Picnic Spring Campground - Custer National Forest

 

It's nice to break things up - after being in a busy equestrian campground, we can wind down at Picnic Spring Campground, which is a primitive campground in Custer National Forest.

About four miles of dirt road into the campground, but well maintained.

This campground is well maintained, little used. There are eight campsites, no reservations, no fees. There are two vault toilets - one in the front and one in the rear. There is a water pump near the front vault toilet.

No corrals provided, but you can set up your own corrals, high line, or use an electric fence.

Our horses were plenty happy munching on the grass in their portable corral, some shade from the nearby trees as well.

We opted for the pull through site at the far end of the campground. There was one other camper in the campground while we were there.

WIFI worked fine on our Winegard. I had two bars on my cell phone. Ari had zero bars.

No horse trails, but you are allowed to "pick your ride" by bushwhacking through the forest.

This is a beautiful campground and a good place to overnight if you are driving between Custer and points North.

 

J C Stage Stop - Aladdin, Wyoming

 

There should be some sort of regulation on which places can refer to themselves as a resort. When I hear the word "resort", I conjure up images of poolside cabanas, lying on the beach in a pillowed lounge chair while some young brown man brings me drinks with pretty umbrellas. 

I had this experience at a resort in San Juan, Puerto Rico many years ago. The lounge chair even had a little flag on the arm. You raise the flag and staff would come running to see what you wanted.

 

A resort should have a certain level of amenities - a pool, a gym, a spa with massage therapists and nail technicians. Using the word resort raises all sorts of expectations which are bound to disappoint me when there is no pool or cabana boy around.

JC Stage Stop has none of these amenities, but it remains a popular stop for equestrians heading South into Custer or  heading West into Yellowstone.

Of course, for our horses, the accommodations here are close to resort levels. They have shade and cover as well as a good sized run - 12' by 20' spaces. 

The only thing they would like better would be a large pasture with lots of grass and a shelter.

You are not allowed to tack up at your campsite, but sheds are provided where you can store your tack. We are stowing hay and grain in one of the stalls next to our horses.

We have full hook-up and the WIFI is excellent.

There are also cabins available to rent, public toilets and showers, and a laundry room with one washer and one dryer.

There are an abundance of hitching posts and the hitching posts all have collapsible saddle racks on each end, which is a nice feature.

We only did one trail ride as this is a short layover. The flies were out in hordes and bugging the horses. It was not a pleasant ride as our horses were distracted by the biting insects. We should have put their belly guards on them. These are meshed pieces which protect the horses from flies and other biting insects that you can wrap over their bellies while you ride.

We drove into nearby Spearfish, SD - about 30 minutes away. Spearfish is a decent-sized town with lots of shopping and things to do.

This place has just been sold and will be under new ownership soon. It will continue on as a horse campground.

Sundance Horse Camp - Sundance, Wyoming

 

Bonnie said good-bye, gifting us a jar of home-made preserves and a bag of fresh cucumbers from her garden. I would love to be able to make bread and butter pickles, but my LQ kitchen wouldn't support that sort of project. I will have to be satisfied with a fresh summer cucumber salad.

On the way to our next campground, we drove by this butte on Hwy 585. Just stunning!

There is a rest area called the Sundance Rest Area that has a FREE RV dump. We took the opportunity to empty both our tanks.

Horses are on one end of the campground, so once again our water tank goes into the back of the truck to be filled up, so we can get water to the horses.

We are the only campers in the entire campground, so we put each horse into their own large corral.

No shade, but they get a nice manger for their food.

No hook-ups at the Sundance Horse Camp, but it's only $14/night.

Best spot is campsite #8 - it's level and next to the only water source.

We are in campsite #7.

We rode early as temps are going over 100 degrees F today. We rode the Sundance Trail. There is a good section that is narrow with a few spots that are eroded. My horse slipped a couple of times in the eroded sections.

The views are fabulous.

Sundance, Wyoming - population a little over a thousand - but they have a lovely public pool and seniors are FREE. From 5 pm to 6 pm is adult swim and they section off half the pool so adults can swim in peace away from the kids.

It felt wonderful to be in the water.

Signage at the Rest Area.

Sundance got it's name because it is near the Devil's Tower Monument. Native tribes would perform a ritual sun dance at the base of Devil's Tower every year.

Plum Creek Canyon Ranch - Newcastle, Wyoming

 

Darryl and Bonnie TenBroek ran a horse camp outside of Ten Sleep, Wyoming that was legendary among equestrians. They were known for their hospitality. They sold it three years ago and bought property outside of New Castle, Wyoming. They didn't want to get entirely out of the hospitality business, so they installed two RV hook-up pads for guests. A significant downsizing from the number of guests they needed to deal with in Ten Sleep.

We have water and electric hook-up, no sewer. We were able to connect to their WIFI using our Winegard, and the connection is solid enough we can stream television shows and Ari can play his video games.

I only booked us for a couple of nights because it is still pretty hot - easily in the 90s.

We asked Darryl and Bonnie to take us out for a ride. They are both on quarter horses.

Bonnie's horse is Spark. Darryl's horse is Ned. Darryl told me he bought his horse from a neighbor and the horse was named Nibbles, because the horse likes to give little kisses to people. Darryl said, he was not going to ride a horse named Nibbles, so he gave him a new name.

Ari spotted a rattlesnake on the trail. So Darryl dismounted to kill it. Ari dismounted to watch. Bonnie is holding onto to Ned, Darryl's horse.  I uploaded video of the kill on my Instagram account.

Darryl cut off the head and tail of the rattlesnakes for trophies. I took the tail to give to our grandson, Zane. If you shake it, it makes a rattling sound like a gourd.

The rattlesnake tail has ten segments. A rattlesnake adds a segment every two to three years, so you can use the number of segments to estimate the age of the snake.

Darryl killed the snake, basically with his bare hands, using only the lead rope from his horse.

Darryl's great-grandfather drove the wagon that collected the dead after The Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. The bodies of the officers were picked up and transported for burial in Arlington. The enlisted men were buried in mass graves.

This was not an easy trail ride - lots of climbing up and down - and the trails are not well marked. We would not have been able to figure out where we were going without a guide. Both Lennox and Mercy behaved really well.

Back at the barn, the horses were rewarded with grain for a job well done.

They are in large pens with cover. They are pretty darn happy.

Tomorrow we head to Sundance Horse Camp, near Sundance, Wyoming.

The Trailer Returns - Rapid City, South Dakota

So, SMC Trailers overnighted us the parts using UPS - their choice of shipping company, not mine. I gave them the address of a Federal Express office close to our horse motel. When you are on the road full-time getting mail can be problematic, but we have used Fed Ex Mail Centers as a mail drop before for packages with no issues.

This sign is in the lobby at the Econolodge. I take it as a good sign - this is the traditional wedding vow in a Jewish wedding.

We spent Thursday night at the Econolodge, paying outrageous prices. Someone at Camping World explained to me that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is next week. All the hotels in the area raise their rates as much as 900% because 1) they want to take advantage of all the motorcyclists coming into town and 2) to discourage riff raff from staying in their accommodations. We were told we were lucky to even find a room.

I checked the tracking number and the package was delivered around 10 am Friday morning. The service guy at Camping World told me they had tried to get parts and went to several places on Thursday with no luck. So, we go to the Fed Ex office a little after 10 am where the manager tells me that yes, UPS did attempt to drop off our box, but she refused it and told them to put it back on the truck because they do not accept packages from competing firms and they are not a mail center. 

I am furious! We need to get our trailer fixed and this self-righteous bitch effectively sabotaged us and ensured we remain homeless. 

Luckily, the UPS office is right across the street... but did the driver take the box to the office and drop it off or did he keep it on his truck and continue on his route? 

If he did the latter, we might not get our package until tomorrow.

We hurry over to the UPS office....

where the clerk says the driver has just dropped off our box before he continued on his route.

The clerk remarks that most customers are not so good at claiming their packages.

We say we are plenty motivated to get this package as we need our home repaired. I do not want to spend another $250 or more for a hotel room.

We drive to Camping World with the box - fingers crossed that all the parts are all there and that they are the correct parts.

Our trailer is repaired by 1 pm on Friday - Hurrah! It is good as new.

So, how much did backing into the ditch cost us...

$290 for one night at Econolodge

$205 for overnight shipping for replacement parts

$510 for repairs at Camping World

= $1,005 

Getting our trailer back = priceless

 

Happy Horse Haus Motel - Rapid City, South Dakota

 

We decided to switch locations to facilitate making repairs on our trailer, so we moved into Rapid City, near the Camping World where repairs will be done. 

The horses each have a large run with cover, which they definitely prefer over the 10 x 10 pens at Hay Creek. They now have a place to hide in the shade and from the rain.

Happy Horse Haus is located east of Rapid City and about 10 miles from the Camping World.

The service guy at Camping World assured us that he would have the repairs done by the end of the day. I was skeptical. I wasn't sure they would have the parts, so after we moved to Happy Horse Haus, I contacted SMC, our trailer manufacturer, and asked them to overnight us the replacement parts. This was another reason for the move. The lack of cell reception and internet at our campsite made it almost impossible for me to make these types of arrangements. 

Around 4 pm, the service department tells us they don't have the parts and weren't able to complete the repairs. Plus, they have disassembled the tanks and plumbing, so if we spent the night in the trailer, we couldn't use any of the plumbing - no water for cooking or cleaning or toilet. 

So, we told them to keep the trailer overnight and we would have to scramble for shelter.

I asked our host at Happy Horse Haus. She has a bunk house which is basically bare bones, with a toilet and shower, but it wasn't prepared for guests.

I belong to four different hotel chain reward clubs due to all my business travel. I was astonished at the prices for hotel rooms- starting at $250/night at a Motel 6 and going up to $700/night at a Hilton. This is Rapid City, folks, not New York, Boston, San Francisco, or Hawaii. I know we are in the height of tourist season, but the prices were astounding. In contrast, we normally pay around $70/night for a campsite and corrals for our horses.

I looked at cabins at local campgrounds and there was zero availability on a THURSDAY night.

We ended up at an Econolodge. Some place I normally pay around $70/night when I am on the road and we are paying around $260 for one night.

I don't know if the prices are due to the extra cleaning they have to do because of COVID or because of the lack of employees. Every business in South Dakota has a help wanted sign up. Every single one. Many of the stores and restaurants are on reduced hours, simply because they don't have enough staff to open. We went to a Chili's yesterday and they are closed THREE days per week because they don't have enough servers. If you are looking for work, come to South Dakota. It is a beautiful state and you will find a job.

I am seeing a lot of retirees getting hired simply because they are bored and, while they may not need the money, they want to pitch in and try to help the local businesses.

The Camping World service department just called me to tell me they haven't been able to locate the parts to make the repairs, so I am crossing my fingers that this morning's package has everything they need to make it work.

Otherwise, we may be moving into the bunkhouse at the Happy Horse Haus for the duration.

Ari says this is like Tombstone all over again when we were stuck waiting for the axle parts and repairs.

What Should a Good Trail Horse Know?

 Ari watching the green horse refusing to walk through a creek underscored for us why you only use an experienced trail horse on these types of trips. So, what should a good trail horse know?

Backing Up

This sounds trivial, but I can't count the number of times we have been on a trail and needed to back up. Maybe a tree is down or the trail is eroded or it has gotten too narrow or too rocky, but you need to be able to back up your horse. And I mean, back up in a straight line. Because if you can't back up straight, you may find yourself falling off a ledge or into a creek.

Walking Over Downed Trees

Trees fall down in the woods. Trails aren't always maintained. So, you need to be able to guide your horse to walk - walk, not jump - over a downed tree. If they don't know how to step over a log safely, they can injure themselves or the rider.

Walking Over a Bridge

When a horse walks over a wooden bridge, it makes noise and the noise can spook a horse. So, you need to practice this so your horse doesn't freak out when he hears the sound.

Walking Over Concrete

I learned this one the hard way. Someone decided to pour concrete to form a culvert in Sam Taylor State Park in Northern California. We were on a narrow trail next to a creek when we approached the concrete pad that protected the drain pipe. My horse was in the lead and he had never seen a concrete pad on a trail before. He didn't want to cross it, backed up, and I landed in the creek, breaking a rib.  Horses react this way because they don't have great depth perception and in my horse's mind I was asking him to step into a pit. He didn't know the surface was solid. 

Walking Through Mud

Most horses don't like mud. They don't like how it feels and I can't blame them. If your horse rushes to get through a mud puddle, it increases the likelihood they will slip and fall. So, you have to teach a horse to walk calmly though a mud puddle.

Walking Through Water

Water crossings seem to be one of the more challenging obstacles for horses - especially if the water is moving, which messes with their depth perception. Some horses love playing in water, splashing and drinking. 

Walking Through Brush

On horse obstacle courses, this is often referred to as the window washer obstacle. If your horse feels something scratching his back or sides, it can spook him, so you want him to pretty much ignore branches or leaves that might touch him going down the trail.

Sooner or later, you and your horse will meet any or all of these obstacles on the trail. Your horse should be able to manage all of these obstacles as well as feel comfortable around cyclists and motorized vehicles. Many equestrian centers have obstacle courses available to help you get your horse ready to hit the trails.

Hay Creek Ranch- Nemo, South Dakota

 

Sign outside the Hay Creek Ranch office

This might have been Ari's least favorite place to stay in the Black Hills area. Mostly because of the flies - so many flies and wasps, just annoying and driving him nuts.

But, also the lack of cell service and internet, it just wears on you having to drive some place to check for messages and emails and read the paper, etc. Ari likes to check his stocks every day because he wants to make daily trades (this helps pay for our expenses) and without internet he gets pretty frustrated.

We had a nice campsite among the trees near the horse corrals (and not too far from a large pile of manure - which probably contributed to the fly issue). We had electric and water hook-up, no sewer.

The horses were in uncovered corrals. There are large pens where you can put two or more horses or 10 ft x 10 ft enclosures for single horses. Because Ari's horse has decided to pick on Mercy, we put them in the individual small corrals.

This campground is around 6500 ft elevation and I was definitely feeling the altitude. On our second day, I told Ari to join the group trail ride and leave me behind. Doug, the campground owner, takes out all the guests every morning (except Sunday) and shows them the trails. 

Doug rides a Frisian Morgan cross mare. Ari says she is one of the few horses that has no problems keeping up with Lennox.

There were at least two dozen riders on that morning's ride. One of the riders was on a green four year old that refused a water crossing. Doug spent a good half hour working with the horse to get her to cross the water. 

At that point, Ari was ready to leave the group and head back to camp on his own. It took two hours for him to go out and 48 minutes to return.

It took him so much less time because he wasn't slowed down by the other riders.

Ari has been nagging me to get bloodwork done. It has been over a year since my Calcium and Iron levels were checked. For the past month, I have been experiencing shortness of breath and fatigue, but I am chalking it up to the altitude.  I figured since this is the last place in a while where we are close of any kind of medical facility, I might as well get checked so Ari would settle down. 

All my lab work came back normal. The doctor was very thorough and I am in good health.

She agreed that it was most likely altitude and the heat affecting me.

After my time at the clinic, we walked around Deadwood for a while. It is a pretty cool little town, similar to Tombstone. Lots of gift shops, saloons, and casinos.

Deadwood does a shoot-out re-enactment which is pretty popular. As you can see from the video, the town is packed with tourists.

This is the water crossing that the green horse refused to cross.

Public shower house and bathroom

The RV dump is on the right of the driveway

Group pavilion for BBQ 

We are loving all the wildflowers in the Black Hills

This is the approach to the water crossing. It is pretty muddy which might have contributed to the horse's reluctance to cross. Most horses don't like mud.