Best Equestrian Camping near Fern Ridge Lake

This is a little hidden gem as it is not well marked on maps or along highway 101. There are only about 5 campsites(not including the possible equestrian site on the other side of the parking lot), and they are not equally level, spacious, or private, but it is taken care of by a full time host and you are close to the beach and dunes. Be prepared for a hike through deep shifting sand dunes to get to the beach. And watch out for horse poo as this is a busy horse path the local stable takes to the beach. Expect some dust from the gravel road and lot. While here I took advantage of the rental stable and got to ride on the beach; pretty cool experience!

This is a horse camp not a car camp. If you don’t have horses you should not be taking up a spot with horse corrals! OET horse group paid for all the gravel on road, put up all corrals, and fixed the water trough. It is not fair that people are taking up spots from horse people. We can not just take our horses into a car camp. The homeless are camping all over the roads making it hard to pull trailers by. They are littering and pooping all over the trails. The bathrooms are nasty & people drive in & out parking in the middle of lot making it so horse trailers can not get through. Not right! Keep this horses only!

Horse Creek is a great site for horse camping. Only two sites are for non-stock campers. The camp has no water or any hook ups but the corrals are pretty good except they can get muddy if manure is not carefully picked out. 

The horse water trough is a short walk away from camp but does not have potable water. If users are not careful it can drain or not be usable so bring horse water. 

The trails are wonderful!! But hilly so make sure your horse is fit or you are willing to take it easy. Many of the original overlooks are starting to be grown in but the forest is amazing!

This used to be much better than it is currently. Like some other reviews have pointed out, websites like the dyrt and books like Ray's Guides have brought a completely different vibe to the place. I see this as a symptom of the shortage of primitive camping spots in the coast range. We have way more people in the state now (and everywhere for that matter) and no new campgrounds. Some have even closed, so there are fewer spots for more people. Not too long ago reservations were not necessary to get a yurt, for instance.

This campground has definitely picked up a seedy vibe in the last couple years. Though, the horse people are not correct, horse camps are also officially available to tents without horses. Says so on the USFS website. Though, again, if we had enough campgrounds we'd be thrilled to let them have their own and I certainly can't blame them for want that.

Maybe it's because it was rainy and misty and deserted when we were here, but this campground feels really remote and desolate.  No other campers when we were here in early June.  The road up was really narrow (only room for one vehicle in most parts) and there were some large pits we had to navigate around, but otherwise in decent shape.

There is some cell reception for ATT and Verizon, but it's not very strong.  The cell booster helped a lot.

Each site has a horse corral, fire pit, and picnic table (but it looks like #2 does not have a horse corral?).  There are vault toilets, but no other services. Pack out your own trash please!  There is water for horses, but it's not potable for humans.

There are 11 sites, each nicely separated from the other.  Some are pull throughs and some are back ins.

It was too rainy and muddy for us to feel like hiking the trails, but they look beautiful.

Cost is $14.24/night, self pay, no reservations, no host on site.