Best Equestrian Camping near Ellsworth, WI
Are you looking for a place to stay in Ellsworth with your horse? Equestrian camping is the best way to experience nature. You're sure to find the perfect site for your Wisconsin horse camping excursion.
Best Equestrian Sites Near Ellsworth, WI (9)
1. Lake Elmo County Park Reserve
Lake Elmo, Minnesota36 Reviews•73 Photos•154 SavesWashington County offers two beautiful campgrounds for a relaxing getaway, one located within Lake Elmo Park Reserve and the other within St. Croix Bluffs Regional Park. Find a campsite that suits your needs, from sites with electric and water hook-ups, to group sites, to rustic hike-in sites. Enjoy all the other amenities the parks have to offer, including hiking, fishing, boating, and more.
Washington County Campgrounds are open for the season. Online, in-person, and phone reservations are now being accepted.
Group Campground Features Three sites available for groups of up to 50 people Wheeled cart available for check-out at park office Group Site #2 includes a small picnic shelter Picnic table and fire ring/grill provided at each site Vault or portable toilets available One-day reservations allowed Pets are not allowed
Hike-In Campground Features Five hike-in tent sites - one tent per site Hiking distance from parking lot is approximately 100 to 300 yards Wheeled cart available for check-out at park office with a refundable deposit Modern bathrooms and water available at the Nordic Center Pets are not allowed
Modern Campground Features Eighty campsites, suited for tents, trailers, or motor homes - most sites are back-in Sites 1-58 have 20/30/50 amp with water. Site 59 is 50 amp only (no water). Sites 60-80 are 20/30 amp Camp Host/Work Camper sites include sewer hookup Picnic table and fire ring/grill provided at each site Modern bathroom facilities with flush toilets and hot showers Trailer/RV dump station Play area Handicap accessible One camping unit per site Pets are not allowed
- Fires
- Electric Hookups
- Phone Service
- ADA Access
- RVs
- Tents
$23 - $80 / night
2. Highland Ridge
Spring Valley, Wisconsin15 Reviews•45 Photos•92 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.
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 Reviews•6 Photos•37 Saves- Pets
- Fires
- Electric Hookups
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- RVs
4. Haycreek Valley Campground
Hay Creek, Minnesota6 Reviews•6 Photos•29 Saves- Pets
- Fires
- Electric Hookups
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- ADA Access
5. Camp Spring Lake Retreat Center
Rosemount, Minnesota1 Review•1 Photo•6 Saves- Pets
- Fires
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- ADA Access
- Tents
$50 / night
6. Whippoorwill Ranch Kampground
Plainview, Minnesota1 Review•3 Saves- Pets
- Fires
- Electric Hookups
- Reservable
- RVs
- Tents
7. Cannon River Wilderness Area
Faribault, Minnesota2 Reviews•2 Photos•32 Saves- Pets
- Fires
- Phone Service
- Tents
- Equestrian
- Standard (Tent/RV)
8. Zumbro Bottoms West — R.J.D. Memorial Hardwood State Forest
Be the first to review!Kellogg, Minnesota•1 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
9. Zumbro Bottoms Central — R.J.D. Memorial Hardwood State Forest
Be the first to review!Kellogg, Minnesota•1 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
Recent Equestrian Reviews in Ellsworth
66 Reviews of 9 Ellsworth Campgrounds
Equity
Scout
Highland Ridge
15% Profit Share in the Challenge Stage https://instantfundingnow.com/#
15% Profit Share in the Challenge Stage https://instantfundingnow.com/#
- JJeff F.
TravelerHighland Ridge
Beautiful in the fall
This is a smaller Corps of Engineers park, lots of primitive sites and lots electric sites too. A smaller lake but no gas motors. Cell service with Verizon was ok.
- ppeter V.Scout
Lake Elmo County Park Reserve
Great camping
This was a great experience overall. The sites are spacious and far enough away from others to feel like there was enough privacy.
The one negative thing was that some neighbors watched a movie each night — starting just after quiet hours. We could hear their movie from across a road and through some trees (and tents).
But overall it was great. Good hiking and geocaching.
We would go back to this campground.
- J
John B.TravelerHighland 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.
Roger W.
LegendHighland 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.- Jeffrey H.Scout
Lake Elmo County Park Reserve
First time
It was our first time ever I have a old pop up but it's .t first it was. Fun and the staff and. The. Host are very helpful. A ND fun
- DDave M.
GuideHighland 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.
- Krista T.Legend
Lake Elmo County Park Reserve
Eagle point lane section- Nice metro park for RVs/camper trailers or groups
We went on a day trip to the eagle point section of the Lake Elmo park district. This is set in a lush rolling prairie with lots of hiking trails in addition to other attractions like an archery range and swimming pond.
The modern campground is built for non-tent campers, which is kind of a bummer because it is so much nicer than the “rustic” tent campground. Could you set up a tent there? Sure, but most of the site is devoted to a gravel parking pad.
The rustic campground is an offshoot of the horse trailer parking lot. The sites for the most part are not spacious or private. Only portapotties. I think the best camping opportunity I saw was the group campgrounds, which had more modern outhouses. This will continue to be a great day trip location for us.
David E.Guide
Haycreek Valley Campground
Outside of City but Not Far for Access
Nice campground outside of Red Wing, MN with a bar/restaurant and other features. Access to trials for bikes and horses. I stayed in the horse camp without a horse but it was a nice area.
Deb M.
RangerHighland 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….)
- Corey P.Guide
Highland Ridge
Great experience
Fairly level, clean, wooded sites. Clean showers. Friendly Hosts and Rangers. Great trails.
- DDaryl L.Guide
Lake Elmo County Park Reserve
Very nice. Not far from home!
Nice private sites, great bike trails, lakes a little way’s from campground but you can drive or bike to it easily. Clean restrooms and showers. Electric, water and dump station.
- MMolly K.Scout
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!
- TTinaGuide
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.
- MMichelle A.Traveler
Whippoorwill Ranch Kampground
Mature crowd and tons of fun!
We had a fabulous experience at BJ's this weekend. Mark, Sheri and the staff are good people who work hard to make sure you have a great time. The food is excellent and comes out SO FAST; bravo to the kitchen staff! Bartenders are very attentive; Tasha took excellent care of us! The campsites are well kept and spacious. There are no picnic tables in the sites, but we got along just fine without. We can't wait to go back!
David G.Traveler
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
- LLaurelTraveler
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.
Nick G.Guide
Cannon River Wilderness Area
Perfect place Found a great site
For free the area is awesome right by the river. We found a site tucked away from people which is what we like. We set up hammocks right next to the river. The hike from parking is not bad at all about a 10 minute walk from parking to the farthest site.
- David E.Guide
Highland Ridge - Eau Galle Reservoir
Great Wooded Campground
This campground is well maintained and a beautiful park within the woods. Great for hiking and kayaking/canoeing is near by.
- BBenjaminGuide
Highland Ridge - Eau Galle Reservoir
Clean and quiet
Stayed middle of the week found local firewood from farms nearby. Also a creamery is a short drive from camp.
Kimberly L.GuideLake Elmo County Park Reserve
Gorgeous terrrain ! Fun for families!
The camp office was so east and friendly! Well placed sites nestled near lovely walking trails - Very nice water hook ups and electric- well maintained! Loved this Camping Site! Conveniently located between Wisconsin and Minneapolis/St Paul airport .
Jaime N.RangerLake Elmo County Park Reserve
Always a treat
Nature surrounds, spring is a great time to visit too! The birdsong and birding is awesome, nice and quite this May!
Timothy S.TravelerLake Elmo County Park Reserve
Great place with Unique amenities.
They have a home made lake that has a sand bottom but it has chlorine like a pool so no weeds. Great for swimming.
Robert B.GuideLake Elmo County Park Reserve
Camel Trek - Night 3
Stayed here due to its proximity to Minneapolis airport...had an early flight the next morning. Really convenient location. No problems. Facilities were really well maintained. We didn’t see the sites in daylight hours but appreciated the cleanliness of the park. We stayed the last night of their camping season and were able to utilize water and electric hookups.
Tim B.TravelerCannon River Wilderness Area
Paddle in or hike it in only
This park is great for hiking and winter snowshoeing and cross country skiing. The 2 camp sites are a good little hike in and you have to backpack everything you need in. Of course if you are on the river it's a nice little stop between Faribault and Northfield. Not sure about camping in the parking lot overnight. Love the park, just not for camping.
- MMalibuDave42 L.Guide
Lake Elmo County Park Reserve
High end State Park, but better
Top of the line campground. Surprisingly well spaced sites, facilities modern and clean. Trees galore. Clearly the locals use this park a lot. Strongly recommend
- Jaime N.Ranger
Lake Elmo County Park Reserve
Really one of the best places for small families
Lovely back in lots, beautiful in fall. 2 playgrounds, one massive! Lots of trails, wildlife and close to the drive in movie theater. Quiet and peaceful with amenities we will be back to enjoy in the summer.
Guide to Ellsworth
Horse camping in Wisconsin offers a unique opportunity to explore the great outdoors while enjoying the company of your equine friends. With a variety of campgrounds catering to horse enthusiasts, you can find the perfect spot to set up camp and ride the trails.
Campers appreciate these amenities for horses
- At Haycreek Valley Campground, horse campers can enjoy electric and water hookups, making it convenient for longer stays.
- Highland Ridge - Eau Galle Reservoir features well-maintained trails that are perfect for horseback riding, surrounded by beautiful wooded scenery.
- Whippoorwill Ranch Kampground offers spacious sites and a friendly atmosphere, ideal for horse camping with fellow equestrians.
Equestrian campgrounds include great facilities
- Highland Ridge provides reservable sites with ample space for both campers and horses, ensuring a comfortable experience.
- At Haycreek Valley Campground, you'll find a bar and restaurant on-site, perfect for unwinding after a day of riding.
- Highland Ridge - Eau Galle Reservoir is known for its clean facilities and friendly staff, making it a welcoming spot for horse campers.
Most campgrounds have horse-focused amenities like trails
- Whippoorwill Ranch Kampground features direct access to scenic trails, allowing for enjoyable rides right from your campsite.
- Haycreek Valley Campground is praised for its proximity to biking and horse trails, making it a versatile destination for outdoor activities.
- Highland Ridge offers a peaceful setting with spacious sites, perfect for relaxing after a day of exploring the surrounding trails on horseback.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Ellsworth, WI?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Ellsworth, WI is Lake Elmo County Park Reserve with a 4.5-star rating from 36 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Ellsworth, WI?
TheDyrt.com has all 9 equestrian camping locations near Ellsworth, WI, with real photos and reviews from campers.