If you love camping with your horse and having great trails to ride, you’ll love Hungry Horse East Campground. We always have a great time when we go here. This horse camp has the nicest bath house I’ve ever seen at a campground. Not to mention, the campground itself is clean and well cared for.
Here’s a look at part of the campground as we were coming back in from a ride.
WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT CAMPING HERE
- The sites are gravel and level for the most part
- Trail access directly out of the campground
- Miles and miles of trails to ride
- The cleanest and nicest bathhouse we’ve ever seen
- Good size stalls for horses with extra shavings if needed
- Quiet and peaceful atmosphere
- No cell service and limited internet
- They have a dump station
WHAT WE DON’T LIKE
- Big hill to climb to the barn
- Stall floors are hard and uneven
- The creek crossing going into the campground can be tricky (have to go through it just right to not have the trailer hit your truck bed)
This picture can give you an idea of the steepness of the hill. It’s taken from standing close to the barn and looking down at the first couple of campsites. Fun to go down, not so fun to walk up.
THE HORSE BARN
As you can tell, there isn’t much we don’t like about this horse camp. It really is a great place to stay and if they would fix the stalls and add some stall mats, it would be even better. My horse struggled with the hard, uneven stall floors. Her legs would stock up pretty bad and she wouldn’t lay down to rest like she normally would at home. I tried to pad the stall with a little extra shavings but that didn’t help.
Aside from that, the barn is nice and the stalls are a good size. There are inside or outside stalls to choose from. You need to bring bucket hooks when you come though. There are hitching posts to tie to for tacking up or washing your horse off. They provide all the shavings, muck buckets and pitch forks. As mentioned, it is at the top of a steep hill so you’d either have to drive your tack up or bring your horse down to your camp site to tack up.
Horses are only allowed at the camp sites when tacking up. This is a good thing though. It helps to keep the campsites clean and nice.
CAMPING AREA
There are 14 sites all with water and electric hookups. One camping site has sewer access as well. Each site is pretty level but for some you might still need leveling blocks. All sites are gravel and stay pretty dry. Some are closer together than others. There are fire rings and picnic tables at each site.
The bathhouse and office are located in the middle of the campground which is a short walking distance from most sites. Here you have access to the internet if you need it. They also have a nice sitting area with a tv in the office for the husbands that don’t ride and want to watch football….like mine, lol.
I can’t say it enough but the bathhouse is the nicest one we’ve seen anywhere we have camped. There are 2 women’s bathrooms and 2 mens. All 4 are extremely clean and roomy. Each bathroom has a toilet, sink and shower. Each one is separate for single use with a locking door, which I really like. I don’t like the bathhouses that are like locker rooms. They have heat and ac.
There are 3 campsites and another barn at the entrance to the campground before you cross the creek. These are nice too but you do have to cross the creek and walk further to use the bathhouse.
All campers must unload horses in the designated area which I’m sure helps to keep the campground clean and nice.
THE HORSE TRAILS
There are miles and miles of horse trails here. You can either stick to the trail loops around the campground or venture across the road and ride as long as you want on the VA highlands trail. The first day we rode a short loop which took us about 3 hours. The second day the group group 8 hours.
On the trails you can expect creek crossings, mountain views, historic cabins, steep hills, lots of rocks, grassy open areas, narrow paths, etc. You would definitely want your horse to be in shape to ride here. They would also need shoes or boots due to the rocky terrain.
I will say though, if you’re someone who likes to ride from sun up to sun down, this is a great place to do that. You can ride different trails each day and not have to ride the same trails over.
Overall, this is one of the nicest places for camping with horses. We really liked it there and can’t wait to return. If you’d like more information or want to make reservations, please visit the Hungry Horse East Website.
Also, make sure to check out my list of other places to trail ride and camp. When I return this spring, I will take lots of pictures and update this post to include them. So make sure to check back in a few months if you are interested in seeing those!
So Tell Me..
Have you camped here and ridden the trails?
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