Looking for a place to camp near French with your horse? Finding a place to camp in Minnesota with your horse is easier than ever. These scenic and easy-to-reach Minnesota campsites are perfect for your horse camping excursion.
Swim, fish, paddle, and picnic surrounded by rolling, forested hills here at Maplewood State Park, a name synonymous with stunning fall color. An extensive network of multi-purpose trails winds around eight major lakes and many ponds.
$22 / night
Enjoy a night under the stars on the prairie at Hankinson Hills Campground, located three miles northwest of Hankinson, North Dakota. Click here for a map of the Hankinson Hills Campground and Trail. Hankinson Hills Campground has two camping loops. One camping loop, with six campsites, allows campers to have horses and the other camping loop, with nine campsites, is designated for campers without horses. There are a total of 15 campsites, each with a picnic table and fire ring. There is a large picnic shelter for day use and group events, as well as a large group fire ring with benches. The large picnic shelter is free-of-charge and open to anyone on a first-come, first-served basis. While at the campground, you can enjoy the area by hiking the eight-mile loop Hankinson Hills Trail, viewing wildlife, identifying wildflowers, and many other activities. One of the trailheads for Hankinson Hills Trail is located in the campground.
$10 / night
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.
Scout
Simple beautiful park with the fall colors, plenty to due and see. Amazing fishing both trout and bass! Well maintained facilities in the park and friendly staff!
Ranger
I was lucky enough to get a spot far under the trees. It was quite private and even though it was labor day weekend, it was quiet and peaceful. Good cell service, I was able to work on Friday via my hot spot. The campground is well maintained and the trail had just been mowed. Unfortunately there are stickers and poor tuck found a number of them. We still had fun.
GuideWell maintained campground, has water and multiple vault toilets. There’s a loop for horse camping and a loop for non horse camping. Each site has a fire ring and a nice table, most spaces have trees to provide shade. Verizon works okay, not great but I had a bar or two. Can hear trains running by every so often. Only downside was the abundance of biting flies and mosquitoes.
GuideFor established camping, this park is lovely and spots are spacious. The place is bumpin’ with people but trees provide some sense of privacy but large, louder group was definitely in our vicinity—we couldn’t enjoy the birdsongs as we’d have liked (over 150 species can be found here). Staying at Grass Lake, we might have been able to launch our paddleboards from our site, but would have been a little tricky. Energy was better spent on keeping a fire tended with onslaught of unavoidable mosquitoes. Also, park doesn’t permit burning of found woods in the pits…
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.
TravelerThere are gorgeous sites well spaced and lots of shade. Trails to bike ride around. No motorized vehicles allowed so it's quiet. Road in was good gravel. Picnic tables, fire rings and pit toilets. $10 / night. Great find.
LegendCamped here on Oct 9, 2023. Large wooded campground on the lakefront. Easy access to the beach. Hiking trail. Very clean restroom/shower house. Level gravel campsite with metal fire ring and table. Water spigot short walk from campsite. Campground can accomodate all sorts of camping rigs. Paved campground loop road. Nice hosts and park ranger. Need to reserve online. Quiet. peaceful evening.
Traveler
Take the Maplewood church road into the site. There is enough room to park 1 (maybe 2) vehicles. The walk is an easy walk. There is a nice fire pit and good area for fishing right at the site. Also there is a picnic table and a vault toilet. Surprisingly there was toilet paper there!
RangerSecond visit to the park but first time camping. Our spot was not private and a bit of a walk to the toilet but everyone was quiet and respectful. It is a very large park with miles of hiking trails and some pretty great mountain biking routes. It is a gem with the fall colors and was full the night we were there.
ScoutSites are very spacious, but some are pretty slanted. Beautiful area, just wish the campsites were closer to the beach.
ScoutWe don’t have much of an experience, booked online an electric site that showed full shade and plenty of grass. Got there and no good place to pop up a roof top tent, all dirt, no electric. We had to leave and go get a hotel room
LegendClose to fargo and moorhead if you're looking for things to do in the area! Like the other state parks you can get firewood at the office and sites come with a fire ring and table.
TravelerEnd of October, Stopped for just one night, probably about a 20ish minute drive from 94. Was able to purchase firewood after closing, and the campsite were easy to find after (7$)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.
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.
Traveler92,000 acres and a chill vibe. Sites at Knoll Campground are nicely spaced out. I can see the lake and hear loons calling. I only wish there were more swimming .
GuideOutstanding! Not hesitate, this place is fabulous. The bathrooms/showers are clean. The sites are huge. The price cannot be beat for camping.
GuideWe only stayed overnight while traveling through, but this was a really nice spot. Not the most private sites but big enough. Families seemed to be having a lot of lake fun.
GuideI came the end of June 2021. It was extremely low cost to camp, however you need to pay the $7 entry fee per day as well (yearly pass is $35). There are showers and bathrooms available. Camp site 16 was amongst trees and added privacy and shade, however this is a busy campground so expect people walking through. People did quiet down and respect quiet times 10 PM- 8 am. I went into surrounding towns during the day and my campsite was left alone, so it was very secure.
Guide
Beautiful quiet riverside campground
RangerWe spent a night there in the fall. It is well off the main road but the dirt road is passable with any rig. The sites are varied, well kept and some will fit larger rigs. It is typical forest service dry camping. There is a hiking trail that circles this small grassland about 5 or 6 miles long.
What is unique about this place is that is an original remnant of the oak/grass prairies that used to cover extensive areas where the forest met the plains. There is grazing in the grassland but it is very quiet and no light pollution. Cell service was actually pretty good.
GuideThe lower campground has electric sites and is situated along Lake Carlos but there is little privacy between sites (126 and 127). We camped with another family so it was nice to have the open space between our sites where the kids could play and run. The boat launch was quite busy and there seemed to be a lot of people not staying in the campground who use the park for the day. The hiking trail along the lake was busy but once we got a little farther out the trails were quiet and peaceful. The highway outside the park was loud at night, it sounded like people were drag racing the Friday and Saturday nights we stayed.
GuideLots of screaming kids the weekend we were here, but we found the quiet trails. Lower campground offers no privacy, but a newer shower house and views and access to the lake. Upper campground has a handful of sites that are tucked into the woods and are really quite lovely.
GuideEasily a contender for best hiking trails in the MN state parks state system. This western park offers miles of hiking with the North Country Trail weaving throughout. The fall colors were just starting but popped in the prairie.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near French, MN?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near French, MN is Maplewood State Park Campground with a 4.3-star rating from 25 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near French, MN?
TheDyrt.com has all 4 equestrian camping locations near French, MN, with real photos and reviews from campers.
