Best Equestrian Camping near Lincoln, NE

My first time camping in Nebraska. Ive been to several throughout the US. Loved the spot, I was right next to the lake, great swimming access. Downside drinking water access was difficult.

Camping area 2 has a lot to offer, even if you don't own a horse.

The area is well known for being the equestrian camping area at one of the finest lakes in Nebraska. Pull through sites with full hookups, equestrian trails, and corals. Yet few people realize that there is a nice RV and tent camping area, lovely inlet with lakesides slabs, Boat docks, and Boat ramps. Showers are not available at area #2 but are available at a closeby area #1.

The lake has some nice trails including the equestrian trail that comes from the park. The park has several beaches 2 of them very close. There are archery and shotgun ranges at the lake and a decent disc golf course.

At a popular lake, this is a nice yet secluded camping area that often gets overlooked.

This is a great state park and possibly the busiest since it’s between Omaha and Lincoln. Walking trails. Camping spots galore. Arts and crafts. Horse riding. Water park. Lodge. Viewing tower. And they just added a ropes course. cabins for rent as well.

The only minus besides it’s always busy is the road noise from Interstate 80.

Pawnee is a lake that offers the ability of various water and other activities. There are the obvious acitivies for the water. Such as fishing, all types of motor boats, jet skies, all types of water skiing and tubing. I did see numerous kayaks at campsites I passed by as well. But kinds seemed to have to rough of water for a novice like me. There are also a couple swimming beaches, nature trails, horse shoe pits, and a disc golf course. I want to say that the trails are used for hikers, bikers, and horseback riders, because I saw a couple road apples. Honestly that don't bother me because I watch were I step, due to some parks I have visited have venomous snakes on The trail. The campsites for tents did have some shade for lake camping. The rv park seems to be fairly close together, but that could be common because I am a tent camper and don't pay attention that close. There is a horse camp on The other end of the lake west side that has corals in it. I would say that Pawnee is a definite a stop even for a day trip for outdoor or nature enthusiasts. Especially sense it's just out side west of Lincoln.

Good hiking, horse rides, great hills for trail running.

we go every year, tents not allowed yet. plenty of cabins, water park and gun range. Horse rides available.

This campground is crowded with significant interstate noise. However there are many activities for kids including paddleboating, a wave pool, horse riding, ziplining, and playgrounds. Modern restrooms with showers and power are available.

Platte River has nice inexpensive cabins and lots of easy trails to explore with the family. There’s also horse trail rides and a splash pads. Don’t want to cook? There’s a lodge restaurant with yummy homestyle cooking.

This park has a little of everything. Great sites— different loops to stay at. Nice bathrooms. Hiking trails and bike trails. Water park, horse riding area, fishing pond and more. This place does get packed so might have to make reservations early depending on weekend of course.

If you don’t mind lugging your stuff to your tent spot, it’s primitive, no frills camping at its finest! We chose the closest spot to the vault toilets. There are only 4. It’s a bit off the beaten path but we got to enjoy the beautiful horses. Bonus!

As full-time campers we stay at Mahoney quite often as it is close to the Omaha-metro and there are so many things to do within the park: swimming, golf, zip lines, arts & crafts, trails, nature, horses, etc. Huge amount of walk up sites all year long. Little Creek campground is the best place to stay for amenities: laundry, hot showers but avoid any campsite located at the bottom of the hill so you are not washed away by rain water or have a site full of mud.

This is a really nice state park. There are plenty to do. My son and I camped for one night. We went paddle boating, swimming, and horse back riding. The only not so good thing about camping in this park is that it is so close to the interstate. My son was unable to fall asleep. We ended up leaving at 4am. Thankfully, we live close to this place. Overall, it’s a nice campground. It’s serene but not quiet. Also, the men’s restroom, per my son, is dirty and stinky.

We live a short drive from Mahoney and have taken advantage of its convenient tent camping. Campgrounds are well kept. Sites are open and grassy and bathrooms are clean. Kids activities are endless with playgrounds, a water park, mini-golf, ponds, trails, horses, etc. One thing that stands out is the interactive Melodrama offered most evenings. Kids of all ages boo, cheer, and throw popcorn. Winter brings activities such low cost outdoor ice skating, a massive indoor playground, and a sledding hill. Cabins and a lodge are available.

This lake is a great place for boats! If you’re looking to take ou a tube or just power around this area is good as it is larger than most lakes around Lincoln/Omaha. There is also a swimming beach which is nice. Kayaks are supposed to use the boat dock area. Paddling out from the swimming area offers gentler waters. Picnics and a day out are fun but not my scene really for camping.

Wow, what a wonderful State Park. This park has so much to offer and is well kept and beautifully landscaped. Make sure to reserve you're spot well in advance because everyone loves this park. We enjoy the sites right by the water where the geese come up into our site. There is so much to do here at the park like guided horse rides, the pool, painting, zip-lining, Trails, fishing, and paddle boat rentals.They have an activity center, an arboretum, and a look out tower which is worth the climb. There are also playgrounds, and ball fields.

There are 2 different campgrounds with nice spacious pads mostly shaded. There are also many cabins of all sizes which we have also stayed in during Christmas time many times and were very pleased with. All cabins have everything you need. Just come and have fun.

There is also a beautiful Lodge with a restaurant and store which is a must see. All in All this park has something for Everyone and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as we do.

Once we exited off I 80 per campground(CG) instructions, we traveled following our RV GPS, WAZE, and Google Maps on the back roads to the state recreation area(SRA) and specifically the South Shore CG. We saw the South Shore sign that was somewhat hidden by trees and also a sign for the dump station and potable water. We pulled into the dump station for potable water and to dump what we had from our overnight stay as we were going into back-in site 80 with only electric(50/30/20 AMP). There was a small unmanned check-in gate where we got our Nebraska State Park Pass, but no one was around to stamp our pass so we followed the signage to site 80, which was a fairly easy back-in. We were amazed at the lake view as this site sits up on a hill about 100 yards from the water. Our name was on the post as we had online reservations(there are some first-come-first-serve sites here). We could have put out our satellite, but we got a multitude of OTA channels out of Lincoln, NE. We also got 3 bars on Verizon and 2 bars on T-Mobile. The South Shore CG has a mix of FHUs, 50 AMP, and 30 AMP-only RV sites. Note that when the utilities state Electric Plus, there is no water at the site, just 50 AMP electric plus a 30/20 AMP as well. There are also tent areas within the SRA campgrounds. The sites in general are spaced so you are not right on top of your neighbor. However, the sites that run on both sides of site 80 have no one behind with lots of space down to the lake. This was a very nice CG that we would not hesitate to visit again.

Campground Review:

Eugene T. Mahoney State Park in Nebraska is on the Platte River off Interstate 80 about halfway between Omaha and Lincoln.  I will preface the review stating that the review is receiving four stars primarily because of the amenities at the park.  The campgrounds themselves are fairly basic.  There are areas to tent and park your RV within the state park.  The RV campground has about a dozen full hookup sites and the rest of the campsites have electric hookups.  There is not much room between the sites, so you do feel that you are stacked on top of the other campers.  There is a wait list for the campgrounds much of the year.  We were able to score a walk-up thankfully.  The site does have water fill stations and a dump station.  Their shower house is also decent enough.

But, as I said you are not coming here to hangout in the campground.  There is something for everyone at this state park.  They have hiking on paved and un-paved trails, which we utilized both.  There is an activities center for kids to make different arts and crafts.  They have horseback riding, a theater, paddle boating, parks, minature golf, etc.  During the summer you can have fun at the big water park they have on site.  They also have cabins and lodge rooms available for rent.  The cabins book quickly, and can get pricey at around upwards of $400 a night during their peak season for one of the newer cabins.  The lodge houses a decent restaurant with some great views of the Platte River. 

At the main activities area they have a massive indoor play area for kids.  This building also houses their new and extremely fun 40ft. climbing walls.  Outside this building during the winter they have a covered ice rink and they also produce their own snow for the sledding hill.  All-in-all it is a nice place with plenty to do onsite.

Product Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt I occasionally get to test products.  While out at the state park we got the opportunity to test out Banner & Oak hats. https://bannerandoak.com/ 

My boys and really appreciate good hats.  We found the Banner & Oak brand hats to be really exception hats.

The hats my sons wore were the Banner & Oak Eagle and the Banner & Oak Sierra.  These two hats were made in the United States.  I wore the Banner & Oak Switchback which was not produced in the United States.

All three hats are really quality hats.  The stitching is tight around the sweatbands and the bill, which is usually a sign the hat will last a long time.

The mesh used for the back of the hat appears to be an older heavier duty mesh.  This mesh reminds me of the mesh found in older hats, or the hats of my youth.  I still have a couple of these hats, so this is another good sign of lasting quality.

The overall designs of all three hats are really just cool.  They look cool and they feel cool, and I am really surprised by how much I like the flat billed hat, since I usually cannot stand them.  The boys and I are really impressed with the construction and feel of the Banner & Oak hats!

I am sorry 😔 but I have nut yet been to any of Nebraska's Camping grounds your's well be the first.

When reviewing this campground it is important that I preface anything with a note about the campground condition.  This entire area has been inundated with flooding off and on since March 2019.  This review is taking these issues into accord and basing the review on the areas that have been repaired in the park since the flooding.

Campground Review:

When entering the park you will notice some areas that still show signs of being impacted by the historic flooding this year.  The road was completely wiped out during the flooding, but due to some intense work the road was replaced to the campground.  

At the park entrance there is a park office to purchase park permits for either day use or for the season. A yearly in-state park permit is $31 and a daily is $6 per day.  You will also notice another building at the entrance that during the active season (April-September) is the concession stand.  They have a decent spread of options to purchase like drinks, firewood, bait, etc., but you are better off price wise bringing your own supplies to save money.

Just past the entrance you will see a row of 10 former Union Pacific Cabooses that in lieu of actual cabins can be rented for a nights stay.  They have restrooms, a deck, beds, etc. , but you do need to bring your own bedding when staying in a caboose.  These can be rented for $75 per night.  One unfortunate part of the caboose rentals is there are no pets allowed when renting.

There are multiple lakes within the campground to use for fishing.  During peak season these lakes are often overly packed-in with people trying to catch something.  Lake number 5 is popular for Trout fishing.  During normal years that aren't heavily impacted by flooding you can also do some river fishing on the Platte River.  Due to the flooding this year though, access to anything by the river is closed due to the area being a mess and some areas undermined by the water that sat for months.

Two Rivers SRA provides tent and RV camping, but again due to the flooding this year a couple of the more popular areas are closed for significant repairs.  One of the busy areas for RV camping and where we stayed was the Lakeside Campground.  With it being off-season it wasn't too busy but there were close to a dozen campers there over the weekend.  RV camping can be done for $25-$35 per night at Two Rivers SRA.  The more expensive "Full Hook-up" is actually only water and power.  There are no sewer hook-ups that I have ever seen for our multiple stays.  Since it is off-season the dump station is closed for your post camping routine.  There is a Love's Travel Stop about 5 miles away where you can dump for $5.  While the primary water is shutoff as well this time of year, there are multiple Iowa hydrants that are still available for filling the holding tanks.

Tent campers can use any of the open spots at any of the campgrounds, but if you are using a spot with power it runs $15 per night.  The normal primitive campground is closed from the flooding, but when open it runs $10 per night.

Two Rivers SRA also offers Horse Camping for those that want to bring their horses out and do some trail riding.  This has been closed all season due to the flooding, but when open there are usually 3-4 groups that bring their horses in for trail riding and camping, so it is pretty popular.

**All off-season camping is $5 off the normal rate with exception of primitive sites.

The campground has multiple vault toilets throughout the campground and a few new full service bathrooms/shower houses, that double as shelters during Tornado season.  These fully concrete facilities have been built in the last couple years and are still in really good shape.

The campground areas that are open have been rehabilitated pretty well since the flooding.  They are fairly clean and maintained, about the only real issues are the presence of more sand from the flooding and some roads that need attention.

Pheasants Forever also has a wildlife preserve within the campground.  The organization maintains the grounds as a habitat and also performs hunts here throughout the year.  When it is not being used for hunting, it is a really nice area to go for a hike and see some wildlife.

Unfortunately due to the flooding a lot of the areas along the banks of the Platte River that are usually used for hiking cannot be accessed.  There is some danger involved with trying to get to some of these areas due to the conditions post-flood.  You can still hike around the rest of the park using the roads, or even take your bikes out for some fun riding.

The area has really been impacted by the historic flooding, but they are really doing everything they can to bring the area back to what it was before the flooding.  Take the time to stop out and if you do, offer a hand at helping to clean-up!

Product Review of HeadSpin Light System:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I am offered the chance to test from time-to-time.  On this camp out I was provided with the chance to test the new HeadSpin Light System.  If you would like to know more about the HeadSpin Light System check out their website: www.headspinoutdoors.com

When I un-boxed this light kit with my boys we were all immediately taken aback by the options this light provided for use.  The light system comes in a well designed case that houses all the components in their own foam lined spaces.  

You receive the light unit itself, a handlebar mount, a head mount, a flashlight mount, and a wall charger mount.  The kit also comes with a hex wrench for mounting the handlebar mount to a bike, a mini-usb charging cord, directions, and HeadSpin sticker.

The first thing we tested out was the brightness of the light while we were in the campground.  We were very impressed with how bright this light is and how well it was able to show us much more of the campground than we expected based on previous headlamps we have used.  The headlamp is easily adjusted for size and my boys were constantly changing the fit between each other.  Adjusting the light intensity isn't too difficult either once you identify which button is used for each task.  The buttons were a little awkward to identify with gloves on during the cold night when we were at the campground.  I would suggest making the buttons easier to identify in some manner, possibly raising them a bit.

While I did not have my mountain bike out with us on this trip, I did identify another way to use the handlebar mount.  This mounted quite well to the bottom of the grip of my trekking pole.  This worked out really well when we were walking around the campground and really added just that much more functionality to the HeadSpin Light System.  I do look forward to getting this mounted on my mountain bike as well and trying it out on some of the local trails.

Now for full disclosure, I have always been into different types of flash lights as it always seems as though I have a job where they are required in some way.  I was really impressed with the flashlight handle for the HeadSpin Light System.  It is too often when you are carrying a flashlight where you notice the grip is either too big or too small.  This grip really fit in the Goldilocks arena for me and I expect to use this quite often.

When charging this light system you have the ability to use the wall plug base or the USB cable.  I received this light earlier enough and I was able to use the wall plug.  The light had no power when I received it and was fully charged in an hour after being plugged into the wall. In my book that is impressive, and I used it all weekend and it is still going on that charge.

I really appreciate the versatility of this light system overall and recommend it to anyone looking for a good interchangeable light setup.  This works for campers, cyclists, DIY addicts, etc.  This is really a great kit and I plan to use this setup for years to come.  Again, to find out more about this fantastic light system check it out on their website at: www.headspinoutdoors.com

This is the best lake in Nebraska for camping! They are tent sites right by the lake. The bathrooms are pretty clean. There’s a huge no-wake area of the lake for kayaking and paddle boarding. They also offer boat rentals.

The campsites a close together but the area is well kept. There are several rings you can camp on RV/Tent. There are showers and indoor bathrooms, also there is aplace to rent tubs. The water is surprisingly clear for Nebraska

We were passing through Nebraska and opted to stay the night here. The campground is new and will be even nicer when the trees are big enough to provide shade. We only stayed one night but enjoyed the walk to the small waterfall in the park. There is a large dog park, clean restrooms and nice trails for walking.

This free camping area is low on amenities, but os well kept and close to the Oak Creek Trail which extends from Valparaiso to Brainard Nebraska.

The Lake is lovely with such good trails it is often used as a cross-country race site. This NRD lake has 3 gravel slabs close to a vault toilet and water hydrant. It is just up the hill from the boat ramp.