mid April and park was not very busy which was nice. Full hook up sites and W/E only sites. Close to town and lots to do.
GuideCamped here in order to be close to Fort Dodge first thing in the morning. I stayed in the Beach Campground. It's not on the beach, but close to it. There are 3 total campgrounds in the park. My choice was a very well manicured campground. The shower house was not open yet due to the time of year, but the drop latrine was open, very clean and well lit.
This little nugget is laid out on a vast prairie. Most sites have younger trees that provide some shade. This is not the big wooded type park. There are trails to get you out and away from the "park" and closer to the rustic woody nature.
Fire rings are all adjustable, sites are well kept and they offer "buddy sites" that are 2 sites really close together for those times when you bring friends, but have too many tents/vehicles to fall into the rules.
Verizon 4G fluctuated between 0-2 bars. Was able to send pictures and only dropped a call once.
Very little light pollution
TravelerGreat for tent camping, very spacious and grassy sites, clean, grill/fire pit was really very nice. Very clean and modern bathrooms, easy access to water. Hiking trails were well maintained. Can't wait to come again.
Guide
Really nice spot almost overlooking the lake (Through the trees), had fire ring, picnic tables and room for quite a lot of tents! For me and my family it was perfect!
ScoutGreat for an overnight on my road trip back the Denver. Clean bathrooms and showers.
TravelerFort Defiance is a forresty natural state park in Iowa. There is Electrical Hook ups a picnic Table and a charcoal Grill already at the camp site. The valley has a small river or a big creek, idk you tell me the difference, what you can cross over a few times on the trails. Depending on the time of day, generally in the morning you can cruise through at day break and find deer on the roads to watch out!
GuideOpen for off season camping. 14$/night for full hookups with pull thru RV sites.
TravelerI love this campground! Clean, well maintained, and the hosts are very friendly. Trail to the beach is clear, the playground has nice, safe equipment for the little kids. Sad that there were so many back up sites over the holiday weekend, would have liked to have been able to camp here. It being full more than a week before the holiday, shows how great it is.
RangerPull through sites, bathhouse was clean and showers were individual room with timed lights, motion sensors kept the shower interesting! Got to see turtles laying eggs and deer were all around. Family loved the fishing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Algona, IA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Algona, IA is Pilot Knob State Park — Pilot Knob State Preserve with a 4.3-star rating from 12 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Algona, IA?
TheDyrt.com has all 7 equestrian camping locations near Algona, IA, with real photos and reviews from campers.
