This easily accessible equestrian campground is a great year-round basecamp for exploring the river trails or the wide open desert.
Located just south of Silver Springs on the Carson River, Scout Camp is a popular spot to day ride or horse camp for a weekend. The campground is part of Fort Churchill State Park and is managed by Nevada State Parks. It is open year-round but is best in spring when the meadows are lush and green, fall when the leaves are gold, and winter when light snow dusts the desert.
Campground
Scout Camp is a large campground with room for dozens of trailers. There are two corral areas. One has six pens built together – three on one side, three on the other. The other corral has two pens side by side. You can also set up your own pens here. There are several hitching posts on site, as well as a manure area.
There are several campsites, each with a fire ring and picnic table. Garbage cans are located throughout the campground. There is a vault toilet, also with a garbage and recycling bin. There is no potable water in the camp but the river is easily accessible to collect water for your horse.
Individual campsites are not reservable but the campground is.
Trails
There are a lot of riding options from Scout Camp. You can ride from camp in either direction along the Carson River.
The trail to the west is short (roughly 1 1/4 mile) and ends near Buckland Station. From here you can turn around for an out-and-back ride or leave the fenced boundary and follow the dirt roads back to make a loop approximately three miles long.
The trail to the east meanders along the river 3 3/4 miles to Horse Camp. Both directions feature non-motorized, sandy, single-track trails that wind through thick sagebrush and tall cottonwoods. There are several places to access the river with your horse.
The cottonwood trees are lovely to ride through. Thick and green in the spring and summer, they provide a nice way to get out of the sun. In the fall, it is a beautiful expanse of gold. Cottonwoods are messy trees though so these trails are often littered with fallen branches. Generally, however, this is not a technical trail. Trail crews do a good job of maintenance. But in the spring the trail can get quite overgrown and the burrs can be a menace.
Cows are grazed along the river. They will usually run off when they see/hear you, but they do hide well in the thick brush. You may also see deer and coyotes in the area, and if you are lucky you could spot a porcupine.
There are many places along the way to get off the single-track river trail and head out into the open desert, which is BLM land. The surrounding flats are crisscrossed by many nice sandy roads to ride or you can just go crosscountry. Out in the desert, you’ll find interesting playas and good views. The Pony Express Trail and American Discovery Trail run through here as well. As you ride closer to the mountain range to the south, the terrain gets a little more rocky.
Getting Here
Where to Park: If you do not want to park inside the boundaries of the camp itself, there is plenty of dispersed parking in the desert outside the entrance. From here you can ride into the camp to access the trails or pick up one of the many dirt/sand roads.
After some wet periods, the road to Scout Camp can be impassable for horse trailers. It is usually graded each year.
Trail Maps
