Horse camping is the perfect way to enjoy South Hadley. If you're an equestrian lover who prefers nature-based adventure, yet still wants comfort, this is the perfect opportunity for you. Whether you own a horse or are joining a tour group, equestrian camping is an adventurous and unique way to experience the city. These scenic and easy-to-reach Massachusetts campsites are perfect for your horse camping excursion.
$14 - $35 / night
Scout
Had a pleasant stay at Woodford State Park. Sites near T38 have a great elevated view of the reservoir. Also a nice loop trail for those looking to do a little bit of hiking.
ScoutThis is a very nice campground.
We stayed in site 64 which is set back more than 2 car lengths from the road and is pretty well surrounded with trees so it feels very private and secluded. Could see one neighboring site slightly through the trees but that neighboring site was lower down so it still felt private. It was a good sized site. Not sure if we could hear any noise from route 9 or not. If we did, it was very faint and did not disturb us.
Site 64 is across the road from a water spigot and the path to the bathrooms/showers. It was very convenient and we didn't feel like we were right by the bathrooms (no compromise to our site's privacy, no noise, etc). Our site wasn't waterfront but wasn't far from path down to reservoir.
The bathrooms are BEAUTIFUL! the nicest I've seen yet. Very clean, well stocked with toilet paper and soap- convenient shelf and hooks for toiletries/towels.
The showers are beautiful as well. There are 3 individual shower rooms that lock. Each one has a bench/chair and hooks to hang towels etc. There is also a small shelf in the actual shower for soap.
NEW for 2024: the showers do not accept quarters anymore. You need to buy tokens from the campground. It is 1 token for 5 minutes and it is 50 cents a token. The issue we encountered was that apparently people still try to put in quarters and this jams the machine. Therefore, when we put in our tokens, though we thought everything worked fine, in fact the machine did not register the tokens and we were left taking ice cold showers. When we told the office in the morning, they explained the issue and said that had we called them they could have fixed the shower. They are going to try to put some guard over the slot to prevent quarters from going in. Hopefully, this is implemented soon. They were very apologetic and gave us new tokens to replace the ones we had lost on cold showers.
The office sells wood for $6 a bundle and you can get free kindling from their leftover cuttings/sweepings. They also sell ice and some "merch"/"swag".
We really enjoyed our stay here.
Guide
Camped out here for two nights after reading about this place in the"Best Tent Camping: New England" book. It's better than the other campgrounds in Rhode Island that I looked at (Burlingame, Fort Getty) but isn't my favorite campground. If you're not a Rhode Island resident the fee for most sites is$36/night. Is it worth it? Eh, probably not unless you're really jonesing to camp for a weekend in the Ocean State.
It does have some great things going for it, namely the hiking trails and views of the lake. There are some tent-only sites which are numbered T1-T5. I stayed in T5 and it was the best of the bunch because it had the most privacy and space, including a grassy area. The other tent-only sites were fairly small and if you go to any mixed use sites you run the risk of having an RV next to you. The A1-A7 sites are remote and hike in, but you're going to have to hike either 0.4 or 0.6 miles through some uneven terrain. The next best group of sites would be 19-24 which are on their own small loop near the lake.
The things I didn't like were the streetlights over the port-a-potties that shine all night. There is a manned gate where you check in and you have to get let into the campground during the day, but at night the gates are wide open and it seems like some people know this because there are a few oddballs around in the early morning. There is swimming at the lake but it looked way too dirty.
Overall the place was managed very well, the sites were cleanish and the grounds were taken care of. The employees drove by at least once an hour, I thought they were collecting trash from dumpsters but the only place with a dumpster is near the entrance. I couldn't figure out why they kept driving by so often. I had a good time, it was relaxing and scratched the camping itch.
ScoutVery clean, not as busy, and has all the basics. Everyone complains about the local small wildlife getting into your food but basic practices can keep them out so it’s not a problem I had
LegendOkay, I will try to update this information on the Dyrt site, but I’ve had mixed success getting that to stick. So if you are confused about things like location, let’s knock that out first:
This campground is located near 2185 Putnam Pike, Chepachet, RI 02814. It’s by Bowdish Lake, near the Connecticut border. This is a cool area of Rhode Island that I enjoyed getting the chance to explore a little bit. Great Italian restaurant if you don’t feel like cooking (Mr Z’s By The Lake) and some historical sites like a very nice covered bridge to the northwest.
Full water and electrical hookup and a very unique and fun play area for kids. The lake access is excellent, obviously. Pay showers of varying degrees of cleanliness. Open to tents, but clearly preferred by the RV crowd.
TravelerSites were well spaced and provided some privacy depending on your site choice. Grounds were well kept, bathrooms were very clean with hot showers (bring quarters, $1.50 for 6mins). Staff was friendly and helpful, with park rangers making regular rounds.
TravelerThis campground fronts on a lovely lake. The sites are spacious and most are fairly level. If I were coming in a large RV (and the sites are big enough to accommodate large RV’s) I would stick to the main road & avoid the loop roads. No hookups, but a really pretty campground. BTW: Your GPS may take you to a maintenance site about 2 miles west of the campground entrance. There is room to turn around! Just continue about 2 miles & you will get to the campground.
GuideThis is my second time here with my Airstream. Clean and well kept campground. I’d easily tent camping here. A lake and great trails to hike.
TravelerThis campground was great. Quiet, great fire pits, clean bathrooms, firewood and starter for sale plus access to day use area. The lake next to the campground is beautiful and has plenty of picnic tables and grills for use. Close to hiking trails and the city of Bennington.
ScoutBeautiful site and really good sized spots.:)
Scout
Son and I stayed from Friday to Sunday. Easy to find the camp and the plot, well marked. Very nice sized lots. Large open areas for kids and adults to play during day and star gaze at night. Close to a small walking path and a larger intermediate hiking trail. Bathrooms were clean and staff were friendly. Would definitely stay again.
GuideI stayed at site 31 in the month of July. It was flat and easy to put up my tent. Partial shade.There are RV water faucets throughout the campground.
TravelerStayed over for 2 nights, the campground is easy to access, amenities (showers and toilets) are in excellent shape and clean. The overall conditions of the campground are great. Some campsites are more private than others, we stayed at #84 and loved it. Showers are $0,50 for 5 minutes, $0,25 per extra minute. Bundle of wood fire is $6 and big bags of ice $3. The campground was very quiet most of the day and totally at night. There is a nice ~ 30/45 minutes trail around the reservoir, easy level.
We had a great time and would stay there again!
GuideStayed here on a Tuesday night right after hurricane Henri. The park was completely cleaned up from any damage or debris, all in great shape. No other campers here when we arrived, so totally silent. No road noise. Most sites are relatively short level pads, with little or no shade, but very pleasant. We picked site 33 for the best shade and longer pad. Wished we had time to check out the hiking trails accessible from the campground.
ScoutBeen taking my son here since he was a baby. Great place to relax
ScoutNice camp ground with friendly but not nosey neighbors. Fishing was great for the grandchildren to get excited catching something, lots of small blue gill. Kids loved the bike riding. If you have a small craft or paddle boards the water adventures look fun. Life guard on duty kept safety high. Nights were so quiet you could hear crickets on the other side of camp. Water not to far from sites. Tenting was great.
GuideI enjoyed this campsite. Great hikes and there are trees that separate campsites. Semi-private and a well kept campground.
ScoutNice wooded sites. Pay showers I wasn’t too thrilled about but the new one was nice. The old bathrooms need a little sprucing up there’s no place to put your soap and shampoo, wouldn’t take much to fix that. Great lake there for kayaking and fishing. Rained most of the time but still had a good time.
GuideSecluded sites portable composting johns throughout. Central bathhouse very clean with pay shower. Gated camp. Website has wrong address Nice beach
RangerDidn't expect not to have bathrooms, just porta pots. Enjoyed the hiking around lake Washington!
LegendThis small state park campground offers basic campsites with running water and showers, open Memorial Day to Columbus Day. This is NOT Wolf's Den Family Campground in E. Haddam, CT. Also, be aware there are 2 campgrounds at this State Park; the other one, Mashamoquet Brook, does not offer running water/showers, so if you want these amenities, be sure to select a campsite 1-35.
There's a small playground in the middle of the loop, a number of hiking trails throughout the park along with a few geocaches (download details for offline use a phone connection is spotty), a swimming pond, and a small brook with an old mill and blacksmith shop that is sometimes open on weekends for tours. It's a nice place to explore and have a picnic. In 2020 with Covid, there were restrictions on visitors to the campground, reservations required, and swimming was not allowed.
The parking pads are paved and a few have overhanging branches, but the trees provide separation and some shade on largely open sites that tend to open up toward the back with open areas for pitching tents. Sites have fire rings with grills and picnic tables. Site 20 is the only one with electric. The ones toward the back of the loop back up toward the woods and give you some more privacy.
They don't allow hammocks in the trees or pets. For some reason, silly string also makes the list of prohibitions.
GuideThis campground is quaint and is nestled in RI state forests. The sites do not have hook ups, but water faucets can be found throughout the camp, and there is is dump station. There are pit toilets around the camp, and there is a central modern bathroom. The beach is beautiful and would be busy on a hot summer day. We stayed in early October, so it was not crowded. The camp did fill up, even for October, however many sites were closed due to Covid. Tents, small and large RV’s occupied the many sites. Some sites are more level than others, bring some leveling blocks if your are towing a camper. We walked the 2 mile trail, there is a 6 mile and an 8 mile hike too. Dino’s supermarket is about 10 minutes away by car and has a traditional supermarket style, a welcome change from big box. I will come back here, it was peaceful, I need that.
GuideWe stayed on T67 over Labor Day weekend. This was listed as a prime waterfront site, which is what we look for so that we can launch our kayaks from our site. The map showed a short trail to the water, but it was a 40 foot drop in elevation. We still managed to get our boats down there and lock them up at night near the water. Our site was a tight squeeze for our 8 man tent, 4 man tent and an EX Up over the picnic table. The campground is in good shape. Clean bathrooms, well maintained roads. Firewood is $6 a bundle and almost all pine. We were at the furthest point away from Rte 9 but we could still hear trucks occasionally. The sounds from within the campground were very loud by virtue of the campground topography. We could hear every shrieking kid and barking dog. But the hiking trails were really cool. I'd go back here, but it wouldn't be my top choice.
GuideThey allow 2 cars per site. Kept very clean. Swimming area. Great for kayaking and fishing. We camp in our tent. They do allow RVs. Tons of hiking trails. Picnic tables and fire pit at each site. The folks a few miles down the road by the rotary sell giant piles of wood for $10. They do not have an on site store or sell firewood. So bring your own things. Simple but very nice.
GuidePros: Nice campground with big private spots. Nice bathhouse with pay showers. Pretty, man made lake with a beach area for swimming and paddling. Cons: no hook-ups yet it cost $36 for out of state residents plus the fees which put it up to $44. Also only one bathhouse so port-a-potties along the road. Another thing we found was that the park staff here and elsewhere in RI were very lacking in knowledge about basically anything. Overall a nice place but pricey for anyone but RI residents.
GuideBasic camping in a quiet, older campground. Very pretty beach area at the reservoir where you can paddle and swim. No hook ups available but only $20 per night for a site that was plenty big enough for a small motor home. Mostly tent campers though and spots would be tough for anything much bigger. Bathhouse was clean and had a pay shower.
GuideI was headed from NY to ME and decided to make it a two day trip. VT State Parks have a two night minimum but as this was a Thursday I decided to take a shot. Got there in the late afternoon and a couple sites were open so it all worked out.
This was just an overnight stop so I didn't explore much but it is definitely on the list should I get back up that way again.
Site was shaded and private. The bath house was nice. The coin operated shower was a surprise but I had enough quarters for 10 minutes :)
Horse camping in Massachusetts offers a unique way to explore the great outdoors while enjoying the company of your equine friends. With a variety of well-reviewed campgrounds, equestrians can find the perfect spot to set up camp and ride the scenic trails.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near South Hadley, MA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near South Hadley, MA is George Washington State Campground with a 4.4-star rating from 25 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near South Hadley, MA?
TheDyrt.com has all 3 equestrian camping locations near South Hadley, MA, with real photos and reviews from campers.
