Best Equestrian Camping near Island Heights, NJ

   We 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.

Flat 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!

First 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

This 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.

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.

Turkey 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.

I grew up at this camp ground. Spent every summer here. Some of my favorite things about this place are 1) it's far away from traffic noise. You can't here any cars or any other noise from civilization at all. It's at least 10 miles away from anything more than a single house in the woods. 5 miles away from the main road. It just makes for better camping. 2) it's in the great NJ pine barrens. This place is fantastic! The smells, the sounds, the wildlife. Love it. 3) the walking trails! There are probably hundreds of miles of trails through the woods and bogs to explore. Can't tell you how much I love it. Could spend a whole vacation just with these trails and never leave this state park. 4) clean bathrooms to take a shower after your adventures. Well...pretty clean by camping standards. 😉 Hot showers are there. Everything you need.