Stephen A Forbes Equestrian Campground

Kinmundy, Illinois

First, you should know that the equestrian campground is located a good four miles from the main entrance to the state park and the main campground. So, make sure you put Stephen A Forbes Equestrian Campground into your GPS to get directed to the correct campground. You do not need to check in at the visitor center. A ranger comes through the campground and checks you in.

Once you reach the entrance to the campground, it is fairly easy to get in. Even on a weekend, this campground does not fill up. You can make reservations on-line or just wing it and show up, pick out the site you want and set up camp. The ranger puts up cards on the sites that have been reserved, so if there isn’t a card the campsite is available.

The campground has electric hook-ups and shared water faucets. There is no bath/shower house. You have to drive to the main campground for the bath/shower house or the RV dump. There is a restaurant with a waterfront view at the main park that serves fried fish, burgers, and ice cream.

There are hitching posts for the horses. Some campers set up electric fencing or just tie their horses to the hitching posts.

We put up our portable corrals.

We had electric hook-up and filled up our fresh water tank from the shared faucet. There are picnic tables and grills.

There are about 15 miles worth of trails here, enough riding for a day or two. The trails are intermediate level - some mud, a long wooden bridge, some water crossings, some downed trees, and some inclines to go up and down.

Trude and Bob, some local equestrians, joined us for the weekend. Bob and Trude took Ari out for a ride the first day. Unfortunately, Bob was riding a new horse. The horse started acting up and ended up bucking him off. Bob was smashed in the face. He had a golfball sized swelling above the eye, a black eye, and a gash above his eyebrow. They went into the local emergency room in Salem, Illinois. Bob’s cut was glued together, so hopefully the scar won’t be too bad. We really enjoyed visiting with them. They are lovely people. They plan to retire from farming in the next few months, so will soon be starting a new chapter in their lives.

Bob stayed off his horse the rest of the stay. Trude took Ari and I out for a four hour ride the next day. I love the wildflowers in this picture.

We saw wild turkey, deer, turkey vultures, a box turtle, and great herons on our rides.

For the most part, my horse was well behaved. He spooked once when a flock of wild turkeys sprung out from some bushes right next to us and he was nervous the remainder of the ride fearing more attacks from wild turkeys. But, I was able to stay in the saddle for both rides. I am hoping to do some tune-up work in a round pen at our next stop. We will be spending a few days in Edwardsville, Illinois outside of Saint Louis, MO. I am looking forward to playing tourist in Saint Louis.