Belle Meade Campground

Made an on-site visit to the Horseshoe Campground (formerly the Belle Meade Campground) located adjacent to the Picayune Strand State Forest Office. The campground host was personable and confirmed the campground name was changed; see photos. Some sites in this open field are now reservable on Reserve America. Others are first come, first serve. The campground is located in a remote area and accessible via a hardpacked graded dirt road. Cell service was useable with two bars AT&T and one bar Verizon. I did see a panther cross the dirt road on our approach to this campground. Although big rig friendly, the remote location and the forest maintenance equipment parked adjacent to this campground and lack of privacy in this open field setting detract from the experience.

This campground is a large field area with a municipal building in the center of it. Access if fairly easy with only a mile or two of easy to drive washboarded road.

The campground is fairly open, but there are trees to find shade under. It has none potable water spigots and porta potties. Haven't seen a trash bin. It is $10 dollars a night on the honor system where you pay at the entrance sign. Even though there is a municipal building right here with lots of workers and rangers no one has come over to check on us.

This area gets busy on the weekend with people camping and horseback riding. They have water bins for horses and even stalls for $10 a day each. The Belle Meade horse trail is a 22 mile stretch and seems popular. Not a bunch to do right here, you can hike, bike, or fish the canals. None of which is spectacular.

Campground is off the beaten path so to speak and there is no close gas station or store for about a 20 minute drive. Totally empty on Monday except for the municipal building and their occasional loud speaker. A nice clean campground overall.