Best Equestrian Camping near West Columbia, SC

Pros The pond was beautiful, nice walking trail for beginners, would never consider this a hiking park. Location was close to Colombia and all it offers. Bathhouse was acceptable but nothing to brag about. Toilets were three flushers is you cared about the next guy.

Cons Guessing I may have had the worst site (41) but walking through there were others similar. Site 41 is a pull through lot which declines quickly upon entry and is marred by deep ra9n crevices. You then incline to the area you should probably land as there is an obvious flat spot. Unfortunately in you stop there, your camper door will open on the neighboring fire ring which is the only fire ring on the back side of the neighboring spot in in the fore ground of yours. Asinine. I had to manipulate my camper for an hour to a spot level enough yet not in my neighbor's fire and dealt with a large tree and had to tie back branches to extend my awning. Uggg

Effing covid. The state of South Carolina, the City of Columbia don't have mask mandates. But this state park requires a mask to pee in the urinal. The boss says the county still mandates it.

I gave this campground four stars, but only for RVs and travel trailers. I would not give it four stars for tent campers. Tent campers would have a hard time finding a suitable site that would not be too rocky. When I checked in, the lady was nice enough to find a site with grass behind the gravel so I could set up my tent. She didn’t warn me that it was sloped. With that said, it is a campground in a beautiful setting. The lake and the sitting area beside the lake are both beautiful. There is a paved walkway down to the lake to a sitting area and a dock. The bath house was air conditioned, almost too much. It is a shock to the system moving from the intense South Carolina heat into the bath house. However, it was a nice break from the heat. Be aware that when you take a shower, you may have to wait a few minutes for the hot water to start. When I first turned it on, I wondered if there was any hot water. Eventually it came, and it was HOT, so I had to adjust it quickly. Also, take your own hand soap with you. There are paper towels but no soap. There are several trails, and you can rent boats, peddle boats, canoes, and kayaks. There is also a disc golf course. If I had known beforehand, I would have taken my own discs. That’s my fault for not doing the research. My favorite part of this camping experience was waking up early in the morning and sitting by the lake. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to capture a photo of the ducks taking off and flying in a perfect v-formation, but it was so peaceful there. Overall, this is a great campground to get away from civilization.

This is a remote campground in the national forest, and it is close to equestrian camping as well. With that said, there will be horseflies. However, it is a quiet campground. A big disadvantage, as far as I am concerned, is that it does not have water access. With that said, plan to dry camp and bring your own water. There is a pit toilet, so that is one good thing I can say about this campground. 

Avoid campsite 4 if you are in a tent, unless you have a rake. There are a lot of sweetgum balls. Since I was there at the beginning of the week, there were only two or three other campers and they were in RVs. 

Overall, it’s not bad for camping if you are prepared and know that you will need to take everything in, including water.

Great little spot for what we wanted to do. Quick last minute camping trip we didn’t want to drive hours away from home. This was fairly close and one of the few places to all booked up for the weekend. As a lady i can appreciate the glorified outhouses so I didn’t have to squat in the woods. My boyfriend and hiked the trail next to the camp. It’s mainly a bourse trail but we knew that going into it. Which means you need to expect to get muddy as the bourses make excellent mud puddles. We didn’t complete the whole 9.8 miles. Went about 3 and turned around. The campground was very quiet for us all weekend. A few random people rolling by from time to time who were staying or checking the place out. If you want secluded this isn’t for you. We got lucky. It was empty our first night and a few other car campers joined us spread out through the camp the next night.

We stayed in loop 2 at site 48 for 2 nights at the end of April. Chose this campground because we had an event in Columbia that we had to attend on our way back from a trip to Florida so we needed a place to stay for a few nights. The site was level with a gravel drive and parking area. Lots of pines all around but the site was clear enough for easy parking. No sewer hookups. There was water but we had some trouble getting the pressure just right. Really good tv signal since the campground is right outside of the city. Only a 20-30 minute drive down the highway. The part of town you go through to get there is a bit rundown (not bad by any means but you wouldn’t know there was a park nearby). The park itself it quite lovely. There’s a small lake that rents paddle boats and kayaks. A nice camp store. Cute park and splash pad. I actually wish we could have stayed longer. We have family nearby and will probably stay here next time we visit. I would recommend visiting if you want a quiet low key getaway.