Looking for a rustic and comfortable horse camping experience near Manahawkin? Equestrian camping is the best way to experience nature. You're sure to find the perfect site for your New Jersey horse camping excursion.
$42 - $79 / night
Brendan Byrne State Forest is in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, a unique ecosystem known for its sandy soils, acidic waters and diverse plant and animal life. Campers can explore the forest's numerous hiking and biking trails or go fishing or boating in the nearby streams and lakes. The forest also offers a range of educational programs and interpretive displays, providing visitors with the opportunity to learn about the region's natural and cultural history. Visitors can also enjoy a meal at one of the forest's many picnic areas, or spend the day exploring the nearby towns and attractions. There’s also disc golf and guided nature walks.
$3 - $60 / night
PARK ADVISORY: Allaire State Park Family Camping is closed until further notice. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection will start work on the construction of a new bathroom/shower facility. Group Camping will re-open April 1st.
Campsites: There are forty-five tent and trailer sites with fire rings and picnic tables. Flush toilets and shower facilities are within walking distance. Trailer sanitary station is open April 15 through October 15. Campsites are open from April 1 - December 15.
Shelters: There are ten shelters. Shelters are cabin-like structures with wood stove for heat and two double-deck bunks, which sleep up to four people. Each site includes a fire ring and picnic table. Accessible to persons with disabilities. Shelters are open from April 1 - December 15.
Group campsites: Six group sites with fire rings, picnic tables. Sites A, B, C, and D hold a maximum capacity of 50 people. Fee: New Jersey Resident $100 per night; Non Resident $200, per night. Sites E and F hold a maximum capacity of 25 people. Fee: NJ Resident $50 per night; Non Resident $100 per night. Open open from April 1 - December 15.
Traveler
Turkey Swamp is a great spot, a lot of different things to do. Fishing, Tent Camp, Van Camping, Open Field, BBQ, Kayaking, Canoeing. The list goes on. I’ve been here a few times, every time I’m here I barely touch my phone.
LegendWe stayed in New Jersey for our 5th campground on the East Coast: Turkey Swamp Park in Freehold. This is a County park.
Near some Revolutionary War battlefields.
I really liked this park! They have 2283 acres. A 17 acre lake. Some hiking trails & a nice campground! The sites are all pullthrough. There's lots of vegetation for "privacy". We had a site on the perimeter, which are forest views. Only problem is none of the roads are paved. All are packed sand. We could tell it rained recently because of the muddy tracks. Fortunately it didn't rain while we were there!
Shower/bathrooms are clean, but dated. They're checked regularly. The bath house is for the entire campground. 3 out of the 4 women's were working. There's a shared dressing area.
There's a laundry that doesn't take quarters. EPay.
There's a nice playground in the campground.
They have 3 cabins for rent, with forest views.
The lake has fishing & boat rentals. No gas motors. There's no swimming at the lake. Cell service was fair.. No WiFi.
They have an archery range.
This was my favorite campground on our trip! I really enjoyed camping here! There's a rustic retro quality to the place. I adored the campsites & I didn't see any really bad ones.
Traveler
We stayed on a mon/tues at the end of August and the campground was fairly empty and quiet except for a few generators running & air planes/ helicopters going over. There is an air force base in the area.
Site 33 is the back corner so we did get a bit more traffic going past to get on the sand trails. There is also background noise from the road, but not too loud. There are not many RV sites in the 3 loops - just a handful which is a shame because many of the sites marked as tent only look like they could easily accommodate most RVs, especially smaller rigs.
The dump station is locked so get the combo from the office if you want to use it. The ranger station is a bit of a drive from the camping area so if you don’t have cell service make sure you get it at check in.
Go down to the pond and check out the carnivorous plants- one of the most unique things in this area!
Several choices for hiking, but it’s the pine barrens so it is flat and sandy and ticks can be overwhelming at some times of the year.
Overall this is one of the nicer & quieter options for pine barrens camping
Legend
Allaire State Park is a favorite spot of mine. In addition to their tent sites and group gathering areas (we have had several family reunions here), we enjoy all the activities! There is a historical village where you can visit a blacksmith shop and other spaces to learn about the history. They have a flea market many weekends in the summer months and in early fall. They also. Have Halloween themed events like a hayride. Lots of walking paths surround the park & you are also close to Belmar, Point Pleasant, Manasquan (all fun shore towns). Bathroom maintenance could use some sprucing up, but other than that- great place to visit.
ScoutThis has been closed way before August of 2023. My wife said she seen feds or some type of authority there with hound dogs when she was driving by one day when they closed it. The park said it’s for “bathroom renovations” but a bathroom renovation with a simple design like they have shouldn’t take over a year to do. I want to camp here with my kids since it’s close and every time I drive by it’s still closed. What the heck is going on here???
Other than that the experience we had camping for a weekend was pretty nice and enjoyable. There was a cold spell that came through for the weekend we were there and it was very cold at night, but we ruffed it out.
GuideThis was definitely a unique camping experience for me. The forest is absolutely beautiful, but not by any design. Instead, nature is just doing its thing. Sand roads crisscross the whole area and navigation can be a bit tricky the first time around.
The campgrounds are clean and simple. Some reviews mentioned that the borders between sites are a bit murky, which I agree with. In the larger loop, one site easily blends into another. I stayed in the smaller loop (1-13), which was simple and a bit more private. The bathrooms nearby were immaculately clean, which hasn’t been the case at many other state campgrounds. There was some occasional road noise, but nothing that kept me up at night. However, there was some low flying air traffic going in to the joint base nearby. It wasn’t terrible, but it was definitely noticeable.
In a pinch, there’s a Wawa about 5 minutes away from the campground. Beyond that, there’s a bar and a gas station a bit further away. Anything else is a bit of a hike. If you want to get away and feel like you’re truly in nature, this is a good spot to visit.
ScoutWe stayed here on our first night with the campervan. Had lots of room. The ranger were really nice.
TravelerTurkey Swamp is a county park located in Monmouth County, NJ. This beautiful park has some of the nicest campsites in a wooded area. Biking and hiking trails are located in the park so no need to travel beyond the park. If you want to travel, Freehold, NJ is nearby offering restaurants, breweries, shopping, and more.
TravelerMy experience was just what I needed. It was quiet, the one family I met was so kind. It was late fall so not many campers. The energetically outlet was so important and the bathrooms were clean. No complaints at all.
ScoutWooded sites, restrooms with showers clean and well stocked. Peaceful family campground. Lake for kayaking and paddle boats to rent.
TravelerJust like any other organized camp ground part of your experience is who is near you. The site itself is exactly what you want/expect but this state forest has a 12-13 mile loop with a nice lake area about 3/4 of the way through that is really nice. Have been here on many occasions. Like anywhere in this area the mosquitoes are bad in the summer for plan for that but if you are looking for a straightforward camping experience with a nice trail network this is your place.
ScoutA bit close to each other but we winter camp so it was empty super clean and easy to get too
ScoutOk Park, only 30 amps, a little hard with a larger rv but did see some 5ers come in. Make sure you have 100 feet of water hose! You share a spigot with another site and you park lengthwise.
GuideMy experience here was okay but not the best. The park office was easy to find but finding the campground wasn’t. There wasn’t an address for it (only the Park entrance) and there was no signs for which way the campground was once you pull out of the office. Once we finally found the campground, it was quite crowded! We pulled it and found our campsite. It was in the middle of the loop but not heavily shaded so it was very exposed and opened. There was the standard picnic table, fire ring, etc. There was unfortunately many small pieces of trash left by previous campers that we took the time to clean. The bathrooms could tell it was the end of the day when we went but only got worse the next day. It didn’t appear to be cleaned the entire time we were there. By next day, there was feces on the floor and no toilet paper in many of the stalls.
GuideNot a ton of RV’s or children for the most part. Clean and quiet spot.
GuideSmall Campground. Has several sites for B class rigs and small C class rigs along with many tent sites. They also have 2-3 sites that would accommodate a 40’ rig. Our site was fairly level. While no water, electric or sewer hook ups there are several portable water stations and a dump station. Bathrooms are clean and showers are hot! Biking and hiking trails are very nice. The Historic Village at Allaire is really interesting and quite pretty.
TravelerSites are spacious, but bathrooms are filthy. They say the clean them daily, but the showers never looked remotely clean, stalls were constantly out of toilet paper, and only two of the three sink worked. We could only fine one spigot for drinking water (the other had been removed). No way would I stay here again.
TravelerI stayed at turkey swamp for just one night we had to pack it in early because a storm was rolling in but otherwise a great campground! we hiked one of the few trails in the morning and it was clean and well marked. we kayaked after that and the one thing that wasnt very great was that we brought our own kayaks so we had a decent walk from the parking lot to the lake. the lake itself wasnt huge and we paddled it in about an hour but it was still beautiful, fun and clean. the way the camp sites are set up is great because it give you some solid privacy. the roads are one way and each camp site is a horseshoe off the road. we stayed on site C4 and it was less then a 1 minute walk to the bathroom which was very clean! the only complaint we had was some of our neighbors didnt respect quiet hour. otherwise a fantastic campground for a small group or family!
TravelerClean bathrooms, friendly staff. Spacious sites but lacks privacy. All sites have electric and water. Cabin rentals available. Hiking and biking galore. Beautiful lake for canoeing and fishing. Archery range available. Playground for kids.
ScoutUsed this very clean county park numerous times. Pull through sites are well spaced and private and each has permanent trash and recycling bins with bag provided, water, AC power, table and a post for a lantern. There's a pond for kayaking, playground and archery range. Bathrooms are dated looking but very clean.
GuideCheck in was smooth and informative. Arrived at the site only to find food (hotdogs, buns, carrot sticks) and garbage (drink box straw wrappers, cigarette butts, candy wrappers, food packaging) spread thru out the site. There was large dead limbs and branches over the only level area. I like to keep a tight camp setup so between the placement of the fire ring, the picnic table being attached to the ground, and the only level area being a hazard I was spread out more than I wanted to be. Super late check-ins were noisy and the flashlights in our eyes while they set up camp was annoying. As usual for the amount of use the bathrooms were horrible and showers were cold. I absolutely recommend doing a drive thru and decide on your spot in advance. Thankfully next months spot looks much better.
GuideTurkey Swamp Park is a great find! Heavily wooded and supremely quiet, it’s located not far from anywhere you’d want to be. 30 minutes to the shore. Every site is a pull-through, large and spacious with great woodland views. 30amp and water. Dump station.
The park has miles of shady forested trails for hiking and dog walking. there’s a large lake here too, for water based recreational activities.
The bathrooms, showers, and laundry are co-located in a centrally situated structure. Everything inside is clean and well-maintained.
We’ve got good cell signal with Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. (We use all three.) Good OTA television signal also.
We spent three days here in July 2021.
ScoutFlat site, no tent bed, enough space to park two cars. Campsite decent size, but some don't have clear boundaries to neighbors, and sometimes not optimally configured (e.g., the site next door's fire pit was placed on the edge of its site/right next to my site). Could hear the traffic on Rte 72 at night despite being a half mile away.
Bathrooms were clean and stocked, warm/hot water available. No issues with firepit, water, plenty of tinder nearby. Bought firewood at the office for $7, but there is plenty of dead wood lying around outside the campsite. Picnic tables were somewhat hacked/battoned for kindling, but many sites had a log lying around for such purpose.
Went during the week and there were only 3 other campsites in use, ran into very few people on the trails. Ticks were definitely present but wasn't too crazy - found 2 on me in 3 days, no mosquito bites... thanks permethrin!
GuideFirst off, I will start by saying you have to drive a good amount of distance to get into the campground and that is something I really enjoyed! Made me feel super secluded and disconnected from the outside! The bathrooms and showers here were in really good condition, well cleaned and stocked, and was pleasant to use! The campsites are a little bit close to each and didnt offer much privacy but they were right in top of each other. Only weird rule I saw was that fires can only go from 6pm till 7am which was odd but wasn't a deal breaker. Seasonal rangers drove by a handful of times and there was a dumpster at the entrance of the campground area which was nice. Overall, I would 100% go to this campground again and I really enjoyed my site. Also, there is a good amount of trails and a wawa down the street if you forgot anything for your trip
GuideFirst off, I want to start by saying I have never seen a campground with bathrooms that were so clean! They have a schedule that they clean them like 4 times a day! Each campsite has water and electric hookups for only $42 a night! The rangers were super helpful in the office, they sell wood, laundry tokens, ice, and fishing bait! Boats rentals were also a lot of fun with a bunch of different boats available! The campsite I stayed in was C1 and it was right across from the playground, the restroom, showers, and the laundry room. It was very private as well even with people in the sites around me! I would 100% recommend turkey swamp to anyone looking to get into camping and anyone who enjoys ease of camping! 10/10!
RangerFlat ground, sand, dirt, moss, leaves. Enough space for 2-3 tents. Lots of trees for hammocks. Wheelchair accessible picnic table. Fire ring. First time I have seen roaches in the wild. Water spigot down the road a bit. Close campsites, no privacy. Close to the parkway, constant road noise. Okay bathrooms, flush toilets, sinks, showers, electric outlet. Payphone!? Playground. Campground sells firewood.
This campground was not my first choice. I would rather be in more secluded mountainous campsites. The upside to being so close to the parkway is that there are convenience stores nearby if you forget something. Campground sells firewood, they leave it outside the park office so you can pick it up whenever, Do they leave it out overnight? Would be great to know when I roll in after office hours Friday night straight from work. I was unnerved by the cockroaches, both in the bathrooms and at the campsites at night. I was afraid to bring them home, but they weren't evident when I packed up. My noisy neighbors were bothersome, until I realized I forgot my phone charging cord and they let me borrow one! Rained Friday during the day, so the ground was wet all weekend, but no puddles. Got a bit of a sunburn because I forgot cloudy days are deceptive. Otherwise, I had a nice time hanging out(literally, I love hammocks) at the campsite the whole weekend, journaling, reading, and listening to music.
TravelerWe were in spot C2. Very spacious and located directly across from the bathroom facility. Campsite is all sand making it hard not to track into our RV. Large fire ring with cooking rack. Firewood avaikable for purchase at the office for $10. Large dump station makes it easy to get your rig in and out. Beautiful park with boat and canoe rentals available.
Horse camping in New Jersey offers a unique way to explore the great outdoors while enjoying the company of your equine friends. With a variety of well-reviewed campgrounds, equestrians can find the perfect spot to set up camp and ride through beautiful landscapes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Manahawkin, NJ?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Manahawkin, NJ is Turkey Swamp Park with a 4.4-star rating from 24 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Manahawkin, NJ?
TheDyrt.com has all 3 equestrian camping locations near Manahawkin, NJ, with real photos and reviews from campers.
