Best Equestrian Camping near Broken Bow, NE

We wanted to camp Nebraska's national forest for some time and we were not disappointed. The camp was full to the brim.  all sites with hookups were taken, but the overflow is an abandoned, overgrown baseball field.  It was great, spacious, close to the showers and flush toilets, and only $8 a night!

I think hookups were only $16, so this is a great deal no matter how you slice it.

Neighboring Thedford has Kayaks and Tanks you can rent.  Tanking has become a Nebraska Thing.  fitting a group of folks and possibly a keg in a horse tank and floating down river!  We hiked to the ranger tower and it was a great hike with a spring fed trough half way up.  Much to see in the surrounding area including art galleries, quilt shops, and more.  Nice camping supply store right in Halsey.

Love Victoria Springs! It is a hidden gem in the Nebraska Sandhills.  It fills up on the weekends but during the week you can have the entire campground to yourself.  Beautiful trees, nice shade, and electrical hook-ups.

The sites are mostly level and well groomed grass with 2 new concrete handicap spots. The 30 amp and 50 amp power was proper voltage and dependable. Access to clear line of site to south for Dish or Directv is difficult due to heavy tree population. Non-Nebraska resident requires $14 pass in addition to the $30 fee with electric.  Potable water is available and dump station is easily accessible with a rinse water source. Ingress and egress is good with gravel road surfaces in park. The restrooms and showers are very clean and accessible.

I grew up in the towns next to the Davis Creek Dam which is managed by the NRD. This is a great , once upon a time small campground right on Davis Creek Dam. You’ll enjoy this campground that is far away from road noise. Supplies can be purchased in North Loup, Scotia or Ord Nebraska, roughly 6 and 16 miles way respectively. This campground gets busy over summer holidays but other than that I’ve found that you can reserve same day spots without worry, especially if you are tent camping.

Located in the center of Nebraska, Victoria Springs is a 27 site campground and a couple of rental cabins. You can rent paddle boats for the small lake. Merlin counted 10 different bird sounds here in April. The park has a basketball hoop, horseshoes, and a playground across the creek by the lake. Most sites are electric and 6 that are non-electric, and water hydrants are sprinkled throughout the campground. There is a shower house with flush toilets (not open in April) and a vault toilet at the end of the loop. While I like Bessey a few miles away, this is much quieter without trains every 10 minutes. Cell service available with both T-mobile/Mint (strongest) and Verizon/Visible.

This is a nice little campground in the Sandhills of Nebraska. Campsites are spaced apart nicely over three loops and many of the sites offer electric hookups. There are numerous water spigots around the campground and there’s also a dump station. The campground has hot showers, a basketball court and horseshoe pits available. A vending machine is located by the registration kiosks. Make sure to bring whatever you need with you because there isn’t much in Thedford or Halsey. 

There are lots of OHV trails in the area or there’s also a 2.5 mile hiking trail that leads to a fire lookout tower that’s open to public access. 

Be aware that there is a railway crossing at the turnoff from Route 2 so you will hear trains and train horns.

Davis creek is a 67 camp site (25 primitive/2 ADA, 42 electric/3 ADA) nestled in rolling hills of Valley county Nebraska on the Davis Creek reservoir.  Camping is permitted year round although water is only available April 1 to November 30th.  There is also a camp host in the RV section from April-Nov.  There are no established trails for hiking but the gravel roads throughout the camp are used for walking and bike riding.  

This is a lake and campground that went from very primitive just over 20 years ago to a top notch natural resource district campground and recreation area.  The NRD is investing heavily in this campground with large shelters, shower house (bring quarters), 2 boat ramp areas, large fish cleaning station, ADA ramps, fishing docks, and a small swimming beach.  The rumor from the locals is that the entire campground will be electric in the near future.  I was really impressed to find free WiFi added in 2019!  The WiFi was strong and reliable everywhere in the campground.  

I camped on site 72 which is an electrical site capable of facilitating smaller RV’s, campers or tents.  Site 72 was near water, a brick restroom building and the shower building.  You’ll be hard pressed to find any adequate shade at any of the sites here although the row of 60’s will offer some late day/evening shade.  All of the sites have very nice concrete pads with large fire rings with grilling grates in addition to large concrete pads with picnic tables.  There is plenty of green space at most sites and at 72 we set up horseshoe stakes and had all the room we needed.  

The lake:  we took our kayaks out and did some fishing on this campout.  Access to the lake is easy with nice wide boat ramps at two different let in’s.  This is a popular fishing and water sport lake that does allow skiing and high speed water sports.  If you like to fish I recommend going to the inlet a couple of miles North of the campground, it seems to be the most popular spot for on water and shore-line fishing.  We trolled lines behind our kayaks and caught white bass on this Memorial Day weekend in 2019.  

ADA site:  There was a really nicely designed ADA site next to site 72 that I think is worth mentioning here.  The site was flat with a concrete path that connected the site to the walking path to the restrooms.  The fire ring and picnic table were also designed for those wheelchair bound.  I’ve attached some pictures below.  If you have disabilities you’ll have access to everything you need at this campground.

Great spot with lots of trees and good sized sites. I arrived on a Sunday afternoon and they were only half full & by night only a few more people came. Bugs were pretty bad. Unfortunately a bad storm moved in so we weren’t able to enjoy the evening. The trees kept us protected from the wind and hail. Would come back again!

Decided to cut our drive in half by staying here on our way to Smith Falls. It was a Monday night but it was very quiet other than the hum of the mosquitos!

-Side note: the vault bathrooms were a whole lot cleaner than some of our past experiences at other State Parks

Nice secluded campground.

Victoria Springs has 2 different areas for camping. One area is for tent camping ($15 a day) and has a small lake with paddle boats to use. The lake has an algae issue right now. This area has a picnic shelter and playground that is dated. There are 2 cute cabins available for rent which have fire rings and picnic tables. The other area is for RVs and you can have electric $20)or electric and water($30). Each site has a fire ring and picnic shelter and is on grass. There is a basketball hoop that needs help and horseshoe area which is overgrown. A little bit of upkeep and elbow grease and this would be a great getaway.

Great camping trip with friends

This campground is a hidden gem. Nice big sites, your not packed it. Beautiful trees all around and we’ll kept. If you need electric you can reserve a site and get 30 or 50. Some sites have water and does have a sanitary dump site. Enjoying our overnight stay

Camp hosts were amazing. Gave us firewood. Clean facilities. Well maintained. Gorgeous trees and trails.

A lot of campsite. Can rent boats and jet skies. Multiple convenient stores. About five miles from nearest town. Nice swimming and fishing spots. Love going there.

Being new not much for trees. It was nice to have clean showers close to the camp site.

Right on the middle loup river, and in the middle of nowhere this place can get busy.

Great hiking through the Sandhills. The scott lookout tower can give you views across the Sandhills for miles upon miles on a clear day. Want stars at night? You can see them all.

Roads to drive on and explore that take you to the south of the first to the Dismal river

the campsotes are all shady lots of open spaces in the csmpground too for picnics and games

don’t forget to check out the tree nursery Pretty cool to see all the trees growing as seedlings

Only spent 1 night on our way through to the Black hills but loved the campground. Lots of pretty scenery and wildlife. Very peaceful. Nice trails. Big and deep fire pits with gravel pads and patios. Lots of ATV activity because of the great trails. Clean bathrooms/bath house, but only 4 total stalls in the main camping area. Bit of train noise during the day, but didn't really notice it overnight.

A delightful oasis in the sand hills. Beautifully maintained campground right beside the river.

Spotless facilities, private camp spots, pristine park like setting

Halsey National Forests campground is called Bessey Recreation Campground and has cabins, Rv sites, tent sites, as well as group and family sites. The Rv sites are Electric and gravel and are fairly level. They have picnic tables and fire rings and are spacious. And of course plenty of shade since you are in a forest.

There is a Nursery which grows the trees for the forest, a Look Out Tower which offers a panoramic view of the Sandhills, hunting, fishing, scenic drives, wildlife viewing, hiking and ATV trails, along with other activities.

It is a nice place to stop over and see.

What a wonderful place with so many trees. If you get the chance to up the fire tower and talk to the park ranger.

This location has the primitive feel with great facilities. If you want to stay to yourself you have plenty of space to do so. If your looking for a group event. They have close RV pads.

Highly recommend checking this campground out!

We stayed one night on a cross country trip. It was clean and well maintained.

On our road trip from MN to AZ this was our first stop. A lot of open sites. Sites where roomy and nicely spaced out.