Are you an equestrian lover who prefers a more rustic experience when you visit Fort Ripley? It's easy to find Fort Ripley equestrian campgrounds with the Dyrt. Search horse campsites and discover top-rated spots, as reviewed by other campers.
$21 / night
$30 - $60 / night
Horse Required to stay at this camp.
The camp has 10 sites and a maximum capacity of 40 horses. Flush toilets are available but no showers. Horse Camp has picket lines at each site. For reservations contact the state park reservation service by phone or online.
$25 / night
Legend
This is one campground in Minnesota that offers a handful of electric hookups for winter camping. The beauty of this campground, is that while the campsites available are in a row, there's plenty of space between sites and some of them are even pulled through. Making it easy for RVs to pull in and hook up.
The vault toilet is not easy to find from where the electric openings are in the winter. While these spaces are right next door to a shower house with toilets, this is closed in the winter. The vault toilet is several rows over and down, making it hard to find if you don't already know where it is. But it was clean, and it was available.
The campfire rings seemed clean, and each had a picnic table as well. We loved the pull-through site because then we were a little more protected from the road, although it's not busy this time of year at all. So it was very quiet except for our neighbors, and they didn't make much noise at all.
There are trails nearby that are easily accessible on foot from the campground, and you can make loops that come back to the campground as well.
There are two campgrounds at this park, but this is the one that has availability in the winter time. Ironically, they also have a couple of walk-in spots that are also open this time of year. If you're willing to brave the temps without an electric hookup. Not hard to find, not hard to access, but no electric hookups at these sites.
Legend
stayed here in the winter when the park was doing their lantern-lit snowshoe trail. They have 1 site available in the winter (125e I believe.. in the lower campground). We had room for a truck bed camper and a pop up clam ice fishing tent. Fire ring and picnic table at the site. The bathrooms and showers were closed for the season but cannot recall. Firewood is available at the office.
GuideNice campground. We were dry camping in the RV since there was no water. Still a nice place for a winter getaway. Will go back in the fall!
Ranger
Nice trails along the Mississippi River, easy to walk, good signage on trails, and good information signs with history of each site along the trail.
Very Clean men’s bathroom. One shower needs a new shower head.
Sites 40 to 45 are very nice and secluded. Sites 58 and 59 are prime secluded sites.
ScoutThis is a great state park. Group camping comes with its own bathroom building and shelter building with wood stove. The water is quite clean. Also there's even hot water in the bathroom.
Legend
Smaller campsite with less spaces but right on the waters edge which provides a breeze and keeps the bugs down. Wet spring so Kathoy was terrible but works here. Trails, town which has a grocery store, place to wash cloths and a place to trade out the books I've ready for a new set. Good connectivity so easy to work from with decent bathrooms.
LegendI came in the spring it was a wet spring there were a lot of bugs. The trails are probably not maintained because it was so wet but they were almost impossible to hike on simply because of the amount of mosquitoes. The bathrooms are nice the camp spots were nice they had good signage for the archaeological stuff. It was just very hard to enjoy it because it was so overwhelmingly buggy.
GuideThe campsite was pretty wooded on most sides. I visited in the late spring so there were quite a few mosquitos since the campground is near the river. Bathrooms/showers were cleanish, water was mid from the outdoor taps but not horrible
LegendThis is a more rustic State Park. There's lots of history here most of it is just a plaque not actually something to see. The river was really high and there was a fair amount of mosquitoes outside but a lot of trails and a lot of signs and a lot of history in the park.
ScoutHiking was great, we saw an albino deer on the hiking club trail! Site was a bit tight for our travel trailer and a tight fit to back up on the pad. Recent rain had the campsites pretty muddy but the paved spaces were well maintained.
RangerNice wooded campground. Gravel sites, fairly level. Water fill and firewood available at the registration building. The water was high in iron.
Canoe and kayak rentals available. Lots of trails for hiking and biking. Bring bug spray in the summer!
Historical sites along hiking path.
Bathrooms and showers were decent. Dump station on site.
LegendCamped here on Oct 9, 2023. Large wooded campground on the lakefront. Easy access to the beach. Hiking trail. Very clean restroom/shower house. Level gravel campsite with metal fire ring and table. Water spigot short walk from campsite. Campground can accomodate all sorts of camping rigs. Paved campground loop road. Nice hosts and park ranger. Need to reserve online. Quiet. peaceful evening.
TravelerIt nice place to camping
TravelerWe stayed in one of the walk-in sites. It was great, not too too buggy. Mostly quiet. Hiking trails in the park are wonderful and there's a lot of history to discover within the park
GuideNice park on the Mississippi and Crow Wing Rivers. The park encompasses the 1850’s town of Crow Wing. Great hiking trails. A lot of mosquitoes. Bring spray.
LegendMost sites looked shaded and like they'd be suitable for hammocks. Firewood available at the office. Highly recommended coming here for fall colors.
TravelerEnd of October, Stopped for just one night, probably about a 20ish minute drive from 94. Was able to purchase firewood after closing, and the campsite were easy to find after (7$)entry to the park. Campsites are reserved through an online system. We found the top campsite completely empty and plenty of sites had good tree coverage for privacy/ way no protection. Nice level sites with soft ground. Each site had a fire ring and picnic table. The only bathroom in walking distance to the upper campsites was a vault toilet located amongst the cabins. Seems like a great place to stay any season.
GuideStayed at Lakeview Campsite#1 9/30 and was visited by a skunk... next thing I know, he brought his girlfriend and the two of them scoured my site while I was trying to enjoy my campfire-- no amount of flashing my light got them to leave and I wasn't about to try to scare them off. They left when they felt like it... That's what I get for staying in their back yard, fair is fair. Heard a big animal move through camp around 3am(definitely didn't sound like a deer since it shuffled leaves and gravel so not sure what it was-- not gonna lie, I was scared AF). It was a great mix of car camping with great access to nature. Bathrooms were a short walk away and well tended. My only disappointment was the amount of microtrash all over the site.
ScoutTent site is an open area with tall trees. It also offered an open view of the night sky & enjoyed watching the full moon! Next to the shower house which makes it a convenient trip to the bathroom. Stayed one night but will stay longer when bringing the kayaks. Price for this spot made my trip super cheap!
GuideGot here just after 4pm. No one to check us in. Only place to fill with water is at the dump station( and it is really slow, got harrased by the Park Ranger about speeding our bicycles to fast through the campground, and lastly went to get firewood( you cant bring your own in and I understand that) there was no wood. And same ranger harrased son in law for chopping the wood he got into smaller pieces. And I have only been here 1 day.
GuideNice larger sites, usual campground stuff. I stayed across from the lake and it was great. Fire pits, wood for sale, showers, water, etc.
GuideThere are plenty of campsite in the lower area that are very close to the water and good for RV people who do not care for privacy (like camping on a golf course). If you want privacy, go for the upper area which is completely forested with plenty of trees and brush between sites. I was in site 17 and was totally pleased... With one exception.
I paid full price for this site. But, the restrooms. showers, and water were shut off. If I am paying full high season rates, I want full services!!!!!! I appreciate there is no padlocked gate keeping people out in the off season. But, if it easy to turn off the water, showers, and bathrooms, it should also be easy to create a reduced rate for reduced services. Some other County, State, and Federal campgrounds charge nothing for no services off season camping. What is Minnesota's problem? Give people what they pay for!!!
This is purely a ripoff. It left me with a very unpleasant memory of this area and Minnesota.
GuideWe have been camping here in the middle of October for about 5 years now. The views in the fall are amazing! There are awesome trails through the woods and the chance to see plenty of wildlife. I only gave it 4 stars because the park rangers were rather rude this year compared to years passed. The bathrooms and shower houses are very well kept and the water gets hot enough too!
GuideThis campground has a upper and lower loop for camping. The lower is on the lake and the upper is more in the trees. The lower has a pretty view and is right on the lake but the sites are pretty close together. There seems to be a little more space in the upper loop but there is no view of the lake and it is quite a hike to get to it. Overall a very nice campground but I can imagine it is very busy in the summer.
ScoutWe introduced our youngest to camping at this campground. It’s a crazy story. In summary you couldn’t ask for a better first time family campground as far as my sons first camping experience lol well I’m surprised he doesn’t deeply hate camping. Everything that could of went wrong did including rain on a clear forecast and we didn’t equip the rain fly.
RangerWe stayed here one night in a nice wooded site not far from the beaches of Mille Lacs Lake. Nice trails too. Big picnic and beach area with a roofed picnic spot. We did not use any of the park restrooms as we have a self-contained RV. Lovely views of the really big lake!
ScoutIt was a last minute booking over 4th of July. This was our first camping trip in our 30' camper, in a state park Campground. Not alot of room to maneuver 5th wheel around, spote are skinny, close together, not much shade. Showers are push button and lasted 5 seconds, NOT IMPRESSED!!
Horse camping in Minnesota offers a unique blend of outdoor adventure and equestrian enjoyment, with several well-reviewed spots catering specifically to horse enthusiasts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Fort Ripley, MN?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Fort Ripley, MN is Crow Wing State Park Campground with a 3.9-star rating from 25 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Fort Ripley, MN?
TheDyrt.com has all 8 equestrian camping locations near Fort Ripley, MN, with real photos and reviews from campers.
