Top Horse Camping near Altoona, WI
Are you planning a trip to Altoona with your horse? We've got you covered. Equestrian camping is an adventurous and unique way to experience the city. Find Wisconsin equestrian campgrounds with ease on The Dyrt.
Best Equestrian Sites Near Altoona, WI (6)
1.
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Jim Falls, Wisconsin33 Reviews129 Photos103 Saves- Pets
- Fires
- Electric Hookups
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- ADA Access
2.
Highland Ridge
Spring Valley, Wisconsin13 Reviews43 Photos89 SavesOverview
Highland Ridge overlooks the sparkling Eau Galle Reservoir located in Spring Valley, in western Wisconsin. The area boasts 648 acres of scenery with numerous opportunities for recreation, including fishing, canoeing and plenty of hiking. Horseback riders enjoy the trails around the lush region.
Recreation
Hikers can enjoy the 7 miles worth of trails, along with overlook seating areas and a swimming beach. Horseback riders have a variety of trails to choose from. Fishermen cast their reels year-round. Kayaking, canoeing, and electric-motor boating are common.
Facilities
Hikers can enjoy the 7 miles worth of trails, along with overlook seating areas and a swimming beach. Horseback riders have a variety of trails to choose from. Fishermen cast their reels year-round. Kayaking, canoeing, and electric-motor boating are common.
Natural Features
The 35-mile Eau Galle River feeds into 150 acre Eau Galle Lake, which is surrounded by steep hills and bluffs. The campground is opposite the dam on the north side of the small reservoir. The area is set in a heavily wooded area that provides a welcoming habitat for native plants and animals.
contact_info
This location has limited staffing. Please call (715) 778-5562 for general information.
Nearby Attractions
Highland Ridge is minutes from Spring Valley Golf Course, Crystal Cave, Cady Cheese Factory, Red Cedar Bike Trial, Vino in the Valley, Nugget Lake, Wakanda Water Park, Maple Leaf Orchard and Goven's Farm.
- Pets
- Fires
- Electric Hookups
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- RVs
$28 - $216 / night
3.
Highland Ridge - Eau Galle Reservoir
Spring Valley, Wisconsin5 Reviews6 Photos34 Saves- Pets
- Fires
- Electric Hookups
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- RVs
4.
Pietrek County Park
Galesville, Wisconsin2 Reviews19 Photos10 Saves- Pets
- Fires
- Electric Hookups
- Phone Service
- ADA Access
- RVs
5.
Zumbro Bottoms Central — R.J.D. Memorial Hardwood State Forest
Be the first to review!Kellogg, Minnesota1 SaveCentral Assembly Area is moderate in size; it is a primitive campground designed to furnish only the camper's basic needs, vault toilets, and hand-pumped water. There are fire rings, picnic tables, picket lines, and manure bunkers in the campground.
There are no designated campsites in this campground, and campers can set up as they wish, keeping in line with these rules:
Portable pens must be 50 feet from the road to minimize damage to the grass and not be around trees. Horses cannot be tied to trees. Keep the size of your campsite reasonable. To allow for other campers to use only the amount of space you need. All camping is first-come, first-serve. Do not block off space for friends who will be arriving later. Clean up your campsite when you leave. Take all garbage with you and put all hay and manure in the bunkers provided. This is a popular camping area and on busy weekends can accommodate about 20 camping units. Quiet hours are between 10:00 p.m.–8:00 a.m. (this includes no generator use). Please be considerate of others around you.Zumbro Bottoms offers access to 44 miles of horseback riding trails. The trails have been marked with brown signs showing appropriate uses.
- Fires
- RVs
- Tents
- Equestrian
- Standard (Tent/RV)
- Dispersed
$14 - $16 / night
6.
Zumbro Bottoms West — R.J.D. Memorial Hardwood State Forest
Be the first to review!Kellogg, Minnesota1 SaveWest Assembly Area is the largest of the three campgrounds at Zumbro Bottoms; it is a primitive campground designed to furnish only the camper's basic needs, vault toilets, and hand-pumped water. Other than two accessible sites, there are no designated campsites in this campground.
There are fire rings, picnic tables, picket lines, and manure bunkers in the campground. There is a lot of open space, and campers can set up as they wish, keeping in line with these rules:
Portable pens must be 75 feet from the road to minimize damage to the grass and not be around trees. Horses cannot be tied to trees. Keep the size of your campsite reasonable. To allow for other campers to use only the amount of space you need. All camping is first-come, first-serve. Do not block off space for friends who will be arriving later. Clean up your campsite when you leave. Put all garbage in the dumpster and all hay and manure in the bunkers provided. This is a popular camping area and on busy weekends can accommodate 100 + camping units. Quiet hours are between 10:00 p.m.–8:00 a.m. (this includes no generator use). Please be considerate of others around you.Highlights: Zumbro Bottoms offers access to 44 miles of horseback riding trails. The trails have been marked with brown signs showing appropriate uses.
- Fires
- RVs
- Tents
- Equestrian
- Standard (Tent/RV)
- Dispersed
$22 / night
Recent Equestrian Reviews In Altoona
53 Reviews of 6 Altoona Campgrounds
Highland Ridge
Clean and relatively quiet
Lots of RV campers, but none were obnoxious. T-mobile service is almost non-existent depending on location. The showers and bathrooms were spotless. Firewood is available at several roadside stands just outside the entrance.
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Pretty average
Very no frills camp site. Sites are decently sized, has some good views. It's missing a sculley.
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Great!
Great camp site, the ground was a little rocky so it was a little difficult to get the stakes in but we were able to get them in. Hiking trail right next to the campsite. Bathrooms and showers are nearby as well. Great place to stay!
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Amazing views and trails
Best trails and lots of wildlife.The park staff is great also. Love the price to camp along with the camping areas.
Highland Ridge
Wow Spacious Sites and Peaceful
Highland Ridge, WI - COE east of Minneapolis. (Scale 1- bad, 5-Very good (70 yr olds in 17’ trailer) Overall Rating: 4.5 Price 2023: $12/ night w senior pass Usage during visit: 60 - 70% during weekdays Site Privacy: GOOD - not a fence forest, but tremendous spacing makes up for it.
Site Spacing: VERY GOOD Site surface: Gravel and level Reservations: Yes. Can reserve on line at the cg Campground Noise: None Road Noise: None Through Traffic in campground: None Electric Hookup: Yes Sewer Hookup: No Dump Station: Yes Potable Water Available: Yes, at the bathrooms. Generators: Not needed. Bathroom: kept VERY clean. Shutdown for cleaning every morning at about 6 AM. Showers: Yes. Clean Pull Throughs: I think all are back ins. Cell Service (AT&T): Good Setting: Forest with no understory Weather: 80s Bugs: Not too bad.
Solar: Forest canopy would interfere , but not needed. Host: Yes. They are around and offer free beach passes. They are super. Rig size: Large RVs. Sites: All sites are very nice in loop 1 -24. I understand that Loop 28+ is less private.Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Solid Campground with Pizza and Beer close by
So I love goin to this campground. It has nice lakeside sites on a bluff above the water and they are fairly well laid out. There is a trial along the bluff connecting the two main loops of the campground. Showers and restrooms work, but are showing their age. They are scheduled to be rebuilt in the next couple of years...hopefully. One of the best parts of this is its proximity to breweries. Not talking Lienies, that's generally ok beer, but the Brewing Projekt, that's amazing beer. It's in downtown Eau Claire, but worth the drive. Also, if you want pizza, which is something we like to do on the day we arrive Chippewa Falls has pretty much anything you need within 20 of the campground. Nice hiking and biking trails as well. I've camped here in Spring, Summer and Fall and multiple sites.
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Brillant campground
Lake is huge with alot to explore. Not an overabundance of boat traffic. Camp facilities are brand new. Sites a level, plenty of shade. Hiking trails are awesome.
Highland Ridge
Peaceful Campground Under a Canopy of Shade
Nice Campground under an almost complete canopy of shade. Older shower house but clean. Friendly staff and hosts. Long spread apart spots.
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Excellent placeYou
New facilities and hot showers. Great hiking trails, mountain biking. Equestrian trails also. Lake is huge, walleye are prevalent. Kayaking is great with other boat ramps available. Sites heavily wooded, low noise and light pollution. Easy access to all activities.
Highland Ridge
Nice getaway close to the Twin Cities
We’ve now camped here 4times…. This is a beautiful, densely wooded campground with fairly well spaced sites. Some sites on the short loop (28-38) are a bit smaller and slope down from the road, so be careful of the site’s size when booking. Our 29’ trailer would have been a challenging fit in some of those sites. Make sure to enter “Highland Ridge Campground” into your GPS instead of “Eau Galle Rec Area. (That’s the day use area of the park that’s about a 20 minute drive around the lake from the campground) AT&T service is spotty throughout the park with either 1 or 2 bars, although in the spring and fall when there’s few leaves on the trees, service is fine. The campground is well maintained and the bathrooms are clean, and only an hour from our home in the northern suburbs. Will definitely be back! One change from our last visit: there have been quite a few trees taken out at the end of the main loop, so now sites 18-20 are VERY open. (At least now it’s a nice view of the reservoir….)
Highland Ridge
Great experience
Fairly level, clean, wooded sites. Clean showers. Friendly Hosts and Rangers. Great trails.
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Quiet Lakeside Park
This is our second stay at Lake Wissota SP. Last year we were in an electric site inside one of the loops, this time we’re sans electricity and overlooking the lake. Our site was spacious, level, shady, sandy (not grassy) and we had good cell service (we use Visible). We were here weekdays so lots of empty sites. Walking and biking in the park are nice. There’s single stream recycling dumpsters which is convenient. The shower houses haven’t been renovated like they have at other WI parks but apparently that’ll happen in the next couple of years. It’s a very nice quiet place to stay and the area has much to offer, be sure to visit Irvine Park and the Thai restaurant downtown!
Pietrek County Park
Well maintained
Nice big tent sites down by the river. Walking trails were nice but recommend pants as the grass was long in spots. Plenty of wildlife and could not hear the cars from the highway.
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Beautiful
Lake Wissota is beautiful and the beach area is very nice and well kept! Tons of nature trails for walking (easy). I like birdwatching and have seen a good variety of species!
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Fantastic view of the lake
Continuing my quest to visit as many Wisconsin state parks as possible. I stopped by here to check out the campsites for potential future camping and look over the park. When I found was a very well-maintained park, love the viewing area of the lake. Campsites looked good as well.
Highland Ridge
Easy to get to and quiet!
We were just passing through and had a difficult time finding somewhere to stay since it’s early April. This site was easily accessed off the highway and incredibly convenient to reserve online! $20 for a non-electric site got you a quiet, private site, perfect for a good night’s sleep on the road. Would stop here again due to convenience and comfortability!
Highland Ridge
Really nice campground
Out of about 20 campgrounds we've stayed at this year so far, this was one of our favorites. There is a lot of space between sites, there are a lot of trees, it's very quiet at night, and there are trails from the campground. The camp host was very friendly and helpful. There is a dump station on the way in to fill up with water as there are no water or sewer hookups. We had one bar of service with Verizon and 3 bars with AT&T. Further up the loop the Verizon signal was much better.
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Lots of stuff to do and decent spacing
I really enjoyed it here! The campsites were big and spaced out enough (though check the map because some are close together).
Plenty of trails, a scenic out look, a beach, pavilion, volleyball, etc.
Dogs are allowed on leash, but cant be on the beach.
Half of the campground is closed for the off season.
Will ad more info soon!
Highland Ridge - Eau Galle Reservoir
Close to the Cities
Great campground and been here many times. Plenty of wildlife and can hear the owls talking to each other
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Crowded, but lots to do
I'll start by saying that I like privacy and quiet and nature when I camp, otherwise I'd be staying in a hotel. But we were looking to get away for a weekend during the COVID times, and site 65E was the only powered site available for that weekend in all of the Wisconsin state parks, so we decided to go for it. If you're the social type with active young kids, that spot is perfect - it backs up to a large open field with cool playground equipment and has a trail to the field right next to the camper. You're also right next to the water faucet (plenty of people will stop to chat there) and across the street from the pit toilets. It's a VERY busy site. If I return, I'll pick site 107E, which is extremely private and far from everything. In general, the 100+ sites looked to be on the quiet, private side of the campground, although not all had power. Some of the unpowered sites. 69-79, had great lake views and were surprisingly spacious, although a hiking trail is between them and the lake. In late July, the loop starting with site 41 is absolutely teeming with ripe blackberries.
The shower houses have little notes on them apologizing for their state and saying they're scheduled for an overhaul soon because they're almost 50 years old. So definitely go in with low expectations. Few of the stalls for the flush toilets had working doors, and while the showers themselves worked ok, there were no hooks, shelves, or anywhere inside to place your belongings. My shower bag randomly has a suction cup and I optimistically tried to use it to stick to the pink tile wall, but even that didn't work. Such is life. Mirrors above the sinks were the polished metal type.
The pit toilets in the campsite have two stalls in each, so don't be surprised if you end up with a buddy.
The hiking trails around the park are great, nice long loops, and the ranger/park employee at the check-in area was very nice and knowledgable. We rented a kayak and paddled around the lake for a couple of hours - single and double kayaks as well as canoes are available for rent for the day. There was a rocky beach with so many signs up warning about different types of algae that we weren't sure if it was safe to swim or not, but definitely too gross to regardless. I didn't see anyone else in the water either.
If it's a clear night, the field with the playground equipment is a great place to sit and stargaze, as the park gets very dark at night. We were even able to catch a few meteors!
Highland Ridge
Easy access from highway, good stop for quick overnight
Came here without a reservation while driving cross country. It is only a few miles from the highway but is a beautiful and quiet, natural environment with lots of trees. We got here around 6pm on a Thursday evening and there were lots of available sites. It was a little confusing to begin with, because every single site has a sign that says “reserved,” and the hosts were off-duty. We drove around and found a relatively level site with a very long driveway, then went online to recreation.gov to check it’s availability and reserved/paid for it. We have AT&T and had no problem getting signal and cellular data to complete the process. We accidentally selected a site without electric, but if we had taken more time to use the website and enter search criteria, we could have found one with electric. The site itself was very nice, and we only had to level front-to-back. There were mosquitos, but with a little repellant it wasn’t too bad. We were close to a restroom but didn’t use it and can’t speak to the cleanliness or whether there were showers. There is a little dump station near the entrance where we got potable water and will dump on the way out. Someone had firewood for sale in front of their house as you drive toward the park, there is no firewood for sale at the campground when we were there. Overall, this was a great stop for a short overnight, for only $20 and absolute quiet for a good night’s sleep.
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Well maintained
A group of 5 of us went camping and split ourselves among 3 campsites (2,3,4). Area is well maintained and the bathrooms (flushing toilets and showers) are cleaned regularly- however if you have to use the bathrooms between 7:30-8:30 am, use the pit toilets because that’s when they are cleaning. Trails are well maintained and there is plenty to see. Only one issue when we got there due to someone not leaving our campsite but the staff were super nice and resolved it so well.
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Close to activities, a place to stay
The park itself is small and non-descript, not photogenic. The trail along the lake is nice for walking - it is a ridge above the lake with some nice views. Otherwise, the campsites were OK. Ours was secondary growth scrub with moderate shade. Others had nicer trees. Not a ton of birdlife. A lot of people staying there appeared to be there for golfing at nearby courses. Proximity to Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls is convenient. We enjoyed using the Old Abe bike trail. An entry point is near the park and there is a parking lot with clean restroom there. The trail goes for miles in either direction and is paved and well maintained.
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Smaller scale park but lots to do
This park is on a smaller scale and less crowded than Devil’s Lake. There is a small beach that is in the process of renovation. The sites are large surrounded by trees and very private. The sites on the lake side are not electric and some of them are huge buddy sites, great for extended families. There are two shower houses in the campground located next to sites 29 or 72. If you are on the legs furthest from the lake it is a long walk to them, but all those sites have electric. There are two vault toilet locations and a total of 116 campsites all with a picnic table and fire ring. There is a very large playing field and a playground in the Family Campground and another playground past the beach near the fishing dock. This State Park has a large number of picnic shelters and picnic grounds with picnic tables. There are about 10 hiking trails. There is a boat launch and you can rent kayaks or canoes at the visitor center. Everything was kept clean and in good repair. Cell service for both AT&T and Verizon was strong enough to stream video. If you want to take a trip to town, there are about 5 no longer than a 10 mile distance. There was a large grocery store in Chippewa Falls. Only ice and firewood are available at the park.
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Amazing!
Sites are big and spacious! Tons of walking, and biking opportunity! Both pit and flush toilets, and they have showers! Bathrooms are clean and well kept. Lots of flowers, birds and wildlife and tons of attractions close by!
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Beautiful family campground
Beautiful shaded campground with semi private sites. Nice beach that is a walkable distance from the sites. Lots of walking, biking and horse trails that are full of wild berries. Several stairways down to the lake, no beach at these spots but good for taking the dog in the water since they aren’t allowed on the beach. Wonderful staff in the visitor center. Firewood and ice sold on site. Also boat rentals and free yard games that can be checked out at the visitor center. Clean bathrooms with showers. Lots of boat noise from the lake and a plane noise from a nearby airport. Close to Chippewa Falls for restaurants and stores. A great family destination, not so great for a peaceful couples weekend.
Lake Wissota State Park Campground
Surprisingly excellent campground!
Considering the park was over 4 hours from home, I was really hoping for the best! And let me tell you, it did not disappoint. From the wildflowers to the bike trails, this park was definitely a winner. The campsite was great even with one side being completely exposed to the neighboring campers. The swimming area was a little too gross for my liking, but my husband and stepson spent hours in there. We also took our kayak out onto the lake and had a blast! So much to do. We can’t wait to return next year with more family members.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Altoona, WI?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Altoona, WI is Lake Wissota State Park Campground with a 4.3-star rating from 33 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Altoona, WI?
TheDyrt.com has all 6 equestrian camping locations near Altoona, WI, with real photos and reviews from campers.