Best Equestrian Camping near Raritan, NJ

Stokes is nestled in a beautiful part of New Jersey and it’s just remote enough that you can get away from the crowds and activity while still being in a short driving distance of restaurants, grocery stores, etc. We stayed at Lake Ocquittunk, which was a little disappointing. The site itself (T001) was absolutely massive and stunningly beautiful. Unfortunately, when the site was cleared, trees were cut down to the stump and the stumps were just left there. This posed both a tripping hazard and a driving hazard. You have to weave your way around the various stumps and small boulders protruding from the ground in all lighting conditions. The site is on a gentle slope, which made it difficult to find a level area for the tent, but we found a spot that suited us perfectly. The campground overall needs some improvement. It almost felt neglected or abandoned. The bathrooms weren’t great, but I’ve seen much worse. The park staff were incredibly helpful and generous with time and information. Directions were easy to follow and we felt comfortable staying there. Ultimately, we would gladly return in the future, but we might visit in a warmer season.

Campground Review

Stokes State Forest has four campgrounds. The Steam Mill Camping Area is tucked out the of the way and is the most primitive. It is the smallest of the campgrounds with 27 sites only suitable for tents or small trailers/campervans. No pets or alcohol allowed.

The campground has a pit toilet and a well. Each large campsite has a picnic table, fire pit, and lantern hook. Some sites also have a tent platform. Many sites are a bit rocky.

We selected site T219. It was a solid choice: private but close to the toilet and water. Some sites located around the opposite side of the ring back up to a babbling brook. The rushing water will soothe you to sleep.

Remember, this is bear country so proper food storage is a must. Bear lockers are not provided. The area also has ticks and rattlesnakes.

Outdoor activities in the area abound. Go fishing, hiking, biking, horseback riding, kayaking, and more. There are 21 marked trails that cover over 63 miles within the boundaries of Stokes State Forest. Twelve miles are part of the Appalachian Trail. Pick up a hiking map at the park office or download the Avenza Maps app.

This visit we hiked the Tillman Ravine trail (tip: make the trail a loop and visit both the ravine and the nearby old cemetery).

You can also drive or hike to Sunset Mountain Scenic Overlook for a view of High Point Monument. High Point Monument is the highest elevation in New Jersey and is located in High Point State Park which borders Stokes State Forest on the north. High Point State Park also offers camping, hiking, sightseeing opportunities. And, on the western border of Stokes State Forest is the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. So, there is lots of outdoors to get out and explore!

Product Review

We camped at the Steam Mill Camping Area in Stokes State Forest in our campervan over a chilly autumn weekend. We had the opportunity to cook some soup on our stovetop and chill out by the campfire. And, as Rangers for The Dyrt, we get products to test from time to time so we were psyched to try out some new dinnerware and cutlery. This included the FlexiBowl and GoBites from humangear.

What made these humangear products pretty awesome? Well, the fun colors to start. I mean, seriously, my orange bowl rules. The FlexiBowl also has some neat features: it’s flexible - just like the name suggests - and foldable. The bowl can be squished and stuffed anywhere. And, the top section can be folded down to create a smaller bowl. The FlexiBowl is versatile yet durable. It held my hearty, warm soup just perfectly.

I paired the FlexiBowl with one of the GoBites utensils (the Uno model). The Uno model is my favorite - it has a fork on one side and a spoon on the other side. Very simple and convenient. The other GoBites models include the Duo (separate fork and spoon that can snap together) and the Trio (a fork, spoon, and knife - with bottle opener - in a case).

PRO TIP: I keep the Trio GoBites model in my travel pack at all times. It recently came in handy on a (non-camping) trip to Sardinia. The knife on the Trio allowed me to slice some delicious local cheese to pair with bread, jam, and wine that was purchased from the grocery store. YUM.

Great arrival experience—the office has their act together—but registration closes at 4pm. This was our second visit to the sleepy NJ park and campground and our first time renting a shelter along with a campsite to accommodate different levels of camping comfort. The shelter has two sets of bunk beds. Combining campsite 54 with the adjacent Shelter C gave us the opportunity to spread out and have a great area for all of our gear including our badminton set. Shelter C is surrounded by many lovely trees so there is lots of shade. Campsite 54 has no trees and is nestled up against a thicket of bushes which is home to many birds, rabbits, and deer—a great site if you bring your own shade.

This is a relatively rustic campground though it does offer a dishwashing station. The bathrooms need to be renovated—busted up fixtures—and are not well-tended/cleaned, though the staff is very friendly. (It didn’t seem like they were equipped with good cleaning equipment/products to achieve good results.)

Prices above are for NJ residents—$48 for shelter, $20 for campsite.

Stayed here 2 nights in May, Friday-Sunday. There were a decent amount of people on Friday, but significantly more on Saturday. Park employees and park police drive around through the day. Some big groups of campers got a little rowdy at night. The bathrooms were absolutely disgusting. I thought with COVID they were cleaning them more, but for the entire weekend, someone's #2 remained all over the toilet, floor, and corner wall. The other stalls weren't as bad, but definitely not clean. Our site was on the water and it was really nice. A duck visited us every morning. Not including the bathroom situation, the only con to this campground is it's proximity to the highway. You can hear 78, especially at night once the campground settles down.

We stayed in the "Shelter" which was a nice little cabin with a wood stove, table w/benches and two bunkbeds (one of which was nestled behind a partition). There was a front porch w/awning, fire ring and picnic table. 

Plenty of wood deadfall for the campfire to be found just behind the shelter. There are also lovely mature birch trees flanking the entrance road, stop there to grab the fallen branches for kindling. (Birch has natural flammable properties and will even burn when wet). 

The bathrooms had a shower and outdoor dishwashing sink. They were clean and stocked with soap/toilet paper, but bring a towel to dry your hands if you don't want to use the air-dryer. 

The grounds were well kept and the park rangers were non-intrusive and friendly. The campground area we were in was open and at night you could see right into our little cabin. Bring a sheet to hang over the windows. 

There were some bugs in the wood stove that startled us the first night, they were also on the window and between the window and the screen. Looking them up online they appeared to be stinkbugs, but didn't smell, thankfully. Citronella essential oil on the window and a nice fire took care of them the first night...for the most part. They didn't bite or go after our food, they just fly a bit loudly and crash into the window, an unusual sound. A few spiders around, but that can be expected when you camp. No mosquitos, no ticks. As for the ticks, there were lots of deer around but we kept our ankles covered and avoided the higher grass in the morning when the dew was still making everything wet.

The boat rental was closed for the season. We went to Di Mola's Pizzeria and Restaurant the second night and the food was excellent - it was not crowded for sit down but tons of traffic for people coming in to pick up orders. 

We went to the nearby Ken Lockwood Gorge after we checked out Sunday morning, this was beautiful. The road into the park had a lot of potholes, but we did ok with our "vintage" toyota camry. Where the road access ends are two small parking areas. Plenty of people were fly fishing or walking their dogs. The road continues to travel on foot along the river.

This is one of the best campsite I’ve been this year, clean bathrooms with very hot water and flushable toilet. The grounds are full of grass which makes my tent easy to pitch. Most campsite has a view of the Reservoir when sundown has amazing sunsets. Staff are friendly and helpful.

Only 8 electric sites. You basically pull off side of parking lot and camp there. Lake was closed so did not swim. If you get there on a day they clean the showers not bad. Very run down. Had to pick up trash from previous campers. AT&T great service.

Like i said is a great app to use