May 26, 27 and 28, 2004

We were rather shocked that the stalls did not have roofs! They were up the hill through the pines from the campsite. They called them box stall corrals.

The horses were led up the wide trail and we chose a stall for each horse.

"That’s another thing I have to add to my list of questions when I call," Janice said. "The other things I know of are can big rigs get into the site and do you have stalls, trails and electric and water."

The trailers were parked and Dale unhooked his truck. All four of us jumped in and we went sightseeing the little way back to Pringle. It was just a saloon, small grocery store and a couple other buildings where we went. We took some pictures and bought some ice.

The next day we got ready to take a ride. There was a map but soon Owen came out and said he would ride along with us if it was all right. Of course, we were thrilled to have somebody who knew the trails. He said he didn’t have time to take the big ride, but he could go for a couple of hours.

Dale, Eddie and I rode back over to the barn where Owen was saddling his quarter horse. He led us through the gate into a part of the empty pasture, through some trees and out at the top of the little hill and through another gate into the gravel road.

Owen explained that in that part of the country there were spaces between landowners that was for public use. There was a fence on each side but the middle was like a grass road. We went through a gate and rode through the fields.

I asked Owen if they had cactus and prairie dog holes in this area. He told us that there is some but not very much. I let out a sigh of relief. I retained that lingering hatred for those hole digging prairie dogs.

Crossing the big open fields, we came to a place where a tree was on a little knoll. Owen told us some story about that tree, but I can’t remember it.

Riding out an old logging road, we went down through the woods until we came to an good graveled unpaved road. There was traffic on it and a big truck came through. Dale was in front trying to get Scooter to smooth out into a running walk. Eddie hung back talking to Owen as they rode.

We rode down the gravel road and met a young man on a four wheeler who was out looking for antlers. After talking to him for a little while, we continued down the gravel road and turned left and went back up the hill.

We followed that old logging road for a long way and Eddie let Dusty travel fast in his rack.

Dale got off of the road and rode through the woods. Every so often Owen would stop and tell us a tall tale about a section of the woods. I can’t remember it now but we did enjoy the entertainment. He said his wife was better at the story.

We rode down a little creek and rode up through some pines and eventually came back out back on top of the hill again.

Again we rode back past a big tree with a pile of rocks around it, which was the site of the unremembered story.

Those little commentaries on sites of scenic wonder and historic value reminded me of the tales back home on the white water river trips. I believed every thing the guide said until he pointed out a telephone wire about a hundred feet overhead. When he said the water got so high they had to do a kayak roll to get under it, I knew I had been had! It was still interesting and funny.

Covering a lot of ground at a good speed, the ride was completed in three or four hours. Thankfully Owen rode with us the entire trip.

It was a beautiful day and the scenery was wonderful. The trails were clean and there was a great variety of riding. The guide and entertainment were a definite plus.

After taking care of the horses, we loaded back up again and drove in for our first trip to Custer. We stopped at a couple of places to look at the type of horse facilities.

In the town of Custer we immediately spotted a little purple and pink house that was an ice cream shop. It costs about $14 for the four of us to get ice cream. Not that it was terribly expensive, we just got a lot of it! We consumed it at leisure and with proper appreciation.

Dale drove up to the Custer State Park and spotted our places where we had reservations for June 1-5. Another place was needed between where we now had stalls and the June 1 date. Jan and Moose in Wisconsin had recommended Elk Haven Ranch so we stopped to check it out. They were in the process of putting tarp roofs on the pipe stalls, but they were not finished. We decided to give it a try since there was access to some trails.

Out another highway not far from Custer was a campground called Fort Welikit and we drove in to check it out. Mostly campers were there but they had new camping areas for horse camping. Gate outdoor stalls were lined up in several placed but they did not have the gates attached.

A bearded man who worked for his camping spot told us there were some trails across the road, but there was no road connecting them. After some chatter back and forth, we returned to get our propane tanks filled and head back to camp.

On our return to camp, we met Lois, Owen’s wife. She was sitting on the porch and we stopped to talk to her.

"Owen told me you had a good ride, but I couldn’t keep up with you," she said. "I’m taking some people out tomorrow and you are welcome to come along if you like."

"We appreciate it, but we are going to sight see some tomorrow."

Wild, Wonderful West Virginia