Sahara Horse Camp
Location: 262nd Ave E, Ashford, WA 98304
Facilities: Vault toilets, manure goes in manure bins, fire pits and picnic tables at each site Camp Site Amenities: picnic table, fire pit, Site Type: back-in and pull-through Water: Water Spigot for horses and humans Footing: Rocky, hoof boots recommended Cell Signal: 1-2 bars with ATT but not consistent Dogs: Dogs allowed, allowed off-leash in voice control of horse rider Website: https://www.dnr.wa.gov/ElbeHillsTahoma Reservations: email [email protected] to make a reservation. Reservations are free with a Discovery Pass. |
Sahara Horse Camp Challenges
The main problem with Sahara Horse Camp are non-horse campers and the outdoor gun range just across road 8.
DNR has cut down on long-term campers and homeless campers by instituting the reservation system. This helps visitors with horses with long drives feel secure in making plans to camp here. There is a 7 day stay limit, although I did not meet an official ranger or see anyone walking the campground.
The second challenge is the noise from the outdoor shooting range. The gun noises are loud. For me they ruined the riding on part of the Upper Elkspur Trail. Please email DNR Here, to request a change.
DNR told me they have law enforcement monitoring the shooting range 1 day a week but plan on hiring a warden in fall of 2023. Technically, there should not be shooting until 30 minutes after sunrise and all shooting should cease 30 minutes before sunset. That was not true for our visit. We heard shooting at 11pm at night!
DNR has cut down on long-term campers and homeless campers by instituting the reservation system. This helps visitors with horses with long drives feel secure in making plans to camp here. There is a 7 day stay limit, although I did not meet an official ranger or see anyone walking the campground.
The second challenge is the noise from the outdoor shooting range. The gun noises are loud. For me they ruined the riding on part of the Upper Elkspur Trail. Please email DNR Here, to request a change.
DNR told me they have law enforcement monitoring the shooting range 1 day a week but plan on hiring a warden in fall of 2023. Technically, there should not be shooting until 30 minutes after sunrise and all shooting should cease 30 minutes before sunset. That was not true for our visit. We heard shooting at 11pm at night!
Getting There
Sahara Horse Camp is located right off a major highway. There is a 0.13 mile long gravel road that is well maintained right off of hwy 706. This was a very easy and mostly straight drive from Oregon City OR. We drove an hour north on I-5 and an hour East on hwy 12, 7 and 706 combined. Driving from Oregon I always carry a Coggins, Health Certificate and permanent brand inspection, but there is no official government check leaving or entering the state.
Must Brings
1) Rope for the highline poles! There is no cable, you must bring your own. You can also bring a hie-tie on your trailer or set up portable corrals.
2) Earplugs for you and your horse. The gunshot noises are loud and they are heard all hours of the day.
3) A fit horse! All the trails except for the ADA have steep switchbacks.
2) Earplugs for you and your horse. The gunshot noises are loud and they are heard all hours of the day.
3) A fit horse! All the trails except for the ADA have steep switchbacks.
Horse Campsites
Sites 1-20 are exclusively for horse campers by reservation according to the website.
This is not true as I saw campers without horses in these sites. During our trip the gate closing off this loop was open.
Sites 21-30 are also available by reservation for horse campers but are available to non horse, non motorized campers as well.
Sites 1-10 have more privacy and longer back-in driveways
This is not true as I saw campers without horses in these sites. During our trip the gate closing off this loop was open.
Sites 21-30 are also available by reservation for horse campers but are available to non horse, non motorized campers as well.
Sites 1-10 have more privacy and longer back-in driveways
- Site 1: This is the only pull-through in the first "horse only" loop. It is very close to site 2 and best for a bigger group. During our visit the campers in site 1 fit 2 rigs in the pull-through driveway.
- Site 2: I requested a pull-through and they gave me this site. It is not a pull-through! You can back-in 2 separate rigs.
- Site 3: Back-in. This site had 2 driveways so you could back in 2 separate rigs.
- Site 4: Back-in
- Site 5: Back-in
- Site 6: Back-in, next to large pile of gravel
- Site 7: Back-in, next to large pile of gravel
- Site 8-10: Back-in
- Site 11: Back-in, room for 2 rigs side-by side and lots of privacy from other sites, great site for dogs to roam off-leash
- Site 12: pull-through, far from highline poles.
- Site 13: pull-through, far from highline poles.
- Site 14: pull-through, far from highline poles.
- Site 15: pull-through, far from highline poles.
- Site 16: pull-through, far from highline poles.
- Site 17: Back-in
- Site 18: pull-through, far from highline poles.
- Site 19: pull-through, far from highline poles.
- Site 20-29: Back-in
- Site 30: Pull-through if you park on grass.
Site 1
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Site 2
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Site 3
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Site 4
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Site 5
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Site 6
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Site 7
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Site 9
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Site 13
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Site 14
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Site 15
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Site 23
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Day Use Area
Trail Map
The trail riding here is either easy and flat with 1 main loop option or very steep and challenging. The trail map below is a little daunting to read even if you go to the original link and blow up the pictures.
Here is a blown up corner of the map of the trails that most riders use from the horse camp. My biggest complaint was the loud gun shots I heard along the Upper Elk Spur Trail. The section the shots were extremely loud at is highlighted in red. Unless you ride at 5am I would avoid riding this section if you don't like the noise of guns.
Riding Options
Easier Loops
At Sahara horse camp you have a few options for an easy and flat ride close to camp that is < 5 miles long.
ADA Loop
If you like to camp and eat and drink and then enjoy a little bareback ride after dinner then there is a very easy and flat ADA trail that is right around camp. If you or your partner likes to ride and you have a family member that would rather not ride, then you both can be happy.
ADA Longer LoopTotal Miles: 3.38 miles
Time Taken: 1 hour Ascent: 233 miles If you want to make the ADA loop a little longer you can add the east half as marked in red, or ride it in a figure 8. It would be a fun loop to trot or to walk the dogs. During our visit I hand-walked Sam and walked with Jon and the dogs. There are bridges to cross to make the trail a little more interesting.
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Difficult Loops
If you go horse camping to ride your horse, are an active trail-rider with a fit horse or an endurance rider then you will love the more difficult trail options. I love switchbacks on a cliff but I do not like guns. I highly recommend avoiding the Upper Elkspur Trail section highlighted in the map above.
Peanut Loop - Only if you are ok with Gunshot Noise
During our trip we rode this loop riding counter-clockwise on the first day and it was a mistake. Fortunately, my horse Sam is totally ok with gunshots. I was super jumpy and the gunshots sounded extremely close. As soon as we turned south on Doe Crossing it was a lot more enjoyable!
The first half of Upper Elkspur Trail is steep with switchbacks. Sam is a mountain goat but my husband was on foot so we had to do a lot of waiting for them to recover after the steep bits. |
We walked down the camp road to pick up the trail between sites 6 and 7. The first section of trail was very nicely graveled.
The trail was well marked with diamonds and print writing indicating the trail name. We stayed left to continue north on the Upper Elkspur Trail.
After the Elkspur/ADA fork the trail started gaining elevation with some steep switchbacks. This is where the gun noises started to get louder.
Every fork was very well signed.
The bridge was closed for repair but the creek crossing was an easy step over.
We reached a fork where the Upper Elkspur Trail was closed for logging at the fork with Doe Crossing. The fork was well signed and we took a left on Doe Crossing. Finally as we moved south the noise from the gunshots improved.
At this point I finally relaxed and started to enjoy the trail as we left the loud gunshot area.
We traveled downhill to meet up with the Lower Elkspur Trail that would take us back to camp.
Lower Elkspur to Bullrun to Buck Crossing
I enjoyed this trail. It was much quieter, especially since we started before 8am and it was farther from the shooting range. I love switchbacks up cliffs. Trails on the edge of a hill or cliff make me extremely happy. Sam motors up steep hills and is a joy to ride. I never worry about him being silly, he is always sure and steady. My husband was on foot and this was a tough climb! As soon as it flattened out it became less interesting. We could see Mt. Rainer only at one point, where Bull crossing crosses the road 6. If you want better views you will have to do more climbing!
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Lower Elkspur was a lot of up and down. We crossed the creek 3 times.
Once we took a right on Bull Run the trail became a series of steep switchbacks. The trail flattened out as we crossed road 6 for a partial view of Mt. Rainier.
We crossed the road and paralleled it on a single-track that was slightly overgrown. We had one downed tree limb we had to walk around.
We took a left at Buck's crossing. The 3-way fork was well-marked. We reached a rest stop with a picnic table, hitching post and restroom at the location below marked by the arrow.
We followed Buck's crossing downhill. The switchbacks downhill were steep and breathtaking and I loved every minute of it. The picture below is on a brief uphill before we started down again.
We crossed a long bridge on the lower Elkspur almost back to camp. There was sand on top of the bridge surface which very nicely damped any bridge sounds and made Sam feel more secure.
Lower Elkspur to Doe to Holly to Bull Run Loop
Here is another loop variation if you want to ride less than 10 miles. The elevation profile is riding the loop counter-clockwise. You would still need to ride up or down the steep switchbacks of Bulls' Run.
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Rating
It is noisy here. If you are ok with gunshot noise, then it is an amazing horse camp. There are water spigots and mounting blocks throughout the camp and it is free with a Discovery Pass. You could ride the ADA loop and eat and drink yourself silly or you can do some interesting switchbacks and longer and more technical rides. We need to get more horses in this camp. The trails have good footing and were created with horses in mind. If you hate the noise, email DNR. We have to let them know what we would like changed!