Iron Creek Horse Camp is located on federal land and is a primitive campground.
The best way to get into the campground is to use American Center Road. A dirt road coming in from Custer.
The horses are sharing a large pen near to where we are parked. No cover, but it is shady and they are quite content.
The campsite is interesting because instead of having pads or even designated places for you to pull in your trailer, you are expected to park parallel to the road. Needless to say, it can be a tight squeeze.
I picked Campsite #1 and that was the wrong call. Better campsites would be #8 or #9 as those are closest to the manure pile and the only water source for the horses.
The water for the horses is a large water trough.
To get water to our horses, we moved the water tank in the back of our trailer to the back of our truck, drove to the trough. We used a water pump to pump water from the trough into the tank.
We powered the pump using our Jackery.
This is our neighbor at Campsite #2 and this trailer is adorable. It looks like a tiny house. It has hydraulic lifts that raises it up for towing and then lowers on wood blocks to stabilize it.
This is actually an ice castle fishing trailer used for ice fishing, but I had never seen one and think it's pretty darn cool.
One of the main reasons I wanted to camp here is this is the best location to ride to Mount Rushmore.
We rode Centennial Trail to Blackberry Trail to Mount Rushmore Nat. Monument.
This is not a trail for beginner horses or riders.
The trail has several water crossings, lots of rocks, and several narrow sections.
Both horses wore their boots.
It is a gorgeous ride and well worth it.
It took us an hour and forty minutes to reach the equestrian area of Mount Rushmore.
There are hitching posts for the horses.
You can see the monument behind me.
It was an overcast and drizzly day, so I wore my riding poncho.
There are two large picnic tables. We had packed some sandwiches and plenty of water for the ride.
In order to visit the monument, you walk across the highway and through the parking area. I didn't feel comfortable leaving the horses unattended, so I walked over and bought us a couple of ice creams. The ice cream allegedly uses Thomas Jefferson's recipe. The ice cream is quite good and there are about six different flavors available. A portion costs $5.25. The portions are quite large. I should have ordered just one and shared it with Ari.
You can also use the restrooms at the monument. No vault toilet at the equestrian area. You also are away from the tourists, so you don't need to worry about people coming up and annoying your horses.
Riding back to the campground.
There are beautiful and plentiful wildflowers to see right now. It is really lush.
My horse can't resist stopping for the occasional snack.
We had been warned not to drive Hwy 87 which goes through Custer State Park with the LQ. I was especially warned to avoid the tunnels as tourists will get stuck in the tunnels every so often. The tunnels are 8 ft wide and about 9 ft high.
It is really a tight squeeze to get through.
We had to pull in our mirrors so they wouldn't get scratched.
Prepare to feel the squeeze!
The views from this section of the road are astounding and there are several places to pull out and just gawk at the Black Hills and the rock formations. It was well worth the detour, but Ari says he never wants to drive it again in his lifetime - too twisty and too narrow for his taste. He says, of course, I liked it because I was the passenger and got to enjoy the views.
Today was a short ride as my horse is TIRED.
We rode the Southern part of the Centennial Trail. It was a flat easy ride.
Tomorrow we head to French Creek Horse Camp. No more bucket rides in our immediate future. We have crossed off Hell Canyon and Mount Rushmore from our list.
No comments:
Post a Comment