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Best Equestrian Camping in New York

182 Reviews

Backbone Horse Campground provides essential facilities for equestrians exploring the Finger Lakes National Forest in Burdett, New York. The campground features toilets and trash disposal while maintaining a primitive camping experience for riders seeking direct trail access. Sites accommodate both tents and RVs, though big rig access is limited due to the forest setting and narrow access roads. The campground remains open year-round, providing consistent availability for riders planning trips during different seasons. Trail riders note the campground serves as an excellent basecamp for exploring the extensive network of forest trails, with ample space for horse trailers at each site.

The trail system connecting to Backbone Horse Campground offers riders miles of scenic routes through the Finger Lakes region. Located near the 16,000-acre Finger Lakes National Forest, equestrians enjoy varied terrain with rolling hills and forest paths ideal for day rides of different skill levels. Water access points along the trails provide natural watering opportunities for horses, though campers should bring their own drinking water as no potable water is available on site. The designated horse camping area maintains separation from other recreation areas, creating a more specialized environment for equestrians. Campers should prepare for primitive conditions by bringing feed storage containers and temporary tie-out systems, as the campground focuses on basic necessities rather than elaborate equine amenities.

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Best Equestrian Sites in New York (21)

    1. North-South Lake Campground

    44 Reviews
    Palenville, NY
    Website
    +1 (518) 589-5058

    $22 - $44 / night

    "Our first campground was in New York Aug 8th. Unfortunately, Debbie was socking New York hard. North South Lake Campground in the Catskills was our camping home."

    "Had a great time at this campground- surrounded by many returning campers which gave the whole experience a good community vibe. Ice cream truck comes around each evening in the summer."

    2. Darien Lakes State Park Campground

    20 Reviews
    Darien Center, NY
    Website
    +1 (585) 547-9242

    $20 - $29 / night

    "The lake is awesome, and great for all water activities. I really enjoyed stand up paddle boarding as well as fishing with my parents!"

    "I live local to the area and still find a time to setup the tent and enjoy some peace and quiet away from the noise of daily life. There are miles of hiking trails, nice "lakes" to fish and swim in."

    3. Moreau Lake State Park Campground

    18 Reviews
    Gansevoort, NY
    Website
    +1 (518) 793-0511

    $75 / night

    "This campground is close to the highway between Albany and the Adirondacks. There’s a nice big lake and the Hudson RIver. Many campsites are near the lake."

    "Moreau Lake has (in my opinion) superb facilities as far as state run campsites go."

    4. Red House Area — Allegany State Park State Park

    13 Reviews
    Salamanca, NY
    Website
    +1 (716) 354-9121

    "Cabins are pretty large and have some great surounding areas, like creeks right next to the cabins. Great place for family camping with tons of different activites offered around the park."

    "We've been coming to this campground since I was a kid, and love the fact that you can have the amenities of home away from home."

    5. Luzerne Campground

    13 Reviews
    Lake Luzerne, NY
    Website
    +1 (518) 696-2031

    $22 / night

    "The only campground in all of New York that acquires to house back riders. There are campsites that also come with stalls for your horse!"

    "We get our site close to the lake so we can walk down and swim and my husband fishes. The showers are so nice and private and clean. Love that we can rent boats too."

    6. The Villages RV Park at Turning Stone

    11 Reviews
    Oneida, NY
    Website
    +1 (315) 361-7275

    $65 - $75 / night

    "For activities, there are some great hikes around the campground, as well as excellent playgrounds, fishing, an awesome pool, and of course, free shuttle rides to the Turning Stone Casino right up the"

    "Convenient to the highway with 24 hour shuttles to the casino 5 minutes away, yet quiet and beautifully maintained."

    7. AuSable Chasm Campground

    12 Reviews
    Keeseville, NY
    Website
    +1 (518) 834-9990

    "Sites were a medium distance apart but still spacious enough to not be close to neighbors."

    "Pretty decent campground with lots of sites anod close by to some fun attractions."

    8. Limekiln Lake Campground

    12 Reviews
    Inlet, NY
    Website
    +1 (315) 357-4401

    $20 / night

    "We loved our stay at Limekiln Lake! We had site 270, which was close enough to walk down to the boat launch at night to look at the stars (and the Milky Way!)"

    "a small water passage off the lake leads you to a beautiful queit kayak trip through lily pads ans if you follow it leads to a beaver dam. My son loved it."

    9. Bear Spring Mountain — DEC

    7 Reviews
    Downsville, NY
    Website
    +1 (607) 865-6989

    $18 - $40 / night

    "Went here with some friends who had never been outside NYC before. They were absolutely blown away. For me, it was a nice site but not exceptional. Bring or rent a kayak!"

    "I drove to NYC for a business trip and ended up driving 1 and a half hour to reach this place. I always carry a tent in the back of my trunk and decided to go camping."

    10. Backbone Horse Campground

    4 Reviews
    Hector, NY
    Website

    $15 / night

    "We ended up having to come to this location. It was actually perfect for our small popup, but the horse riders that camp here were not pleased with us."

    "Large camp sites have room for all your horses and horse paraphernalia. Call Finger Lakes National Forest to make sure trails aren’t closed due to weather, spring melt, etc."

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Recent Equestrian Camping Photos in New York

2 Photos of 21 New York Campgrounds

Equestrian Camping Reviews in New York

182 Reviews of 21 New York Campgrounds

  • B
    Oct. 18, 2018

    Luzerne Campground

    Defenitly in the woods!

    The only campground in all of New York that acquires to house back riders. There are campsites that also come with stalls for your horse!

  • Cynthia K.
    Aug. 29, 2024

    North-South Lake Campground

    New York

    We were on a 5 state East Coast camping trip. Our first campground was in New York Aug 8th. Unfortunately, Debbie was socking New York hard. North South Lake Campground in the Catskills was our camping home. Thursday & Friday it was Neverending rain & wind. Saturday was the nice day.

    North South Lake has no electricity. The sites are almost all beautiful, tucked in under shady trees. Not a good way to try out our solar panel! Some are by a stream. A few are by the lake. This is a tent campers paradise. New York tent campers are hard core camping during Tropical Storm Debbie!

     There are 7 loops. We were in loop 2. Site 85. There are some sites with an incline down to the site. That might give some rvs trouble. It did for us & I had to be driven out of the campground to call 911. Thank you Mary!! It all ended well & we got a different site.

     There are bears that visit the campground & one came one of the nights & visited our camping neighbor's site. They showed us a picture- it was a large black bear. 

    Generators are allowed for 5 hours & they tell you when you can use them. 

    The bathrooms/showers are state park clean- which means not very.

     There is NO cell service & just forget about WiFi. You are unplugged.

    This is a hiking park & for this middle aged overweight flatlander they are pretty strenuous. Kaaterskill Falls is an exception - short, easy trail, but the parking fills up quickly. Then they close it! You'll have to take a shuttle to get in.

    The trail to the Mountain House Site is also pretty easy, with more of an incline.

    There's 2 nice lakes with beaches. 

    The Catskills are very scenic& we enjoyed our time there!

  • Tara L.
    May. 21, 2018

    North-South Lake Campground

    NYS camping.

    North South lake is one of the larger public camp grounds in New York. The sites are well spaced out. Great for families. The lake is huge.

    Avoid holidays to avoid the crowds.

  • Nadia V.
    Aug. 24, 2016

    Sears Bellows County Park

    Relaxing-Good for your whole family!

    Sears Bellows in New York is a lot of fun. It really does offer a lot of outdoor activities for you and your family. I have stayed at this campsite 1 time, and stayed 2 nights. This campground does offer tent sites as well as RV/trailer sites. When I went with my friends in college, we just stayed in the tent sites and really enjoyed it. The campground is very well kept and clean which I really liked. They do have quite a bit of garbage's to dump your trash in. One thing I really liked about this campground is that there was a river/pond close by (Bellows Pond). The first night I stayed here my friends and I rented some rowboats and went on the water. It was a lot of fun, and the price of the rowboat was pretty cheap. The next morning we got up and did some hiking. The trails were beautiful, and the flowers were in bloom. There were people who were also biking on these trails, which looked like so much fun! We also saw some people fishing in the pond- and it seemed like most people were catching. The people who stayed in the campsite next to us were cooking up some type of fish for their dinner that they caught that day. One thing to note is that there are not any electrical hook-ups, so if that is something you need you might now want to come stay here. I would love to come back here someday, but stay maybe a day or two longer to do more things- I would also bring my bike and fishing pole to do more outdoor activities. I would also advise to rent the rowboats because that was a lot of fun!

  • Chelsea B.
    Oct. 5, 2025

    Frontier Town Campground

    So clean!

    We stayed in site 33 which is in the equestrian camping area. It’s really open with little tree cover which is perfect for those who work remote using Starlink. We had fantastic connection. The sites in the equestrian camping area are huge and so clean. The bathrooms are the cleanest I’ve seen so far and we do this full time. The only disappointment was that the hot water doesn’t get very hot in the shower so you better do some jumping jacks to get pumped before showering during colder temps! The trails are well marked and well maintained. Overall, this is a fantastic campsite. There’s even a brewery a ten minute walk down the road. We didn’t go but looks nice. Get your supplies before you arrive! Not many places around to quickly grab charcoal if you need it.

  • Kari M.
    Sep. 30, 2016

    Darien Lakes State Park Campground

    Loved the lake, super relaxing!

    This is a great place to come and relax with your family and friends. The lake is awesome, and great for all water activities. I really enjoyed stand up paddle boarding as well as fishing with my parents! My brothers really enjoyed riding their bikes on a small trail that was located nearby. The campground and surrounding areas is pretty big, with lots of trees and shaded area. The shade definitely saved us because it was very hot outside! I would also recommend bring bug spray, because the mosquitos ate me alive. My family forgot to bring spray, so needless to say we all had quite a few nasty bites. There are also a lot of other amenities and fun things that the park has to offer. There is a small basketball court, and you can also take horseback riding lessons. My family didn't venture off too much from our campsite, but definitely enjoyed the lake and making a fire at night and eating dinner and smores for dessert. There are also some picnic areas that you can use- we didn't have a table in our campsite, but my family did bring their own table which we used. They do have some great walking trails, which my mom and I used for our morning walks. The path was great, well marked and maintained and shaded the whole time. I would love to come back and stay here again, and maybe venture out and do more next time. Someone told us there was a theme park close by, and also a golfing range and mini golf nearby.

  • Brenley R.
    May. 29, 2018

    Backbone Horse Campground

    Central Primitive Spot

    We originally came down to the National Forest to stay at the Blueberry Patch Campground but it was full by noon on the Friday before Memorial Day. This was also the first day it was open. We ended up having to come to this location. It was actually perfect for our small popup, but the horse riders that camp here were not pleased with us. This campground is apparently ONLY for horse owners with their horses. After another camper made a passive aggressive comment about us being here without horse, we attempted to find another location. Of course that was not a success the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, so we stayed. No other comment has been made and we aren’t the only ones that don’t have horses. We made the moral decision to leave if the campground filled with horse rider, but it hasn’t even reach half. We were told by locals that the horse riders are upset about the new $10 camping fee and that has deterred them from coming like they usually would. Anyways, both locations are great with a small fee. You’re centrally located to do and see everything from waterfalls, trails, vineyards and so on. It’s primitive, but more than half the price of a state par

  • H
    Oct. 1, 2017

    Backbone Horse Campground

    All year Finger Lakes camping with your horses

    Large camp sites have room for all your horses and horse paraphernalia. Call Finger Lakes National Forest to make sure trails aren’t closed due to weather, spring melt, etc. You need a permit to camp here but the permit and site are free. You can camp without having horses but get ready to smell them.

  • Lena L.
    Jun. 14, 2018

    North-South Lake Campground

    Family friendly

    Had a great time at this campground- surrounded by many returning campers which gave the whole experience a good community vibe. Ice cream truck comes around each evening in the summer. Sites are tucked away in the trees for privacy. We set up our 6 person tent and two hammocks comfortably. Long walk to the beach from our site but enjoyable anyway. Nice little hiking trails nearby.

Guide to New York

Horse camping in New York offers a unique experience for equestrian enthusiasts, combining the beauty of nature with the joy of riding. With various campgrounds catering to horse owners, you can enjoy scenic trails and facilities designed for both you and your horse.

Equestrian campers like these nearby activities

  • At Backbone Horse Campground, you can explore numerous trails perfect for horseback riding, allowing you to immerse yourself in the stunning landscapes of the Finger Lakes National Forest.
  • Luzerne Campground offers access to local tubing and white-water rafting, making it a great spot for adventurous families who want to mix equestrian activities with water fun.
  • Darien Lakes State Park Campground features a large field ideal for flying kites and enjoying outdoor games, perfect for families camping with horses.

Equestrian campgrounds include horse-friendly amenities

  • Luzerne Campground provides stalls for horses, making it a convenient choice for those traveling with their equine companions.
  • At Backbone Horse Campground, you’ll find spacious sites that accommodate both horses and riders, ensuring a comfortable stay for everyone.
  • Moreau Lake State Park Campground features trails that are accessible for horseback riding, allowing you to enjoy the park's natural beauty on horseback.

Most campgrounds have horse-focused features like trails and facilities

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