Fall Creek Horse Camp
Location: Fall Creek Campground, Capitol Forest, Olympia, WA 98512
Facilities: Vault toilets, manure goes in individual site manure bins, fire pits and picnic tables Camp Site Amenities: fire pit, not all sites have picnic tables Site Type: back-in and pull-through Water: Hand Pump - off during visit Footing: Rocky, hoof boots recommended Cell Signal: No cell signal in camp 1 bar ATT on trail Dogs: Dogs allowed Other: Weed-free hay required Website: https://www.dnr.wa.gov/Capitol#fallcreek Reservations: First Come First Serve Open until Nov 1st |
Getting There
If you google "Fall Creek Horse Camp" you end up with getting directions to a different location to the camp called "Falls Creek Horse Camp". This campground is the Fall Creek Campground and does not have "horse camp" in the name of the campground. Make sure you are looking at the campground in the Olympic National Forest just up the road from Margaret McKinney.
There is a 4 mile gravel road to reach the campground. It goes up a big hill then down a big hill. My F350 had no problem but a less powerful truck might have trouble on the way out of camp on the steeper uphill grade. The gravel road in had lots of blind turns and I honked my horn as I drove around corners to make people aware of my presence. |
Must Brings
1) Water - There is a hand pump but it was off during our visit.
2) Satellite Phone - There is no signal in camp and in case of ER you don't want to go hunting for a signal
3) Friends to save a spot for you or a backup plan - The only usable horse sites are 3 and 5. You will have to argue with non-horse campers if these sites are already occupied. You could hi-tie on the right side of your horse trailer in site 1 which has a lovely large pull-through.
2) Satellite Phone - There is no signal in camp and in case of ER you don't want to go hunting for a signal
3) Friends to save a spot for you or a backup plan - The only usable horse sites are 3 and 5. You will have to argue with non-horse campers if these sites are already occupied. You could hi-tie on the right side of your horse trailer in site 1 which has a lovely large pull-through.
Horse Campsites
I would also advise only driving around the first loop once and picking your spot on the first look. The camp circle corners are tight and it was hard for me to turn my 2h gooseneck around the entrance sign. The best plan is park at site 3 on the first loop then walk or send a friend to the 2nd loop to check if site 5 is unoccupied. If site 5 is vacant, it is a nice spot and you can pull from the first loop easily into the 2nd loop but not vice versa. DNR told me a RV bus got stuck in the 2nd loop somewhere and had to get towed out.
There are lots of non-horse campers here and really only sites 3 and 5 have decent horse corrals. This means that you may have to have a discussion with non-horse occupants if these sites are taken when you arrive. I asked a tent camper to move to a neighboring site and this caused a heated discussion. It helps to have a huge F350 and trailer to park in the driveway and a very charismatic horse. I visited on a Friday and most of the sites were taken by tent non-horse campers. If there were no spots available a back-up plan would be to park at the trailhead or do a day-ride and head to Margaret Mckinney to camp. First Loop
Site 1: Small 1 horse wooden corral with no gate. Nice large pull-through, lots of room for a trailer hi-tie to right of trailer. This would be a great site if it had an upgraded horse corral. Site 2: One horse wooden corral, pull-through, corral far from picnic table and parking, close to restroom, smelled like the vault toilet. Site 2b: Not labeled as an official site, pull-through, old one horse corral broken and not usable, downhill grassy area for portable corral or electric fencing. Close to restroom. Site 3: Two horse metal corral, pull-through, corral is a walk from picnic table. Picnic table to the left of trailer if pulling into camp taking the first right into the 1st loop. Site 4: One horse wooden corral, broken rail and no gate, pull-through, corral/table to left of trailer if parking going into camp at the first right for the 1st loop Second Loop DNR told me an RV bus got stuck somewhere in this loop. I would not recommend any of these campground sites for larger rigs. Inner Loop Site 5: Two horse metal corral. No picnic table seen at site, nice pull-through but overall tight camp circle. Site 6: Two one horse wooden corrals near site but not close to picnic table, only one corral in useable shape with no gate. Back-in with narrow driveway or pull-through if you park on left side of inner camp loop driveway. Tight turn to the left to exit camp loop. Picnic table a walk from parking in the middle of tall trees. Very shaded. |
I could not operate this hand pump. Best to bring your own water.
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Outer Loop
Site 7: One horse wooden corral with a gate, back-in short driveway.
Site 7b: Not labeled, small back-in, no horse containment, close to river but not a lot of room for portable corral or hi-tie, trailer may not fit in back-in driveway.
Site 8: Long back-in, no horse containment seen.
Site 7: One horse wooden corral with a gate, back-in short driveway.
Site 7b: Not labeled, small back-in, no horse containment, close to river but not a lot of room for portable corral or hi-tie, trailer may not fit in back-in driveway.
Site 8: Long back-in, no horse containment seen.
Campground Cautions
Tight Camp Loop
The turn around the first loop is tight. Leaving the campground you need to take the first left to do a wider turn to make it down the camp road.
First Loop Turn Video Link
Second Loop Turn Video Link
Second Loop Turn Video Link 2
Non-Horse Campers
This is another worry to arrive with a horse and not have anywhere to camp. If you are in this situation you can drive down to the Fall Creek Trailhead, a short distance down the main road. Holly of Holly's blog reports there are highline poles here or you can hi-tie to your trailer. The parking lot is large and there is a pull-through driveway. You could also back-track to Margaret McKinney but driving another 4 miles on a gravel road to reach the main road to McKinney is not fun!
The turn around the first loop is tight. Leaving the campground you need to take the first left to do a wider turn to make it down the camp road.
First Loop Turn Video Link
Second Loop Turn Video Link
Second Loop Turn Video Link 2
Non-Horse Campers
This is another worry to arrive with a horse and not have anywhere to camp. If you are in this situation you can drive down to the Fall Creek Trailhead, a short distance down the main road. Holly of Holly's blog reports there are highline poles here or you can hi-tie to your trailer. The parking lot is large and there is a pull-through driveway. You could also back-track to Margaret McKinney but driving another 4 miles on a gravel road to reach the main road to McKinney is not fun!
Fall Creek Trailhead
Below a satellite view of Fall Creek Trailhead. We rode through it and it was huge! Lots of room for trailers and a separate entrance and exit to pull-through.
Site Pictures and Videos
Site 1 - Small 1 horse wooden corral with no gate. Nice large pull-through, lots of room for a trailer hi-tie.
Site Video Link
Site Video Link
Site 2 - One horse wooden corral far from parking area and picnic table but close to restroom. Corral had broken rail and no gate was seen.
Site Video Link
Site Video Link
Site 2b- Very decimated horse corral that is not useable. Nice pull-through site. This area did have a lower grassy area, it may work for a portable corral but was a small area. This site would be a great horse site if new corrals were installed.
Site Video Link
Site Video Link
Site 5 - Two horse metal corral. No picnic table seen at site, nice pull-through but overall tight camp circle.
Site Video Link
Site Video Link 2
Site Video Link
Site Video Link 2
Site 6 - Two separate one horse corrals, only one useable corral with no gate, back-in or pull-through but would be a tight turn either way. In the below left picture you could pull straight in to the driveway on the right side of the picture which is closer to the horse corral. The bottom right picture shows this parking area with the two horse corrals on the left.
Site Video Link
Site Video Link 2
Site Video Link
Site Video Link 2
Site 8 - Long back-in. No visible horse containment.
Site Video Link
Site Video Link
Trail Map
You can also access all the trails around Margaret McKinney from Fall Creek Campground. Read about my experience at Margaret McKinney Here. If you are an endurance rider or just like all day rides you can create loops of 14-20 miles if you ride from Fall Creek to the Equine Loop at McKinney. McKinney has easier and shorter routes, Fall Creek is better for endurance riders or adventures or horse riders with mountain bikers in the group.
Riding
4 Mile Short Greenline Loop
This is a great route if you have a mountain biker in your family that wants to ride their bike while you ride your horse. We carry walkie-talkies so Jon can ride ahead on the downhills and I can be in front or behind during the climbs. We rode the loop going counter-clockwise. We climbed first then had a nice downhill on the way back to camp.
The climbing trail is one-way for bikes. This means that if you also climb using the east leg of the loop, any bikes you see will be going the same direction as you. Horses can go either direction but bikes must go the dictated one-way direction. This means you can decide which way you want to meet any approaching bikes. If Jon rides behind me on his bike while we go uphill he can warn me via walkie-talkie if any biker is coming. We rode this trail on a Sunday late morning and did not see any other bikers. Sam is very used to bikes and I wasn't too worried about having a biker come up on our rear. However, even on a weekend this trail was not very busy. The downhill portion was a little rutted from the bikes throughout the middle 1/3 of the way down. I rode this after our first rain in late September of 2023. The recent rain coupled with the bike rut made the trail a little slippery. Sam's front Scoot boots also did not add a lot of traction but we managed just fine. I am sure Sam was fine the whole time but I spooked every time he slipped. |
It was nice to have a one-way climbing leg of the trail. We rode on a Sunday but only saw 2-3 other bikers. The footing was just rocky enough to need hoof boots.
The Olympic Forest is one of my favorites! The trails were well marked and beautiful.
The bottom right picture sows a little bit of a bowl from the bikers. There were some slick areas after a rain and Sam would have had more traction barefoot but complained enough about the rocks to make me put his boots on.
This loop was the perfect amount of climbing and downhill for our last day in camp.
Lost Valley Loop
This is an incredibly scenic loop. We rode the loop counter-clockwise. The red part on the map to the right indicates a very narrow trail with a steep drop-off to the west. Riding counter-clockwise I did this going downhill. As a rule I don't mind narrow trails with drop-offs but this one got to me. Lots of hikers and bikers do this section of trail without a thought but after a rain I was worried about a soft edge and the solid base needed to support a 1200 lb horse. The green line on the lower section of the map is a singletrack I missed during our ride.
If I had to ride this trail again I would ride the west-south leg as an out and back. You could also ride Lost Valley to Mima Falls to McKinney for a much longer loop. |
We rode the loop counter-clockwise and started with an easier gradually climbing trail. The trail was well marked.
We ride in the mornings and the fog was covering the top of the butte.
We got to go a little faster on this single-track since Jon was riding his bike in front of us.
There was a short section of gravel road that Sam complained about. He was toward the end of a trim cycle and I only had front boots.
We neared the fork of Lost Valley and the McKinney Trail. After this fork was the narrow switchback by the side of the cliff. It was breathtaking but I was very focused on looking at the view and making sure Sam stayed on the trail, so no pictures were taken. I love trails with drop-offs but this was a section of trail of loud cussing and holding my breath while at the same time staring in awe at the landscape around me! At one point I heard a biker and looked straight above me to see them riding on the switchback directly above my head! Luckily, they saw me and waited for Sam and I to reach the wider part of the trail before continuing. This is when I started to question if horses should generally be allowed on this section of trail at all!
Riding in the Olympic Forest there are lots of bridges. Sam has gotten to be a pro at these bridges. I lost count of how many we crossed.
Greenline 9 Mile Loop
Sometimes it is hard for me to know how much elevation gain is a tough ride. Sam is pretty fit and this was a good climb. The main problem was we were at the end of our trim cycle and between boot sizes. I rode this barefoot, which was a big mistake. Sam was very upset the whole ride about the unpredictable small pebbles that littered the trail. I thought about dismounting and leading him, but it was a lot of climbing and we were trying to get back to camp before sunset. So, learn from my mistake and make sure your horse has hoof protection! It is our job to be the brains of the operation and I let Sam down on this ride. The next day I had some size 7 Scoot boots which made Sam much happier! I saw 2 bikers the whole ride and rode on a Friday afternoon.
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You can see the rocks in the footing in the below pictures. I got off and hiked with Sam for a bit after this bridge.
I was heart-broken for Sam and his sensitive hooves and was very relieved to see the sign for the Greenline Tie that would take us to the downhill leg of trail back to camp.
Although beautiful I felt bad about the footing on this ride. I felt like a bad mom who forgot the one thing her kid needed. The next two rides we did were a lot more fun with proper hoof protection.
Rating
We need more horses at this camp. Sites 3 and 5 are decent, all the other sites do not have usable horse corrals. This could be fine if you can high-line or hi-tie but study the site pictures and videos carefully to make sure you have room. The trails here are beautiful, challenging and scenic. This is not a place for beginners or young riders. This is a great place for endurance riders, adrenaline junkies and adventurers. If you want easy and shorter trails, Margaret McKinney is a better place. If your partner rides mountain bikes, this is the place for you!