All of my attempts to contact the Cuivre River State Park were met with a message that the "call cannot be completed as dialed." It took me a while to call another number and find out that the area code had been changed from the one that I had. Sure made calling easier if I had the correct number.

Following the signs, we found the equine campground and we were met by the camp hostess. There were several trailers around and we chose a site and paid for two nights.

Donna Wade, the hostess was particularly helpful and answered all questions and made some suggestions, which we chose to use. Her husband returned and he was equally informative and friendly.

Electric and water hook ups were soon found and the horses were tied to the hitching rails. The mare and gelding were not used to being side by side and close to each other, so we put up a couple ropes to confine them just a little more.

There was not enough time to ride that evening, so we rested and visited around camp.

The next morning we saddled up and began our journey around one of the seven mile trails. We rode down into the woods and traveled the wide path, and for the first time on the trip my barefoot mare began to give to the gravel and rocks. I was surprised at that and didn’t understand it because she had done so well.

In a very short distance we met a woman rider who stopped and talked with us for a while. She said she wished that she had time to ride with us, but she had things she had to do right now. I wished she was available so we could have a guide who knew her way around.

There were many warning signs to stay on the trails and we made every effort to do just that but soon we found trails leading off in all directions and we had difficulty identifying which was legitimate trails and which were just well worn illegal ones. Looking for trail markers, we were still unable to decide for sure.

Now Eddie has a great sense of direction and he can tell you every time which direction we need to go to return to camp or anywhere he has been before. Sort of like a human GPS.

On the other hand, I am only of any assistance with a good map and well marked trails. I have tried to learn to use the GPS but I have trouble keeping batteries going or it turns off or something goofy. I also don’t have a good way or place to carry it so it can "see the sky."

It was not very long before we were out on a gravel road, which we did not prefer to ride. We took the trail across the road and soon were in and out of soft, wet mud six or eight inches deep. We crossed trees and wound around and around and again came out on another gravel road.

As I read the good map and directions today I can see that the first mistake I made was not traveling in a clockwise direction.

Frenchman’s Bluff was a hiking trail which had portion open to horses but we came in from the wrong end and we were riding the four foot wide trail along the cliff edge. Well there were six or eight feet between the trail most places.

Now I was holding my breath in places but Eddie was gaiting along looking into the far distance off the bluff. A hiker was sitting on a rock and of course, Eddie stopped to talk.

"Aren’t you all afraid to ride the trail along here?" he asked.

"No," was Eddie’s response.

After a little more travel I decided that was only his opinion and not necessarily those of the wife. I decided to get back up into the gravel road. He eventually followed me to safer territory.

I was thoroughly confused as to our location and direction of travel. Soon the lady we met earlier approached us driving a truck.

"You’re not going back already, are you?" she asked.

Eddie asked directions and distances and seemed to understand. She drove on and we rode on. Eventually we were on a blue trail over through the woods. Then we came out near the river and we rode down to look around.

On up the gravel road we came to a park of sorts. We rode up the steep hill and rode over to the picnic table areas and tied up the horses to a hitching rail.

"What if we are going the wrong direction and getting farther and farther away from camp. I don’t want to ride all day long," I questioned.

"That woman said we could get back this way," Eddie answered.

"Is this the six miles trip on a gravel road?"

"I’ll ask somebody when they come by," Ed said, "Let’s eat lunch."

As we ate and looked around, we heard a car coming. Eddie went over to try to flag it down but we were too far away.

Through the distance we could see some kind of building or something.

"What is that down there? The windows look high so it might be a house trailer. I can’t tell what it is since we can only see the top part of it," I wondered.

"I can see something but I can’t tell either."

Another truck came down the gravel road and Eddie practically ran out in front of it to get it to stop. They said we could get to camp going down that way.

"I’m going to ride down that way and see what it is," Eddie said.

"Wait a minute and I’ll go with you," I said as I packed the lunch stuff back up.

When we were back on top of the horses, we began going through the little park. It was only a matter of minutes that we recognized our own horse trailer!

Laughing long and loud we discovered that we had been sitting in one end of the campground, looking at the other end where we were parked.

We rode down and unsaddled. We couldn’t wait to get home and tell our friends that we were lost in the other end of camp.

Wild, Wonderful West Virginia