Are you planning a trip to Nelson with your horse? We've got you covered. Equestrian camping is the best way to experience nature. With our help, you'll find the best Wisconsin equestrian campsites from scenic to easily accessible.
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.
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.
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.
This location has limited staffing. Please call (715) 778-5562 for general information.
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.
$28 - $216 / night
West 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.
$22 / night
Central 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.
$14 - $16 / night
Scout
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TravelerThis 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.
TravelerLots 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.
LegendHighland 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.
GuideNice Campground under an almost complete canopy of shade. Older shower house but clean. Friendly staff and hosts. Long spread apart spots.
Guide
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.
RangerStayed here multiple times throughout the years, not much to it. Put toilets, usually slow except during hunting season. Camp sites are decent but primative.
RangerWe’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….)
GuideFairly level, clean, wooded sites. Clean showers. Friendly Hosts and Rangers. Great trails.
Guide
Nice place but it is a campground not an rv park, 30 & 50 amp service but no water hookup (fill when you come in) and dump tanks when leaving,
Traveler
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.
ScoutWe 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!
GuideOut 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.
TravelerWe 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!
Traveler
Great campground and been here many times. Plenty of wildlife and can hear the owls talking to each other
GuideNice park for everyone’s type from tents, cabins and all size RV’s. Electric only at the camp sites but have water and dump station on site. Clean bathrooms and showers. Best value I’ve seen for fire wood. Has many walking trails that you can take your dog on and just a couple that you can’t.
TravelerCame 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.
GuideThis campground is well maintained and a beautiful park within the woods. Great for hiking and kayaking/canoeing is near by.
GuideStayed middle of the week found local firewood from farms nearby. Also a creamery is a short drive from camp.
GuideThe are 8 sites. There is no water or electricity. One pit toilet for the site. 5 miles from Rushford MN. Access to Root River trail close by.
TravelerThe campground is very clean and nice.
The bathrooms and showers we pristine clean and close and easy to walk to.
The beach was great and clean.
Fishing was great.
Would definitely come back
ScoutOur site was rather odd as the electric and water post was on the opposite side of our camper. Our standard water hose and electrical cord wouldn’t reach so we ended up backing up the hill to get next to the water and filled our tank for the weekend. Thankfully a neighbor had a 30’ extension that we borrowed. The fire pits were located in very odd spots too - basically unusable unless you wanted to light your rig on fire. We really enjoyed the bike trail that was so close, paved and had lots of tree cover to keep us cool. Very nice ride to Red Wing right from our site! Would probably stay here again but would definitely ask for a different site. Great for biking!
ScoutWe have been going to Haycreek for over 15 years for horse camping. The trails are shaded, no bugs, friendly campers and staff. They have electric and water hookups for horse campers, and they have overflow for horse campers. The trails here are amazing.
ScoutSites are a tad close, but if you have good neighbors it’s an awesome place to camp!
GuideReally nice campground with activities and a BAR/Restaurant. Pool is also there and is nice. We had a great weekend went to bed a little early on Saturday night because of rain and woke up to snow!!!
ScoutNice area! Large open sites and NO mosquitos!!!! Will be back with our group again.
ScoutA wonderful campground with a saloon that was great! Friendly service and fun activities!
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Nelson, WI?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Nelson, WI is Highland Ridge with a 4.3-star rating from 15 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Nelson, WI?
TheDyrt.com has all 9 equestrian camping locations near Nelson, WI, with real photos and reviews from campers.