What a great horse! and what a lovely place to ride, i know you had a blast!

 I trail ride in Iowa.  There are about a dozen county and state parks that have equestrian camping.  Quite a few more that have trails only.  My favorite so far is Volga River in the NE corner.  It's very primative camping atleast for Iowa.  I don't belong to any clubs, but am planning to join the ITRA- Iowa Trail Riders Assoc next year.  They have published a booklet with all the horse trails in Iowa by region.  Would you like a copy?  Shoot me an email!

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Well kiddos.....we are going again sunday to the Red Rock Cyn State Park.

Lots of big red formations, lots of shaly trails to the bottom of the slot canyon and out to Last Chance Cyn, then to Burro Schmidts mine and back.  The weather has cooled a lot, and the desert looks all bright as the sun rises over the El Paso Mtns and down the formations.

Sort of like this..

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Jenny

No this park is about 80 miles n.w. of Los Angeles, it is along the Garlock Fault running toward Death Valley.  Since it's right on Hwy 14 it is super easy to visit, and the rangers LOVE to see equestrians use the park.  So much of the BLM land around the park is open for dirt bikes and quads that the surrounding area has been scarred with erosion and lots of vandalism. When folks on horseback use the park they see the violators and can report problems to rangers.  This area is VERY historic as the mines, settlements, and emigrant trails went thru here and so many historic and archeology site have been vandalized and torn apart by motorcycle wheels and since there is so little rainfall, it takes 100's of years to restore it's self.

Hi Grandma Trail Rider!!   Due to some circumstances beyond my control, I don't get to trailer and do trail rides, but my 2 girls are starting out as horsepersons and when they're old enough to drive, trailering might be an option then.  Anyway, we're in NC (not too far from GA).  I do know that people go to Love Valley near Statesville, NC and there are trails with camping in the Uwharrie National Forest.

I've heard of Love Valley but the descriptions that I've heard of the place are generally that it's not for me.  I've heard of Uwharrie National Forest.  CTHA (a group I belong to) has gotten some information about it off the web.  Well, I hope that at some point you can trailer to some of the trails since trail riding is a wonderful thing.  Thanks for the information.

Grandma Trail Rider 

As a child, I didn't have horses, but my family would backpack weekends in Uwharrie (it was only a 20 min drive to a trail head).  It was tons of fun.  Old mines, remnants of cabins, lots of nature.  Even when we couldn't backpack for a weekend, we would take a day to hike.  There is also Pilot Mountain which allows horseback riders on trails.  There are also bridle trails at Raven Rock.  I've not ever been to Raven Rock (shame on me), but Pilot Mountain is beautiful, another place we camped and hiked when I was a child. 

Thanks for the information.  I'll check it out.

Grandma Trail Rider

 Grandma:

 There are endless, gorgeous trails in Southern Arizona.  Northern Arizona has beautiful trails too, but has more weather that limits year-round trail riding.  Check out the Arizona Trail which extends from Mexico to Utah - www.aztrail.org.  Also, our National Parks, National Forests, and Arizona State Parks.

Enjoy Arizona:  

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Well, we are riding Red Rock State Park again tommo0rrow, and WOW, what nice weather we will have.

Looking to ride the "Nightmare Gulch" trail again, and since the flash flood, should be really neat.  My lil Arab mare and our gelding Lancer will lead about 10 horses and riders across the formations and out thru Opal Cyn to the start again. I'll try to post some shots of our ride if I can get my silly computer to load from the camera chip to the hard drive.

Steve

Well.... I finally am getting back to posting after a Looooong time with out doing so.  First i want to show some folks the nice trails we went on out in Red Rock State Park in So. Calif. back in the fall. Sooooo here it is!  That is me adjusting the cinch, and I don't know why it is double posting the pics.

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Also this is Christmas at my place in the high desert of So. Calif. It is NOT SUPPOSED to snow in the desert..but you can't fool Mother Nature!!  LOL.....

Well we went riding with our local ETI group last weekend and went to a place called Vasquez Park. It's named for an old time Mexican bandit who it is said was also quite a "ladies man". The park has been the site of many movies like Flintstones, and episodes of Star Trek among other things like commercials, and you can recognize the backdrop of formations. Anyway, the group has a lot of gaited folks, and we moved out at a pretty good clip. My lil Arab mare has a VERY long trot, and we have no problem keeping up with the folks, although we do usually wind up out in front cause they don't ride endurance like I do, so tend to may be a bit on the chubby side and not as fit. Warm sunny day with temps in the low 70's, and lots of good company. We had a chili and cornbread feast after about a 12 mile ride through the mtns and escarpments. Also saw a couple of neat barn owls just snoozin in a tree.

Ok, well some neat pics anyway.....

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