Best Equestrian Camping near Carter Lake, IA

It appears not many people camp in Iowa in February. We had the campground to ourselves. We missed the crazy cold and snow by a day but it was 20 degree with the wind when I hiked the prairie. Lovely little state park, clean and the trail system was pretty neat. Wasn't perfectly flat and had some overlooks. Very much enjoyed!

Good hiking, horse rides, great hills for trail running.

we go every year, tents not allowed yet. plenty of cabins, water park and gun range. Horse rides available.

This campground is crowded with significant interstate noise. However there are many activities for kids including paddleboating, a wave pool, horse riding, ziplining, and playgrounds. Modern restrooms with showers and power are available.

Platte River has nice inexpensive cabins and lots of easy trails to explore with the family. There’s also horse trail rides and a splash pads. Don’t want to cook? There’s a lodge restaurant with yummy homestyle cooking.

This park has a little of everything. Great sites— different loops to stay at. Nice bathrooms. Hiking trails and bike trails. Water park, horse riding area, fishing pond and more. This place does get packed so might have to make reservations early depending on weekend of course.

If you don’t mind lugging your stuff to your tent spot, it’s primitive, no frills camping at its finest! We chose the closest spot to the vault toilets. There are only 4. It’s a bit off the beaten path but we got to enjoy the beautiful horses. Bonus!

This is a great state park and possibly the busiest since it’s between Omaha and Lincoln. Walking trails. Camping spots galore. Arts and crafts. Horse riding. Water park. Lodge. Viewing tower. And they just added a ropes course. cabins for rent as well.

The only minus besides it’s always busy is the road noise from Interstate 80.

This is a great weekend spot not much to do around the park. The campsites are nice but close with not much space in between. There are 2 campgrounds, the one north of the highway is a horse campground but required. There are nice trails in this area. The campground on the south is more of a tent site. There are vault toliets, no showers. A lot of great trails o this side. All campsites include a picnic table and fire ring.

We live a short drive from Mahoney and have taken advantage of its convenient tent camping. Campgrounds are well kept. Sites are open and grassy and bathrooms are clean. Kids activities are endless with playgrounds, a water park, mini-golf, ponds, trails, horses, etc. One thing that stands out is the interactive Melodrama offered most evenings. Kids of all ages boo, cheer, and throw popcorn. Winter brings activities such low cost outdoor ice skating, a massive indoor playground, and a sledding hill. Cabins and a lodge are available.

As full-time campers we stay at Mahoney quite often as it is close to the Omaha-metro and there are so many things to do within the park: swimming, golf, zip lines, arts & crafts, trails, nature, horses, etc. Huge amount of walk up sites all year long. Little Creek campground is the best place to stay for amenities: laundry, hot showers but avoid any campsite located at the bottom of the hill so you are not washed away by rain water or have a site full of mud.

This is a really nice state park. There are plenty to do. My son and I camped for one night. We went paddle boating, swimming, and horse back riding. The only not so good thing about camping in this park is that it is so close to the interstate. My son was unable to fall asleep. We ended up leaving at 4am. Thankfully, we live close to this place. Overall, it’s a nice campground. It’s serene but not quiet. Also, the men’s restroom, per my son, is dirty and stinky.

Stayed one night on Sept 4. Camped at site 35 in the non-equestrian campground; non-electric fee $15. Parked van on the grass at this site. Like nearly all of the sites in this campground, this site was close to the campground road. Overall, I felt that the campsites were all bunched together - offering no privacy and spacing between sites. The shower house was closed during our visit. Water was also turned off at the wayer pumps in the campground. There was one single vault toilet available for all of the campers; it was reasonably clean. Wayne, the campground host, was nice & helpful. There is a self-serve firewood station in the campground; cost is either $5 or $10, depending on the amount of wood you purchase. The campsites have a picnic table & metal fire ring. I wasn't too pleased with this campground, but I was very happy with the nearby hiking trails within the park. It's a pretty state park with hills & lush forest. The day use areas looked great. I recommend those traveling along I-29 to stop at this park - not necessarily for the camping, but for the hiking. Had some T-Mobile 4G service.

Wow, what a wonderful State Park. This park has so much to offer and is well kept and beautifully landscaped. Make sure to reserve you're spot well in advance because everyone loves this park. We enjoy the sites right by the water where the geese come up into our site. There is so much to do here at the park like guided horse rides, the pool, painting, zip-lining, Trails, fishing, and paddle boat rentals.They have an activity center, an arboretum, and a look out tower which is worth the climb. There are also playgrounds, and ball fields.

There are 2 different campgrounds with nice spacious pads mostly shaded. There are also many cabins of all sizes which we have also stayed in during Christmas time many times and were very pleased with. All cabins have everything you need. Just come and have fun.

There is also a beautiful Lodge with a restaurant and store which is a must see. All in All this park has something for Everyone and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as we do.

When reviewing this campground it is important that I preface anything with a note about the campground condition.  This entire area has been inundated with flooding off and on since March 2019.  This review is taking these issues into accord and basing the review on the areas that have been repaired in the park since the flooding.

Campground Review:

When entering the park you will notice some areas that still show signs of being impacted by the historic flooding this year.  The road was completely wiped out during the flooding, but due to some intense work the road was replaced to the campground.  

At the park entrance there is a park office to purchase park permits for either day use or for the season. A yearly in-state park permit is $31 and a daily is $6 per day.  You will also notice another building at the entrance that during the active season (April-September) is the concession stand.  They have a decent spread of options to purchase like drinks, firewood, bait, etc., but you are better off price wise bringing your own supplies to save money.

Just past the entrance you will see a row of 10 former Union Pacific Cabooses that in lieu of actual cabins can be rented for a nights stay.  They have restrooms, a deck, beds, etc. , but you do need to bring your own bedding when staying in a caboose.  These can be rented for $75 per night.  One unfortunate part of the caboose rentals is there are no pets allowed when renting.

There are multiple lakes within the campground to use for fishing.  During peak season these lakes are often overly packed-in with people trying to catch something.  Lake number 5 is popular for Trout fishing.  During normal years that aren't heavily impacted by flooding you can also do some river fishing on the Platte River.  Due to the flooding this year though, access to anything by the river is closed due to the area being a mess and some areas undermined by the water that sat for months.

Two Rivers SRA provides tent and RV camping, but again due to the flooding this year a couple of the more popular areas are closed for significant repairs.  One of the busy areas for RV camping and where we stayed was the Lakeside Campground.  With it being off-season it wasn't too busy but there were close to a dozen campers there over the weekend.  RV camping can be done for $25-$35 per night at Two Rivers SRA.  The more expensive "Full Hook-up" is actually only water and power.  There are no sewer hook-ups that I have ever seen for our multiple stays.  Since it is off-season the dump station is closed for your post camping routine.  There is a Love's Travel Stop about 5 miles away where you can dump for $5.  While the primary water is shutoff as well this time of year, there are multiple Iowa hydrants that are still available for filling the holding tanks.

Tent campers can use any of the open spots at any of the campgrounds, but if you are using a spot with power it runs $15 per night.  The normal primitive campground is closed from the flooding, but when open it runs $10 per night.

Two Rivers SRA also offers Horse Camping for those that want to bring their horses out and do some trail riding.  This has been closed all season due to the flooding, but when open there are usually 3-4 groups that bring their horses in for trail riding and camping, so it is pretty popular.

**All off-season camping is $5 off the normal rate with exception of primitive sites.

The campground has multiple vault toilets throughout the campground and a few new full service bathrooms/shower houses, that double as shelters during Tornado season.  These fully concrete facilities have been built in the last couple years and are still in really good shape.

The campground areas that are open have been rehabilitated pretty well since the flooding.  They are fairly clean and maintained, about the only real issues are the presence of more sand from the flooding and some roads that need attention.

Pheasants Forever also has a wildlife preserve within the campground.  The organization maintains the grounds as a habitat and also performs hunts here throughout the year.  When it is not being used for hunting, it is a really nice area to go for a hike and see some wildlife.

Unfortunately due to the flooding a lot of the areas along the banks of the Platte River that are usually used for hiking cannot be accessed.  There is some danger involved with trying to get to some of these areas due to the conditions post-flood.  You can still hike around the rest of the park using the roads, or even take your bikes out for some fun riding.

The area has really been impacted by the historic flooding, but they are really doing everything they can to bring the area back to what it was before the flooding.  Take the time to stop out and if you do, offer a hand at helping to clean-up!

Product Review of HeadSpin Light System:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I am offered the chance to test from time-to-time.  On this camp out I was provided with the chance to test the new HeadSpin Light System.  If you would like to know more about the HeadSpin Light System check out their website: www.headspinoutdoors.com

When I un-boxed this light kit with my boys we were all immediately taken aback by the options this light provided for use.  The light system comes in a well designed case that houses all the components in their own foam lined spaces.  

You receive the light unit itself, a handlebar mount, a head mount, a flashlight mount, and a wall charger mount.  The kit also comes with a hex wrench for mounting the handlebar mount to a bike, a mini-usb charging cord, directions, and HeadSpin sticker.

The first thing we tested out was the brightness of the light while we were in the campground.  We were very impressed with how bright this light is and how well it was able to show us much more of the campground than we expected based on previous headlamps we have used.  The headlamp is easily adjusted for size and my boys were constantly changing the fit between each other.  Adjusting the light intensity isn't too difficult either once you identify which button is used for each task.  The buttons were a little awkward to identify with gloves on during the cold night when we were at the campground.  I would suggest making the buttons easier to identify in some manner, possibly raising them a bit.

While I did not have my mountain bike out with us on this trip, I did identify another way to use the handlebar mount.  This mounted quite well to the bottom of the grip of my trekking pole.  This worked out really well when we were walking around the campground and really added just that much more functionality to the HeadSpin Light System.  I do look forward to getting this mounted on my mountain bike as well and trying it out on some of the local trails.

Now for full disclosure, I have always been into different types of flash lights as it always seems as though I have a job where they are required in some way.  I was really impressed with the flashlight handle for the HeadSpin Light System.  It is too often when you are carrying a flashlight where you notice the grip is either too big or too small.  This grip really fit in the Goldilocks arena for me and I expect to use this quite often.

When charging this light system you have the ability to use the wall plug base or the USB cable.  I received this light earlier enough and I was able to use the wall plug.  The light had no power when I received it and was fully charged in an hour after being plugged into the wall. In my book that is impressive, and I used it all weekend and it is still going on that charge.

I really appreciate the versatility of this light system overall and recommend it to anyone looking for a good interchangeable light setup.  This works for campers, cyclists, DIY addicts, etc.  This is really a great kit and I plan to use this setup for years to come.  Again, to find out more about this fantastic light system check it out on their website at: www.headspinoutdoors.com

Been coming to this lake for years. It's a beautiful setting, right in the middle Loess Hills in sw Iowa. The fishing has always been good here. But this camp area is not much at all. The spaces are really small, and not really one view of the lake. There is a new visitor center right by the entrance of the camping area. There also a really small pond by the entrance as well. This place would probably work for a over night stay, but not a destination. But I still love the areas wildlife, and the lake. Or maybe it's just the nostalgia for me.

We stayed here on a whim while passing through. The woman at the lodge was very helpful with the booking. We stayed at site #94 in the Little Creek campground which had electric hookup. The campground was a nice change of scenery from all the farmland and corn we had to endure in Iowa and in the rest of Nebraska. We saw a couple of white-tailed deer wandering through in the early morning hours. There seems to be a lot more to offer here than we had time to enjoy. Nice state park, would recommend to others and would stay again if ever in the area

Waubonsie State Park near Hamburg, Iowa is under construction. That is the road was when we visited. The workers were not the most helpful either. That being said the park employees were very informative, if you could find one.

We visited enroute through the area and enjoyed the trails most of all. Though my map skills are questionable I had a more then usual difficult time navigating by the map supplied. The signage was close to non-existent. I fell back on the tried and true , always go left. Which worked well enough for the ridge line we hiked. Some awesome views.

I often have the problem of comparing places I’ve been. You can’t do this state to state I’ve learned because they all run, staff and take care of their natural resources in different ways. I do my best to base my opinion on face value and impressions of my visit to that park. Waubonsie SP is my first Iowa Park , I was not impressed. BUT it was in the style I like, sparsely used, I saw few campers or employees. Of course school was in and harvest going on and I know that makes a huge difference in certain states. Mostly just blue-hairs camping right now, soon to snowbird to the south :) I aspire to that life someday.

Other then the roadwork the park looked to be somewhat maintained. The cabins I saw need some updating but were functional. The campground was basic, grill, fire ring , picnic table, electric on designated sites. Needed some clean up and graveling on the pads. The facilities were not ancient and were maintained okay. The visitors center looked brand new but was closed so no souvenirs goodies.

I would not consider this a destination campground, but the view is worth an overnight enroute somewhere else.

This lake is one of the very few in Omaha that offers camping. And definitely of all types rv, and tent. But let me give you a disclaimer of why this is a 3 star. First the park is closed due to them draining it because of zebra mussels. Also I still feel weird about camping in a city, but that's my hang up. This place has always been well maintained, and offered a lot of amenities. They also offered rental boats for the lake, a really nice walking trail, and fishing. But for now we will have to wait to see what the improvements are going to be and how the lake turns out. More information to come later.