Best Equestrian Camping near Springfield, MA

It's hard to find much information about this equestrian, first come, first serve campground in Connecticut's Pachaug State Forest. The best source I could find was https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/State-Parks/Recreation-Information/Horseback-Riding---CT-State-Parks-and-Forests

Campsites are located around a loop with a couple of composting toilets near the entrance. Water is available. There's space your your camping gear as well as a trailer and horseline. About half the sites were occupied in late October.

Three horseback riding loops leave from the campground. There's also fishing and hiking available in the forest.

This 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.

This 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.