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Trail Rating:
Camp Rating:  |
We arrived late afternoon on a holiday (Labor Day) weekend. I guess we were hoping to find some other campers with horses, but we were the only ones there. There were a very few trees to allow high tying, but we managed. Hot or portable pens would have been a better choice. Wish we had brought ours. The trail head was overgrown, but we hacked through it. Once on the trail, we selected the "Estelle Mine" trail. Less than 3 miles into the trail, we were faced with a tree and a drop-off that completely blocked our advance (even though one of the horses we brought easily clears 3 foot fences)and were forced to turn back. There were several streambeds, but everything was dry as a bone. No water for the horses on the trail. The tiny bit of trail we rode required shoes or boots for the horses. At night camp, we bedded down, but woke at 11:00 to find a car had pulled into the area. The occupants seemed unusually occupied -- so much so we actually broke camp, loaded our horses and drove back (150 miles!!!) home. Times are hard right now, people are mean. We just didn't want trouble. There were no rangers, no nothing there. We felt vulnerable and confused by this place. I thought the trails (what 3 miles of them we saw) were nice, but who knows what we did or didn't see. We went because others (including rangers we spoke to on the phone prior to our visit) said the trip would be fabulous. I'd like to go back, but will not unless we know for a fact that we will have others camping with us and that there will be regular ranger contact. |
