Are you an equestrian lover who prefers a more rustic experience when you visit Chelsea? It's easy to find Chelsea campgrounds for horse camping with The Dyrt. With our help, you'll find the best Michigan equestrian campsites from scenic to easily accessible.
Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks and recreation areas, state boat launches, state forest campgrounds and state trail parking lots. The Michigan Recreation Passport does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas. Learn more: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79134_79210---,00.html
$17 - $90 / night
Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks and recreation areas, state boat launches, state forest campgrounds and state trail parking lots. The Michigan Recreation Passport does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas. Learn more: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/buy-and-apply/rec-pp
$20 - $35 / night
Located just 20 minutes north of Lansing, Sleepy Hollow State Park is an idyllic getaway for anyone needing some time away from the city. The 2,600 acre park is situation on Price Road off US-27 making it easily accessible to people passing through. That being the case, the park still maintains its charm and accommodates campers and visitors every day without issue. The Little Maple river can be found winding in and out of the forested geography, with Lake Ovid situated right in the heart, thanks to the clever placement of a dam. Visitors come from all over to enjoy the scenic landscapes, birdwatching opportunities, and Winter Snowshoeing.
During the Spring, camp rangers host the weekly Sleepy Hollow State Park Nature program, which educates campers about local wildlife and the history of the surrounding regions. This is a great opportunity for families to spend some time together, especially after a long day of hiking and camping.
Surprisingly, it’s during the winter that this park is most frequently attended. In fact, Sleepy Hollow is most recognized for the miles of snowshoeing and cross country skiing trails that run through the land. The trails are well-traveled, however there’s no shortage of privacy to get out and find peace and quiet within the confines of a forest muted by snow.
Camping here is easily accessible. Michigan Residents can utilize their State Park Recreation Passport to get in for free. Otherwise, entrance rates are $11 for residents, and $16 for non-residents. If camping, full-service campsites start at $25/night, while walk-in rustic sites are only $17/night. Furthermore, if camping in a tent doesn’t sound like your thing there are onsite cabins available for rent at $68 per night. If you want electricity and a full-service cabin, Deluxe Cabins can be rented for $101 a night.
$25 - $101 / night
Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks and recreation areas, state boat launches, state forest campgrounds and state trail parking lots. The Michigan Recreation Passport does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas. Learn more: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79134_79210---,00.html
$22 / night
Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks and recreation areas, state boat launches, state forest campgrounds and state trail parking lots. The Michigan Recreation Passport does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas. Learn more: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/buy-and-apply/rec-pp
Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks and recreation areas, state boat launches, state forest campgrounds and state trail parking lots. The Michigan Recreation Passport does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas. Learn more: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/buy-and-apply/rec-pp
Scout
Great out of the way campground. It was nice and quiet. Bathrooms were clean and well kept. The gentleman that checked us in moved things around so we could all be together not on different sites well away frome each other. Would definitely go there again.
Traveler
We just got done with a 3 night stay at Sleepy Hallow. The campsite itself was great, nice a roomy while also being wooded. The bugs were pretty intense, but bug spray helped. They are working on the natural gas pipeline nearby, so there was lots of construction noise. Verizon service was basically non existent other than at the beach. The dog beach was small and full of algae.
Guide
Well maintained and up kept with some neat features and trails.
Avoid the vending machines.
Scout
A very quiet campground. The sites are spread out and only 2 vehicles per site are allowed. The East campground is more open and had 3 small cabins that can be rented. The West camping is more wooded and isolated. An extensive horse back riding trail system and MTB trails are easily accessible.
ScoutMy husband and I had a wonderful experience the website was well informed; pull in and pick your own site and the site manager will come by and collect your money for night stayed. In fact, we enjoyed it so much we called to ask for another night, without hesitation, and any disruption to our camping they came by later that evening, and collected for an additional night ( just as the website advised), Charlotte is a wonderful town with wonderful events. This fairground camp area very clean and well organized. Well done Eaton county, see you in May 2024. 💯
Ranger
This was a campground that we stayed at on our way to the northern part of the state. This for me, was a place that I would like to come back to for a longer stay. The camp sites were nice, there was a nice swimming area in crystal clear water and a beautiful bathhouse. It had a more modern layout that could accommodate many campers. My only complaint, and the reason that I'll have a hard time talking my wife into going back was the mosquitoes were pretty bad the evening that we were there. Other than that I liked it a lot.
Scout
I arrived for a 2 week stay in the area on 11/12. I discovered this campground was closed for the season.
ScoutI took a day hike back about a mile to site “F”. It was pretty private with a day site about 75 feet away so if anyone hiked in to use the day site, you might have to contend with close neighbors. Otherwise, a great spot with water access.
Scout$10 for clean drinking water they provide the the dump hoses. Always clean and well kept
GuideWalk-in site F was literally the perfect campsite. Fully secluded (except a few curious hikers who stopped in around lunchtime), easy 1 mile walk from parking lot, can kayak right up to it on the calm lake, hammock posts, picnic table, fire pit, gorgeous night sky views. A+ and 10/10
Traveler
We stayed at lot M18 of the rustic site, Murray Lake. The site was large and had a picnic table and fire pit. There are TONS of mosquitos.
Gas and convenience is not far away. I had spotty Verizon service but I did get all of my notifications. Internet use was slow.
ScoutNice campground. Sites are close together and sites 60-72 or so are really tent site, not level, and need extension cord for electric. No water hookups. No ATT service.
GuideI have not camped here but had a family member use the campground while visiting the area. They spoke very highly of it. They have a large camper and stayed for a few nights.
I've been here quite a few times to fish. Great fishing spot.
Guide
Sand Lake was our spot and the water was breath taking - it’s a small pond really, but great for kayaking. Crystal clear, clean water, a good public beach. Our site had “private” access and our boys just played in the water for three days.
Clean bathrooms and showers.
Trees and covered areas were skimpy - trees were still young.
The campground itself was a small loop; so not so much bike/scootering unless the kids like a big circle.
ScoutThis is a fairgrounds RV and tent park. Very peaceful when there are no ongoing events. Large bath house with Showers. No office in park, so find a space and park. The manager will stop by to collect your $20. Confidently located a mile outside of Charlotte, with all the conviences of restraunts, walmart, Meijer etc.
ScoutWe loved the area around the campground. Waterloo is a great area! But... most of the campsites are tiny! Campers are crowded in together
ScoutLove this place everyone is so friendly
ScoutAbsolutely no place to pay for camping permit was yelled at by a handicapped guy over there who told me I had to pay them $20 for camping and there’s no place to give them this money, they just want to harass people and provide them with no outlet to actually show up in camp. twenty dollars way too expensive for the way that you treat people there
ScoutCamp ground was adding new spots so there were lots of piles of dirt. Not many trees, nice pool, dirt roads. Camp ground attacks bikers.
ScoutCamped here opening weekend of 2022 (April 29). Nice park with several sites for our bigger rig. Leveling would be more of the challenge. But, we eventually got to 145 which was pretty good and very doable from leveling Stand point. Large well kept grassy site. Nice fire ring. No water or sewer at site but fill and dump available in park. Our Verizon WiFi coverage was good as was our TMobile. Staff was very accommodating and helpful. Seemed there to serve. We experienced no issues with our 30 amp (20 & 30 only available). Didn’t need air conditioning but electric heat was our main heat source and worked fine.
ScoutI would go there for a weekend, or even a night to just get away from the Rick raff of work and stuff. I think it's very well maintained! You hear people say they are dissatisfied about this, or dissatisfied about that. It's a CAMPGROUND people! Not a hotel! If you want to be catered to; go stay in a hotel! I think this campground is one of the best I've stayed in! People should learn to be thankful, for the amenities that they're given. It's quiet there, it's more peaceful than HOME. You hear people complain about their time at campgrounds, but only a few people tell how good of an experience they've had! I think it was great there!! I'm going again!!
ScoutHow far to stay at this Campground has been really nice is very quiet and the people here are very nice it does have showers that are really hot and steamy and it also has some pipes to grab some water and jugs if needed to
TravelerThis was our first camping experience in Michigan, so we weren’t exactly prepared. My rating takes this into consideration.
First of all, if it’s rainy or muddy, you might want to think twice about entering the rustic camping area. We have a 4Runner, so it was no problem but a few little cars did slide around and have trouble on the hill by our site.
Our site wasn’t level, so we were rolling around a bit. If I went there again I’d try to find a spot towards the end of the loop by the exit. These sites were higher and some of them were private. I’d examine the map carefully because some of the sites were horrendously open and basically on the road. Maybe good for a vehicle with a rooftop tent or a trailer of some sort, but it would have been annoying for us. Site M22 was big and far enough away from other campers, but again not level. Probably a good location for a group of hammock campers.
All that aside, the biggest problem was mosquito activity. The camping area sits on an inaccessible lake with a marsh area.
When we rolled in the first thing we noticed was that everyone had screen houses set up.
We didn’t have anything but our tent and a hammock with a big net so everyone got bitten up while cooking and hanging out by the fire. It was pretty miserable. Yes, I realize this is mostly our fault.
I’ve since purchased a thermacell backpacker and some bug net hats and stuff. I’m looking into constructing an ultralight screen house that can be suspended from trees.
The last problem was drunk campers hooting and hollering all night but that isn’t the camping areas fault.
This place is super close to where we are living so I’ll probably schedule it next spring and come prepared. There are lots of nearby lakes and recreational trails so it’s a fun place to be with family.
ScoutThis was a great campground! There is so much to do. Wonderful amenities.
ScoutGreat campground sites have lots of grass and they allow alcohol.
TravelerIt was alright. Our neighbors across from us had 30 kids using one fire pit. (They had 6 sites together) and were up past midnight running around. Our fire ring was so close to the road. The bathrooms are pretty far away as there is only one building. The lake and trails were great.
ScoutThere are wooded sites on the upper area with shade and sunny sites on the lower area. Something for everyone. Just a couple of sites face the water. The beach is a modest bicycle ride on a nice and wide path. Or you can jump in a vehicle and make the drive to the separate beach entrance. Like other State Parks the lake is void of any homes which makes it a nice lake for swimming, canoeing, kayaking, floating, etc. A well established mountain bike trail is within the recreation area. The locals call it Torn Shirt.
Horse camping in Michigan offers a unique opportunity to explore the great outdoors while enjoying the company of your equine friends. With a variety of campgrounds catering to horse enthusiasts, you can find the perfect spot to saddle up and hit the trails.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Chelsea, MI?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Chelsea, MI is Bishop Lake Campground with a 4.3-star rating from 26 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Chelsea, MI?
TheDyrt.com has all 10 equestrian camping locations near Chelsea, MI, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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