Margaret Mckinney Horse Camp
Location: Margaret Mckinney Horse Camp, 10900 Waddell Creek Rd SW, Olympia, WA 98512
Facilities: Vault toilets, manure bins, water spigot at day use area Camp Site Amenities: picnic tables at most sites, fire pit, Site Type: back-ins Water: Water Spigot in day use area, may attach hose Footing: Rocky, hoof boots recommended Cell Signal: Att 1-2 bars Dogs: Dogs allowed off-leash with horse riders Other: Weed-free hay not specified, bikers on all but Equine Trail Website: https://www.dnr.wa.gov/Capitol Reservations: first come first serve, can call camp hosts and ask about availability 360-534-0162 |
Getting There
This horse camp is very close to I-5. No gravel roads. It was an easy drive from Portland. I am always a little nervous going to a first come first serve horse camp. My backup plan was Rainbow Falls State Park. We arrived on Labor Day and were the only horse campers and had our pick of 7 horse sites.
Must Brings1) Horse Bedding or portable corral or hie-tie. The corrals here have cement floors. Bring bedding or alternative horse containment.
2) A great trailer backer. The sites here are narrow and the camp circle is small. Bring your patience or your best available spouse. I unloaded Sam and put him in the corral before unleashing a series of cusswords as I took the next 45 minutes to back into site B1. Day Use AreaThere is a huge parking lot for horse trailers for day use. I also thought that if I could not back my trailer into a spot I would put Sam in B6 and park my trailer in the day use area. I brought my own horse water but was happy to find a working spigot in the day use area.
Day Use Area Video Link |
Horse Campsites
All of the horse sites are back-in, except for B2 but even B2 would take some creativity to pull-through. The camp hosts are very diligent about making sure only people with horses camp in the B loop. They even closed the gate after me to make sure tent campers didn't sneak in. This horse camp is under-utilized. We arrived on Labor Day 2023 and were the only horse campers.
The horse corrals are terrible and small. I hie-tied Sam. There are lots of trees available to back into or to use to high-line. There are manure bins next to each horse corral. I don't love having the manure bin this close to my campsite. I would be more than willing to wheelbarrow the manure a bit farther away. |
Unfortunately there are no reservations. This campsite map shows reservation B sites which is not correct.
Site B1: 1 horse wooden corral, awkward placement of corral on left side of trailer if backing in. Site B2: 1 wooden corral, possible pull-through but only if you have a narrow rig and can turn sharply. Site B3: 1 wooden corral Site B4: 2 wooden corrals Site B5: 1 wooden corral Site B6: 2 horse wooden corral, long driveway Site B7: No horse containment provided, easier to back-in site. No picnic table or firepit. |
Campsite Pictures
Site B5
Site Video Link
Site Video Link
Site B6
Site Video Link
Site Video Link
Trail Maps
Here's the official trail map pdf.
I took a snip of the pdf of the non-motorized trails in blue. The top half of the pdf are motorized trails. The separation of motorized and non-motorized is wonderful and was much appreciated. I could hear them in the distance when we were on the north section of the McKenny trail but it was a distant sound. I could also hear gunshots but they were faint. Sahara horse camp is much worse for gunshot noise. Here there are hours for shooting between 10:30am-5pm.
I took a snip of the pdf of the non-motorized trails in blue. The top half of the pdf are motorized trails. The separation of motorized and non-motorized is wonderful and was much appreciated. I could hear them in the distance when we were on the north section of the McKenny trail but it was a distant sound. I could also hear gunshots but they were faint. Sahara horse camp is much worse for gunshot noise. Here there are hours for shooting between 10:30am-5pm.
Here is a blowup of my Gaia map with the Lost Valley loop at the very left. If you ride < 15 miles then this is the most important section of the map.
Mima Falls Trail System Map
If you like to ride <10 miles then this section of the trail map will be all you need.
PDF Map Link
If you like to ride <10 miles then this section of the trail map will be all you need.
PDF Map Link
The most confusing part of the trail was the 5 way intersection after riding up a big hill from camp to reach a gravel road. Just think McKinney Trail takes you to either a long 12 or 8 mile loop. If you want to do a shorter 8 mile loop you can take Mckinney trail and then take the next left for Mima Falls Tie trail. If you want to ride less than 8 miles, stay on the right side of the gravel road and pick up the Equine Loop. Crossing the gravel road and going straight is the Equine Loop 1-way route back to camp. Don't take the trail across the gravel road unless you want to go back to camp.
Riding
I prefer nice loops instead of out and backs. Jon chose the route this day. I wanted to ride the parts of the Equine Loop I had not ridden the previous day and we wanted to check out the first section of the longer McKinney trail without committing to the whole 12 miles. Jon wanted to cut the 12 mile loop in half by riding the MM trail. I vetoed that idea. The MM trail seemed like a downhill biker trail and I had no desire to run into speedy bikers face-on. Couple this argument with starting the day by drinking some strong dark hot chocolate prior to the ride. I had to empty my bladder every 30 minutes, so I was glad to have a shorter route. However, Jon has perfected a way to boost me back into the saddle even if I am a tired and limp. This is very impressive considering Sam is 16.1 hands and Jon has extremely limited horse experience.
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We started out uphill on the one-way Mckinney trail.
Very soon on the Equine Loop's west leg we came across a nice rest stop. There was a bench and a mounting block.
We rode north on Campground to hook up with McKinney. The Campground trail was breathtaking! It was shady and went besides a wetland area. There were lots of stumps to help with remounting.
Initially the longer McKinney trail had some pretty rough gravel footing.
The McKinney trail was beautiful but I am always wary of out and backs. Jon tends to go too far and we are all tired and grumpy by the time we turn around. We kept our ride shorter and turned around at forest road D-4630. Another time I would love to start early and ride the whole 12 mile loop.
McKinney to Mima Falls Tie to Equine Loop
This was a beautiful, easy and fun route. We rode counter-clockwise. You can see where we got totally confused at the first 5-way intersection. Turns out either taking the Equine loop or the Mckinney trail would have gotten us the right direction. We opted to walk down the gravel road to then pick up the Mckinney trail that connected to Mima Falls Tie. I felt like a character in a Disney film riding Sam through this amazingly lush, magical forest. The trail forks are well signed and we did not meet a lot of traffic even on labor day weekend.
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First steeper downhill. Go to the left, the right is a viewpoint only. You get to cross a long bridge. Many bridge crossings ahead! Sam was a rockstar!
The next two pictures are from the confusing 5-way intersection. Equine Loop is labeled. Take the Equine Loop to your right for a shorter route. The Equine Loop trail straight across the gravel road will take you back to camp.
For longer routes take McKinney or go right on gravel road to pick up McKinney single-track on the left.
For longer routes take McKinney or go right on gravel road to pick up McKinney single-track on the left.
There were so many bridge crossings I lost count. Sam used to be afraid of bridges but he rocked this trail. The bridges have really nice no-slip mats secured to the wood planks. The side rails of the bridges are high and most were solid walled.
All of the forks were well labeled. We came to a Y where we could walk to the Mina Falls via Mina Falls Tie or continue going on McKinney. McKinney was the longer route. There was a sign for the Campground trail so I could see exactly where we were on the trail map.
We continued on Mima Falls Tie and had my favorite type of trail which is a safe wide trail on the side of a steep hill.
Here we are at the southern end of the Campground and Equine Loop Ts.
The equine loop was easy and beautiful and well labeled. We rode the east wing of the loop which was a slightly longer route back to camp.
Rating
The trails from Margaret McKinney are beautiful, fairly easy, and well signed. There is a variety of trails to ride short or long and you could ride for 3-4 days without repeating trail. The only drawback is that the horse camp is not very horse friendly. With larger rigs (or even shorter rigs) it is tricky to back into your site. If you are worried about getting a spot call the camp hosts: 360-534-0162. They might even save you a spot. If you bring bedding for the corrals or use alternate horse containment your horse could be comfortable here. I am planning on going back soon!