Horse Heaven Ranch is off Hwy 63 between Muse and Talihina, Oklahoma. There is a blue sign on the highway indicating the turn.
There is a large stone horse statue with signage set back several yards from the highway to mark the entrance.
It is about a mile drive down a dirt road into the campground.
We have a full hook-up site - hoorah!
It is a pull-through site.
The horses have large open pipe corrals. There is no round pen or arena for turn out but we have been letting them graze on the grass.
Temperatures have been dropping into freezing so we have been blanketing the horses at night.
The horses relaxing in their corrals.
Elfie, the campground host, provided us with this trail map which looks rather daunting. There are no trail signs or markers on the trails.
We are riding in a different section of the Ouachita National Forest.
To access the trails, ride to the back of the campground and past the white metal gates.
Ride past the large cabins with good-sized paddocks.
The trailhead is a large apron on the right marked by wooden rail fencing.
The trails are the least rocky and the best groomed, more like bridle paths. Really pretty forest and nothing too challenging - other than trying to figure out where you are.
The closest town is Talihina. Closest market is in Heavener.
The Saturday we were scheduled to leave Talihina was hosting their Fall Foliage Festival, so we decided to drive into town and check it out.
We parked at the middle school and this car was in the lot.
Brought back memories of my days in high school learning to drive.
A lot of schools have had to get ride of their driver's education programs due to budget cuts.
There was a camel ride for kids. Apparently, camels are quite common in Oklahoma.
Ari didn't know they were so vocal.
I hadn't thought about this, but if you live on a reservation, that's sovereign territory, so the reservation issues it's own license plates.
There was a nice bluegrass band providing entertainment.
The festival was quite crowded. There were a lot of local artists selling their crafts.
I did buy a small carved gourd for my dad for his birthday. Artists who were tribal members had cards up identifying themselves as registered with the tribe. So, we purchased something from a tribal member. Hopefully, my dad enjoys it.
We finished up by eating some Indian tacos - Choctaw style. That's their Indian fry bread at the bottom.
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