Best Equestrian Camping near Beltsville, MD

Saw a snake, alligator snapping turtle, and rabbits, before we even reached the gates. Moderate privacy and space, especially considering how close it is to DC. There are some abandon camp loops around the open campground which makes for some cool walks with your dog. Very pretty area with lots of trails and overgrown roads to walk. Equestrian trails go deep into the woods if you want a longer trail. Bathrooms don’t look like much from the outside, but the inside is very nice. Clean, hot water, and good water pressure. The have a new dump station, but the hose has an anti-freeze up in the air with a pull cord valve. This means every time you pull to turn the water on, you get a shower. It was hot, so it was OK. Hahaha. They sell firewood, but they were huge pieces and getting them to start burning was tough. LOTS and LOTS of ticks. I got one, but my wife and dog got about a dozen each. Just bring tweezers. Each site had picnic table, fire ring, and pretty level parking spot.

We picked up the camping registration outside the office at the entrance, no need to speak with anyone. Then we just drove down to our campsite in the family camping loop. We could hear and smell horses when we got to our campsite, but it didn't last forever. 

The site was mostly clean, had a few pieces of small trash scattered around when we arrived. The sites were decently spaced out from one another, it didn't feel like we were right on top of the people across and next to us. Our site was close to the restroom, it had a little path leading to the restroom, and it looked like there was little trail paths all around leading to the restrooms from the different parts of the loop. The path leading to the restroom from our site was gravel and easy to walk on. The restrooms were clean, but the floor was wet almost the entire time we were there (likely due to the showers).

If you need to buy wood it is $5 for 8 pieces and you call a number given to you in your registration packet. The ranger will then drive by and drop off the wood at your campsite. The inner ring of this loop has electricity, and the electric box was just on the far side of the picnic table in the corner.

Cedarville State Forest is located in Charles Co., MD. It's near Waldorf which offers amenities that you might need. The campground is one loop with 27 mostly spacious sites. Some of the sites were not well tended and had tall grasses while others seemed better groomed. Most were level but some were more steep front to back. Each site had a pretty good gravel area, picnic tables and firepits. Cedarville State Forest offers lots of outdoor activities, none of which we tried, but we saw archery and rifle ranges, lots of hiking trails as well.  Some of the roads around the state forest were in very bad repair. There were pot holes inside of potholes which made the drive around the area very uncomfortable. Overall, it's a nice campground that had availability just a few weeks out which is hard to come by these days!

We stayed here in the family campground for 3 nights in mid-October. The sites are very small and you sit very close to the camp loop road. Our site was #16 and it was very flat and easy to back a 30’ RV into. Most of the sites have very little distance between them. You’re really on top of your neighbors at this place! We didn’t see a camp host until we left on Monday. The bath house was pretty clean but out of TP frequently (both mens and womens rooms.) There is no camp sink, which was a bummer. There are lots of water spigots around the loop, however. Plenty of firewood when we arrived Friday night, but was totally gone by Saturday morning when we took the dog out at 7am. It was mostly replenished by Saturday night. No kindling, however, just the logs. $5 per crate (honor box, cash only of course.) The ranger station was closed when we arrived and when we left so we couldn’t check out the nature center. There are some really nice trails accessible from the loop. Dog friendly! We’ll stay here again if nowhere else is available, but it’s just too tight of a campground for our taste.

Forested campground with fairly lengthy but level (and thus beginner friendly) hiking just a short distance away from Washington, DC.

If you’ve forgotten anything you can pop on by the Target or Costco right outside the forest.

Also, you can purchase wood while checking in and the Rangers don’t mind if you take a bit extra. Just bring your own starters and kindling (or a small hatchet/saw).

Planes do occasionally fly over the area so consider bringing earplugs if you are a sensitive sleeper. The noise wasn’t really noticeable when I went on a Saturday (the neighboring campsite’s dogs were louder).