Horse camping is the perfect way to enjoy Matamoras. If you're an equestrian lover who prefers nature-based adventure, yet still wants comfort, this is the perfect opportunity for you. Camping with your horse in Matamoras just got easier. The Dyrt can help you find the perfect equestrian sites that are scenic and easy to access.
Located in eastern Ohio, Salt Fork State Park encompasses a diverse and beautiful landscape featuring forested hills, open meadows and misty valleys decorated with winding streams. This magnificent state park is Ohio’s largest state park, with 17,229 acres of recreational facilities available to visitors. Salt Fork State Park camping is possible at more than 200 individual campsites, open year-round.
$23 - $34 / night
Mountwood Park Family Campground offers 87 campsites suitable for tents, trailers and recreational vehicles. The campground has 16 full hookup sites, 64 sites with electric/water and 7 primitive sites. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. Multiple bathhouses are located throughout the campground offering hot showers and clean restroom facilities. Firewood, ice, souvenirs and camping supplies are available from the campground host while on duty. Families can enjoy a variety of campground activities throughout the season. A playground and New Nature Trail are also available for registered campers.
Want to go camping but not in a tent? Then try one of Mountwood’s Primitive Cabins located in Mountwood Family Campground. Each cabin comes equipped with electric, two sets of bunk beds, ceiling fans/lights and a table with four chairs. Each Primitive Cabin has a fire ring and a charcoal grill and is located near the bathhouse and playground. Maximum occupancy is four pe
Do you want to have a lake view from your tent? Do you want to step outside your campsite into your boat and start fishing at the morning first light? If so, one of Mountwood’s five Lakeside Campsites is for you. Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. The Lakeside Campsites are rented on a first come/first serve basis and are available for rent year round.
We have a horse camp too!
$20 - $40 / night
Primitive camping is allowed at no charge at the trailhead, but only during the horse and mountain bike riding open season.
Blue Rock has an upper and lower camp. Blue Rock's small family-friendly campground offers tranquil non-electric sites as well as equestrian-friendly sites in the upper camp. The lower camp has two Sherman Cabins and includes one latrine and a flush restroom. Pets are permitted on all sites. Check-in for campsites at the Camp Store, where snack foods, camp supplies, souvenirs, ice, and firewood can be purchased in season.
Latrines, picnic tables, water, dump station and fire rings are provided
Showers for registered campers at the Camp Store
PlaygroundReservations may be made up to six months in advance online or by calling (866) 644-6727.
Off-Peak Season: From Nov. 1 to Dec. 5, latrines are available. The lower camp is open with sites 51 to 102 available. The upper camp is closed.
$17 - $50 / night
Traveler
More trails to add to the collection.
Guide
Was a “okay” small area to stay at for free. There was a lot of bees, yellow jackets. The bathroom was clean, but the "non-flush" toilet was just gross.
TravelerDated, but pretty clean bath\shower building with clothes washer and dryer ($2). Sites in C-loop are far enough apart to not feel too crammed together. Power pedestal has 20, 30 and 50 amp service. 30 amp worked fine. Lots of trails, allowing dogs on leash. True, other amenities are a drive of at least a couple miles to get to. ATT service was fine for streaming using ROKU and my phone as a hotspot. Paved, level pads, but not long enough for largest trailers. Check size if you have one. Sites at South end of loop get the most shade
TravelerAlways love going to salt fork. Bathrooms are always clean and I appreciate having wash racks for the horses. If i had a complaint it would be that the campground is always pretty busy
Traveler
Very quiet campground with little to no other riders around. Only complaint would be the non equestrians staying in the equestrian area
LegendSomeone cancelled and this amazing site fell into our lap. I always put a ridiculous amount of time into finding sites that match our wants/needs list. This campground has very few sites that make the cut, but F08 was perfect. Backed up to the woods, has a view of the lake, shade, privacy, hammock trees, medium size, electric, bathroom directly across the street, water and grey water dump directly across the street.
Everywhere we camp, we color code a campground map with sites we like/dislike. This campground had about 7 sites we liked out of over 200. There are almost no sites with shade or privacy, many are small and oddly angled towards the road. They do all have 15A, 30A and 50A hookups and newer, level pads. The bathrooms however are very outdated. They still have the spring loaded faucets that you have to hold open and the men's shower houses is still a shared room for your things and changing. Worst of all, the water pressure was terrible and constantly changing.
This campground is in one of Ohio's largest state parks and is very popular. Which is why a lot of these negatives are pretty shocking to us. Like the never developed D loop. You would think for such a large and busy park, they would want as many sites as possible and to update the facilities.
One of my complaints about all of Ohio's state parks is the lack of tree preservation. Almost all of the state parks just clear the land to install power/water. You'd think a Ohio State Division of Wildlife State Park would take a bit extra care and attention to preserve some of them which also makes for a much better camping experience.
Overall, the positive rating isn't for the campground but rather the almost 20,000 acre state park. It is insanely huge and has many, many places to see and explore. There are beaches (even a private one for the campground), boat launches, hunting roads, historical house/cottage that is a museum, a cave and more.
Lastly, The Dyrt never seems to map the campground correctly so I couldn't do their cell network tests. However, Mint/T-Mobile and Verizon had pretty strong 5G. It slowed down a few times but was there the entire time.
TravelerParking for regular cars is 100 yards before restroom (the others are for horse trailers only). Close to the restroom there’s a picnic table, tentspots and a manual water pump. A lot of insects, humid and dense deciduous forest surrounding the trailhead. The Kinderhook trail was overgrown. The Paw Paw trail on the other hand was very smooth, dry and wide. The trail leads to the top of the hill.
ScoutArea is dedicated to horse trail riding. Nice clean area just off main road.Can camp here in certain spots. Not much area to camp. No fire rings, one picnic table. Definitely only for very small camper, car camp, or tent, small group. Nice trails. Seem to be well maintained. Does have a small hand pump water spigot. Has no flush vault toilet. No hook-ups of any kind. I did not camp here due to severe weather warnings. With att had 2 to 3 bars cell service.
Scout
Small campground, lower camp sites are pretty close together but it's treed and shady with a creek running through. No one was here during our stay so felt like we had the campground to ourselves. Newer flush toilets near the group camp sites are nice. Camp store has showers for camper use. Really pretty lake!
Scout
Only stayed for a night but it was very quiet and only a handful of other campers. All the sites seemed relatively level. Some of the electric hookups had damage but being able to choose your spot upon arrival helped. We arrived in pouring rain and had no issues with our campsite when we could see it in the morning lol.
Bathrooms and showers were relatively clean and accommodating.
Seemed a lot like a hidden gem and I definitely recommend. Especially if you have a dog. Across the street, the park portion of this campground has a dog park, playground, historical site and pond for fishing
FYI . Most of the sites seemed small so it might be best for smaller setups. Also I did not see any pull through sites.
TravelerWe stayed in the A8 campsite. Sites aren't too close together, spots aren't level but not awful. The bathrooms were the worst state park bathrooms I have ever used. Expect to use your car a lot at this park as things are spaced pretty far apart.
ScoutA place of wonder
ScoutStayed in G17 for the weekend. Electric site, full sun/no shade. Always a great time at Salt Fork Campground! Conveniently located to private beach and boat ramp. Facilities are clean and well maintained.
ScoutLovely park near Zanesville. The park is beautiful, lots of wildlife, and the trails were great. There is a creek running through the main primitive campsites below the dam, with minnows and crawfish for the kids to catch, plenty of shade, and the remodel a few years ago added nice bathrooms over in the group camp area up against the base of the dam. The fishing was good, and the activities with the naturalist (Cayden) were fun and engaging. The hiking was wonderful, the equestrian trails looked very nice, and the fire tower was a fun climb. The beach was a little dirty from the geese, but that didn't slow anyone down on swimming. Also, while the showers were up by the beach, there was always plenty of hot water.
TravelerThere are a lot of great full hook up sites here. Great for families and couples alike. It is a state park so if you are looking for a full blown activities schedule that is not going to happen. But the park is super nice and well taken care of. Private boat marina and beech for the campers. And the lake is very clean. Shower houses are clean and all have coin operated laundry in them
ScoutGood
TravelerWe stayed here for one night while traveling I-70. Tip: Access this park from nearby I-77 instead of I-70 unless you want to take a meandering and hilly side road. Other than that, the roads in the park are in great condition, and signage made the campground easy to find. We arrived well after dark when the park was closed, but instructions posted outside the camp office were to proceed directly to our reserved camp site. Comfort station was clean and well-lit and even included a washer/dryer. We navigated to I-77 on the way out, which used main thru-ways. Would stay at again and maybe for longer. Our T-mobile signal was existent but barely there.
RangerNice lake, small sites, clean bathrooms/showers. Kinda meh..
TravelerI stayed at salt Fork for 2 weeks. I never saw so many hunters in my life. My site was really amazing. The changing leaves gave excellent views. The lodge has an indoor pool and good food. Make sure you have plenty of gas. The nearest gas station is 20 mins away. They had a ton of ticks. I pulled 4 off of my dog.
TravelerNice lodge with pool. Pet hedgehog worked the front counter. Bigfoot stuff everywhere. Okay trails.
TravelerPlenty of nice park in lot and walk to sites. All on the edge of the woods, surrounding small open fields.
GuideThe park itself is huge with many hiking trails, a huge lake with unlimited horsepower (bad for kayaks), an interesting historical museum, a cave overhang and lots of Bigfoot lore.
The campground is average for an Ohio State Park- think huge, exposed fields with no tree cover, and hundreds of RVs parked 12 feet apart. The sites are tiny and exposed, and the main campground is constant chaos in the summer. Think 6-10 dogs surrounding your site and barking all at once, all night long. 8-15 children on bikes going back and forth, mostly on training wheels (NOISY!), screaming from your driveway from 7am to 10pm. Adults who think it is appropriate to yell at full volume to people ten feet away, all day and all night long. Parents who scream at their children from four feet away. You get it- the opposite of peaceful. I left a day early, I was so frazzled by the five dogs across from me barking at each other all day and all night (they were all at the SAME SITE. Why did they bark at each other? Why did no one stop them?) and all the yelling people. Insanity.
I drove by the primitive site and it looked much more peaceful, but it was also a big grassy lot with the tent spaces side by side, maybe 18 feet apart. Not sure if they were sloped or not. Note it is a long drive from the primitive site to the shower houses, and this site has pit toilets.
The bathrooms in the main campground were average- not clean but not disgusting, so that's a plus.
This park has a reputation for having a party atmosphere and I didn't observe that from my site, but when I was in the nature center, this dude walked in and he was one of the drunkest people I have ever seen in my life. Don't get me wrong: I drink a lot, I've experienced a lot of drinking environments, but this dude was HAMMERED. He followed me all around the nature center, wouldn't leave me alone, and the ranger just asked him if he was feeling ok. I shudder to think that this dude was driving a boat- he would have killed someone. But this isn't the park's fault, just note that I think that there is a big party atmosphere on this lake and take caution.
In all, I would try the primitive site to see if that's better, but I'll never camp in the main campground again. There are other campgrounds nearby that are probably more peaceful than this one.
GuideThis park is huge! There are several areas to pay for camping as well as primitive camp. It’s near the water and they offer several trails. Other than the trails, there is a stone house to view as well as a cave. We explored both and thought they were both interesting. The paid sites are pretty close together and unless you find a spot close to the showers, it’s quite the commute.
GuideThe tent only sites were quite sloped. There are several trails to explore, and you can walk down the hill to the lake. Campground had nice showers and was quiet.
TravelerSaltfork is located about 45 minutes from my house, and makes for the perfect overnight trip.
There are tons of things to do, and lots of space in which to do them. My favorites includes hiking trails, and the lakeside dog park.
I stay in the primitive camping, it allows for more privacy and quiet. Although it also means you are relegated to the pit toilets. I personally don't mind them, but I know some campers will make the drive to the nicer shower house in the RV heavy side of the park.
Each site has a picnic table and fire ring, the fire rings in the primitive section need some work, as the grates are very old and small.
TravelerGreat great campground plenty to Joe we took the horses had a blast
GuideThis park is very well groomed and most of the trails within the park had been cleared of vegetation so there was no fighting through the weeds. There are a number of good hikes within the park. We were there Columbus weekend and it was hopping but everyone quieted by 10.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Matamoras, OH?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Matamoras, OH is Salt Fork State Park Campground with a 4.4-star rating from 36 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Matamoras, OH?
TheDyrt.com has all 7 equestrian camping locations near Matamoras, OH, with real photos and reviews from campers.