Best Equestrian Camping near Mechanicsville, 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.

The small loop here accommodates both tent and RVs, which is fine but some of these damn things are so huge, I have trouble believing they could wedge themselves here. The sites for tents are big enough for a 4 person tent. There are clean bathrooms and the hosts, who I have spoken to many times, are friendly and knowledgeable about the area. There is however a great bit of light pollution at night here due to its approximation to DC. Minimal noise except for planes overhead. There are decent trails to hike here too. There’s a sacrifice of space here- I’d like to see it expand a bit, as the campground can fill quickly, especially if RV’s are involved.

Great campground hidden away in the city. Clean sites include table and fire pit. Restrooms were clean, closed daily for cleaning between 1 pm - 3 pm. Two showers were included but didn’t use it so not sure about pressure or heat. The ranger delivers firewood to your site within about 10-15 min of calling, which was very convenient. Cost was $5 for 8 logs. Dump station and trash were just outside of the loop. Site 6 was good but not for larger rigs. We have a pop up and had to navigate around a tree that would have been very difficult for larger rigs. Site 5 or 7 wouldn’t have that problem. Bring bug and tick spray - definitely need it! We hiked the brown trail and it was a nice walk. We have AT&T and had two bars pretty consistently. We would stay here again.

We arrived on a Sunday. Very quiet, many open RV spots around us. We had site 18. Which is next to one of the water spigots. The idea is to use it to fill up tanks. Ranger let us know not to stay hooked up to it. 30 amp electric. No issues there. Lots of trails but in June at least the ticks were waaaay too plentiful.

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).

Nice park. Shower room was very nicely kept, nice paths from each campsite to restrooms. Nice quiet place close enough to everything you would need.

If this campground is convenient - and given that it's open through October and <60 minutes from DC it might well be - this campground is good to go. But without that convenience factor I would not rate this site as worth visiting.

The loop is very small, with all the sites pretty close together. The forest behind the site was sparse, enough so that it was hard to find fuel for the fire and we were basically part of the youth group activities happening. From 8am to 4pm I learned A LOT about what number to dial in case of emergency.

The site itself was very small - difficult to get 2 cars and two tents in - and the fire ring was smaller as well. Though it was cleaner than the average state park site.

We stayed in site 21, which was fine enough except for its proximity to the nearest pavilion and all the small children screaming "stop drop and roll" at the top of their lungs.

But at the end of the day it was $20 (with a $6 booking fee) and for better or worse we never interacted with a single park ranger or camp host. The upside is we could do what we wanted, the downside is there wasn't a sense of community, or regulation.

I'll say I have never been to a site where the firewood is padlocked, and you have to call someone to come unlock it so you can buy firewood. In fact I'm downgrading the review from 3 stars to 2 as I write this - there really weren't many positives about this campground other than that camping is a terrific hobby.

very well maintained, nice sites that aren't right on top of one another. multiple loops for groups or individuals

We chose this campground based on proximity to work. This campground was priced fairly, however, it does come with its downfalls.

PROS

Let me start with the positive, we were 1 of 3 campers in this loop during our week-long stay. This made it peaceful and quiet. 

CONS

It's close to a Naval base, and therefore you constantly hear airplanes, and helicopters at all times. 

Other than the daily bathroom cleaning, this campground lacks maintenance on sites and walkways. They are both overgrown. 

Playground, fishing, archery all seem blocked off at this time. 

Trails seem open but are across and through hunting areas. They are also muddy from the rain. There is even standing water around our site which brings us to...the MOSQUITOS! We tried fans, tiki torches, and many deet free or light deet products before having to buy 100% deet so we could be outside. These things are awful!

This was a great place to stay. Very quiet and with some amazing trails within walking distance. Very well laid out and excellent signage.

Weekend trip with our Aliner went well. Site was clean and electric worked. Nice gravel paths leading to the bath house.

Pros-Hiking trails are beautiful. We will return with our MTB. Pretty quiet campground. We had tent and trailer neighbors (Inner loop is electric hook ups, outer is tent camping). Sites are spaced well.

Cons- No ranger to be found. If you had an issue this could be a problem. Bath House showers went from hot to freezing randomly. After our second ice cold shower we gave up. Finally, there is no dish cleaning station. Plenty of water spouts but no hot water for cleaning. Maybe we couldn’t find it but other campers didn’t find it either.

Over all it was a nice campground for a quick visit. Definitely worth checking out.

Need military id and reservations to go

This place is packed full of people who like to stay up late and make lots of noise. Park rules aren't very well enforced. Showers were clean and campsites seemed well maintained.

Beautiful campground located near the National Harbor. Eagles everywhere! Large clean sites. Great staff!

We camp here twice a year Memorial Day and Labor Day. It’s a clean and laid back park that has fun programs fir the kids. We camp around the playground and they have several events scheduled right there so the kids don’t have to go far and the parents can relax and watch. The little camp store is fun to visit for the little ones as well with some live reptiles to see. There is also hiking, fishing and frisbee golf all within walking distance of the camp ground.

the restrooms/bathhouse are well maintained and cleaned several times a day.

Pohick Bay is my go-to weekend camping spot. Just a few miles outside DC, Pohick Bay is a hidden gem in the area. I’d recommend taking in a game of disc golf on their 18 hole course.

loved staying here with family for vacation! the park for kids is fun. the bathrooms are very clean. the popup camper fit nicely on the site. respectful neighbors on the campgrouds and clean sites. we got there a bit early for the pool but it looked nice!

We had a great time here over a long weekend in August. The check in is a breeze and the staff is super nice and helpful. They gave us a great intro to the park as we were first timers. They informed us that they had a scavenger hunt for the kids going all weekend, they had an outdoor movie scheduled for Friday night, a campfire story time scheduled for Saturday night and crafts scheduled for Sunday morning. This was music to our ears as we camp with our 3 and 1 year old. There is also a pool/water park in the park as well as a nice network of trails. There is plenty of things to do here to keep a family occupied.

We got a site on thr inner loop and it backed to the playground and the bathhouse. The site was spacious. We are tent campers but almost all our neighbors were in an RV or trailer. The site had water and electric which was nice. The bathhouse is standard but also has laundry and an outdoor dish washing station. The campground was quiet which is nice.

This was an amazing weekend for us and we will definitely be back. There is boat rental a short walk down the trsil from the campgrounds and the pool and disc golf course are another short trail walk away.

This was a great place to stay! Close t9 everything D.C. has to offer while being far enough away to be in the woods. We went during the fall, but the summer woukd be an ideal time to go so you can enjoy the water park and bay.

We stayed here for 3 nights at a back in with w/e. We enjoyed sitting around the campfire at night and walking the dogs down to the water. We were right next to a hiking trail that went down to the water and a beach area. We were working in Arlington/DC only a 25 min drive away and it was nice to come home to some nature.