Best Equestrian Camping near Grayson Lake

Shawnee State Park was totally without any phone signal. Right on the border of Kentucky, in Ohio, you are in the small town almost South.

Beautiful countryside, fortunately I was on Rt 125 when I lost all clue where the park entrance was. Then I saw the Shawnee Range and kept on driving. Definitely get a map because the whole park offers a lot of out door opportunities.

Backpack trail, 23 and 40 miles loops with 7 camping areas, register and enjoy. Equestrians get 70 miles and primitive camping.

The camping area is small ( a good thing ) the restrooms are clean and basic. Showerhouse and laundry. The attendant was super helpful and knowledgeable.

Sorry, that was a bad pun that didn't make sense. However, there is a barn at the campground! For an extra fee ($15 I think, we don't have horses) you could board your horse in the barn.

Campsites are a reasonable price with no hookups, $15. Some of the sites have shade but others get a lot of sun. There is a lake nearby, and most of the other campers were boating or horseback riding.

Showers and bathrooms.

Primitive camping and rv space. You can rent a cabin and such. There is a resort.  Everything always looks really nice. So many recreational activities, caves, hiking, horses and a lot more. I would really recommend visiting.

This is a beautiful state park with breathtaking views of creeks along the roadway, wonderful landscape designed by nature, good hiking trails, peaceful campground, and a nice lodge. The campground is a bit tight, especially when lots of cars are in visiting the campers, very peaceful though as the night goes on. The road to the lake could use a little TLC. Trails are marked nicely, as well as how to get to the equestrian site, Day use area, pool, lodge, and restaurant. Restaurant was very good buffet and menu items available. Lodge was clean and well kept. Very relaxing state park.

Such an incredible park the family loved exploring the trails, waterfalls, rock formations, and water. Check the schedule for ranger programs. The kids really wanted to go horseback riding but evidently it’s BYOH...bring your own horse LOL. The campgrounds had lovely views and lots of trees. We’d definitely return.

Definitely get a tour of the caves while you’re here. Camping is among the trees without much geology to see nearby. Pros: nice tent-only loop, very forested, fairly private tent sites, wildlife, many activities (hiking, cave tours, fishing, kayak rentals, swim, put-put, ranger talks), especially friendly & informed guides/caretakers, horse camp is far enough away to not smell like a farm. Cons: pool was a little too chaotic for us (but that’s typical), campground is bustling during the day but quieted down well at sunset.

Park was nice, clean and has friendly staff. We liked that we could walk to the bathrooms and not have to drive there. We stayed at site 100 and really enjoyed the shade trees. Showers are small but they work and there are only 3 stalls of toilets and 3 showers ( I believe) in the women’s side- unsure of men’s. Plenty to do, including a playground, pool, miniature golf, bike riding, horse back riding, hiking, etc. All sites have a picnic table and a grate over the fire pit. Water wells are easily accessible and they have washers and dryers as well. Check-in location was a bit confusing but eventually figured it out.

The night we arrived it was pouring rain. After sleeping in the car to stay dry we explored the park. The park really came alive with the rain, which really made the trip. Water was running over the edges of cliffs and boulders throughout the park into the river that flows through the park. The cave tours were cheap and interesting, although the self guided tour was closed due to flooding. We did the Three Bridge Trail which was moderately challenging but worth the unique geology and natural bridge formations.

The tent campground was quiet but the RV campground was pretty full and lively. At site 110 we struggled to find a flattish spot—the sites closest to the road to the horse campground were much better. The bathrooms were randomly closed one night on a Saturday which was a little annoying. There wasn’t any clear communication of restroom hours.

It was hard to find firewood nearby, we ended up seeing a sign of a guy selling firewood and we called him. It was $23 for 35 logs delivered to the site. This ended up being way more than we needed and we left some behind after giving some out for free to other campers, which was a cool experience.

We left for the day on our second to last day and packed up most of the site in the car as we’d be gone a while. When we came back what we left was gone along with our reservation slip at the site entrance. It seems the rangers took it that we left and now I’m out a water jug.

There was some scavenger hunt race going on too and people would come out of the forest and run through our campsite with no regard to us being right there which was a little odd.

Overall I didn’t know what to expect as an out of stater but had a great time through the weather and all.

• Beautiful area of Kentucky Nice trails and great kayaking

Nice caves & trails, but the campground is not best. Kentucky's sharing power poles make finding a level site with reachable power even tougher. Weekends are crazy crowded. Staff is friendly. Would never attempt to stay here without a reservaton.

This campsite is great, nice if you’re okay being a bit closer to other campers but definitely not cramped. The bathrooms are showers are very nice and clean and the camp store is super convenient and has whatever necessities you’d need and some nice gifts. Having a table is super helpful as well. It is beautiful and this time of year the fireflies are gorgeous in the trees. We visited this site on the way in and out of our trip because we enjoyed the first stay so much and felt safe staying here.

Full hookups at a reasonable price. 10% senior discount. Beautiful location. My only complaint is the bath house. The shower floor was slippery and dirty. Painted black for some reason. Drains were clogged. Happy that we had full hookups.

The coolest things about this campground are the access to caves and hikes. Tent sites are closer together than photos made it seem. It wasn’t BAD but it also wasn’t my favorite campground I’ve ever been to. Bathrooms were fine. Firewood was expensive but there isn’t another place to buy that’s close, so prepare for that. $25 for 3 bundles. Best sites are 102 or 100. Campground is patrolled often by security/staff (?)

It gets 3 stars for the campground only. The activities would get 5 stars. There isn’t a level site that a 45 motor coach can get to because of trees. Site 88, our site, was impossible to level. We knew going in that the site was only 30amps, no problem right!! See pic. The breaker was held in with duct tape! One chilly morning we turned on the fireplace heater and within three minutes the breaker tripped. Nothing else was on in the coach. I would say 75% of the sites require an extension for your power cord to reach the breaker box. You will need at least 50’ of water hose, oh, the best water pressure we got was 20lbs. Had to fill fresh tank and use it the entire time. The park itself is awesome. Lots to do. Hiking, geocaching, exploring, mini golf, fishing and of course caves. We would stay elsewhere if we go back and go to the park during the day.

Level site. Staff cleans the bathhouse every hour.

We went with three small kids. Great facilities, hiking, caving etc. We plan to return because two nights was not nearly enough to do all the things we wanted to. The tent sites are close together so we may not have enjoyed it as much if it were busier but we were lucky enough to get a site with no immediate neighbors. Pictures online made it appear that tree cover was not as good as it actually was.

Threw a surprise camping trip for my boyfriend and it turned out AMAZING! Love this campground and can’t wait to check more of it out again!

There’s a quiet time reserved for after 11pm. Apparently no one cares because people were LOUD the first night we were there. The second night was less crowded and much more enjoyable. There’s so much to do at Carter caves that I didn’t mind it too much. Lots to do within walking distance of the campground too.

This is our second time staying here. I love to tour the caves. We stayed for a week and had no issues except for the A/C being down during the middle of July! 🥵 The office didn’t have any POC for us to find help to fix the A/C. Would have been nice if they had a list of local people. We ended up finding someone on google. 🎉

The pool was closed because of the pandemic. Face masks were required in the office and the bathhouse.

Nice big camping area, a few short spaces and some were really close together. So check the size limit on the spots. A lot of the spaces are really not level.

Verizon phone service is available here.

Drive down and see the lake.

We have enjoyed our time here.