North Fork River Ranch - West Plains, MO

 

The North Fork River Ranch actually surpassed our expectations. It is a beautiful campground with lovely trails. The staff is really outstanding as well.

This is an enormous campground. There is a general store and a dining area.

There are showers and toilets. 

We had full hook-up for our LQ.

The horses were in small 10' x 10' stalls with cover.

They also rent kayaks and will provide service for dropping you off at the river and picking you up downstream. It was chilly, so we opted not to kayak.

You are allowed to tack up next to the trailer. You can see the stalls in the background.

We rode the Annie Oakley trail on Day One and the Zane Grey trail on Day Two.

We both thought the Annie Oakley trail was the prettier trail.

There were some rocky sections, but we rode both horses barefoot and they did fine.

We rode past the Turnbull Cave on the Annie Oakley  trail. They have set up hitching posts and a picnic table there, so you can dismount, tie up your horse and explore the cave. 

We opted to stay in the saddle. You have to cross a small creek to access the cave and Ari didn't want to get his boots wet.

There were several water crossings on both trails and we waded on horse back through the North Fork River more than once.

Both horses did great on the trails. Finally, they both seem to have settled down and settled in.

We spent one afternoon in West Plains, just to check out the town. It was a Sunday so just about everything was shuttered. We wandered around a bit in the downtown area and enjoyed the local architecture.

We are exploring the Ozarks - the mountain region that is part of Southwest Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. It is a beautiful part of the country and I recommend it.

The name "Ozark" relates the French term aux arcs. In the later 17th and early 18th centuries, French cartographers mapped the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers. The large, topmost arc or bend in this part of the Arkansas River was referred to as being aux arcs—the top or northernmost arc in the whole of the lower Arkansas. Travelers arriving by boat would disembark at this top bend of the river to explore the Ozarks; the city of Ozark, Arkansas, is located on the north bank at this location.