Are you looking for a place to stay in Fossil with your horse? Finding a place to stay in Oregon while traveling with your horse has never been easier. At The Dyrt, you can find top-rated spots for horse camping, as reviewed by campers.
Coalmine Hill is just off the paved Blue Mountain Scenic Byway (also called the Western Route). The Campground serves as access to the Bald Mountain, Hells Half Acre, and Willow Creek trails, offering a 7.5 mile-long loop experience for hikers and equestrians. Once inside the campground's large parking area, there is an information board on the northeast side. Past the information board runs the Bald Mountain hiking trail leading to Gibson Cave, which is 1.25 miles from the parking lot. The cave is really a shallow overhanging shelter with an interpretive sign describing its history.Once you've reached Gibson's cave, continue up the Bald Mountain trail until you reach a nice view point. The mountain's view point overlooks the drainages in between Coalmine Hill (to the northwest) and Little Bald Mountain (to the east), providing fantastic views and tranquility. About five miles southwest of the campground is Penland Lake; follow the Blue mountain Scenic Byway and Forest Service Road 21 and 2103, until you've reached Penland Lake where there are fishing and nonelectric boating opportunities. . Coalmine Hill Campground provides one larger, separate site near the entrance and the remaining five sites are located along the tree edges of the large parking area. There is one vault toilet and a travel access information board. This campground was constructed to serve double-duty as a snow park in the winter. There is no potable water or garbage service, so please pack out all garbage and dispose of it at home.
TravelerThis campground has full and partial hookup sites. The roads are gravel and wind their way up a steep hill, but the sites provide decent privacy. Each site has a picnic table and fire pit. Pit toilets are located in one of the loops, but there are bathrooms with showers near the host site. There is a hiking trail directly from camp into the forest. We loved the serenity of being away from town in the woods where all we could hear were the birds and the creek nearby (and the thunderstorm that passed thru).
Guide
Let's start with the positive folks. This site as an amazing parking area that is large enough for rvs and horse trailers to be able to turn around without any issues. There's a wooden pin to be able to keep horses safe and secure over night. Almost all campsites are shaded. There is a trail for either a long hike or a short one. With two littles, we did the short on which around trip was under 3 miles. It looks like if we would have kept going there is definitely an uphill climb to continue the treck, but I'm sure the few is gorgeous on top! Now is time for the negatives that really just makes this place not that great. The campsites are very close together. The ground isn't very level, so tent camping would be bumpy and on an incline. There's also little tree trunk scattered out through out the whole place so it is kinda dangerous for kids to ran around a play. Mosquitos can be murdereres so lots of bug spray! Last thing, it is rather close to the main highway so lots of noise from the traffic.
LegendOne of the few national forest campgrounds on road 53, or the Blue Mountain Scenic Highway. It was a beautiful drive to the campground. There are no spot numbers for this campground and is free to camp. There are only 5 picnic tables scattered around a large cul-de-sac parking lot. I choose one at the bottom of the cul-de-sac with full view of the parking lot and no one on either side of me. This is definitely a campground geared for equestrians with a horse corral available. The only amenity is a pit toilet. Aside from the horse trailer/RV that ran its generator most of the night and morning, it was a great spot to camp. There was even a short hike (2.5 round trip) up to Gibson Caves with great views along the way. The only reason I gave it 3 stars is cause of the RV running it's generator all night and being annoyed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Fossil, OR?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Fossil, OR is Coalmine Hill with a 3-star rating from 2 reviews.
