Hey everyone. Hoping you can give me some suggestions. In your opinion where at the best places to trail ride in the Mid Atlantic Area?
Thanks in Advance!
http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/gwj/specialplaces/?cid=stelprdb5302337
Mount Rogers National Recreation Area
Bonnie
You should check out Benezette PA…Really, really cool riding. Heading there over the 4th!
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/FORESTRY/equestrian/thunder_mountain.aspx
There’s a really nice campground, Big Elk Lick, that caters to horse people and you can ride for days from camp.
Fair Hill in Maryland is a must. I’d be glad to show you around if you decide to ride there
Thanks for this link kasjordan, I’ve been wanting to ride there, now I have a place to start 
Gettysburg Battlefield is fun. The trails are walk-trot, but the experience of touring the battlefield is wonderful.
Thanks so much for the ideas. Just trying to find some new sights to see.
the c & o rail trail.
Id love to ride the great smoky mountains. Coming home from vacation last week, out of Atlanta-- the flight went over them and at dusk, and at 30,000 ft... the mountains shrouded in mist ...it was awesome!NE PA
I’m not sure where you are located but I ride at Rickets Glen, (not the Falls trail) they have a 12 mile loop, but its rocky so its walk trot. I also go to Lackawanna State Forest-Thornhurst and ride their snow mobile trails which have nice footing, since they are the emergency access roads. In college I road at Tyler Park in Bucks County and that was always a nice ride, but I haven’t been their in 6 years.
[QUOTE=brightskyfarm;6425140]
the c & o rail trail.
Id love to ride the great smoky mountains. Coming home from vacation last week, out of Atlanta-- the flight went over them and at dusk, and at 30,000 ft... the mountains shrouded in mist ...it was awesome![/QUOTE]
The Great Smokies are indeed beautiful but they were just hit with a sudden and unexpected “derecho” storm, people killed rushing out of swimming holes, 40 miles of the park was and probably is still closed, this just happened either yesterday or the day before. God help them.
A massive derecho stormed the mid- mid atlantic area June 29th … very little news / if any/ of it in pa – probably due to not wanting to scare the bee-jesus out of us.
Thanks for the update Calamber!
Story: http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2012/07/update-deadly-storm-kills-two-great-smoky-mountains-national-park10177
I still want to ride the GSM someday --- maybe connect with someone here to show me around.
Back on topic… theres also the Pa Grand Canyon!
Check out this months version of the Equiery, which is their trails issue at
also check out the listings on the TROT website, www.trot-md.org
Thanks bay lady. That is a great resource from the equirey. Just want to find as many interesting options as I can.
I live in central Va and there are some great places to ride here. I love Petersburg Battlefield Park. It’s easy access off I 95. Several nice loops mostly wooded and good footing, walk/trot/canter. Quite a few bridges. Another place I love to ride is Lake Anna SP. Great trails mostly wooded I would say mostly walk/trot. James River State Park which is a little farther west from where I am is great and they have horse camping.
There’s not much in my part of VA but we love to ride at the Uwharrie National Forest in Central NC. Not sure that’s mid atlantic or not but it’s worth the trip down.
There is also Ft Valley Ranch near Luray, VA. Nice riding there also and a very nice campground.
Simbalism…I keep hearing about Lake Anna. How much riding is there? I have heard James River is nice but that there are only 14 miles of trails and some are off limits to horses?
I can second the recommendation for Mt. Rogers. Really nice area and maybe one of the last nice wilderness areas in the East. The Smokies are nice too but perhaps not as much open country as Mt Rogers has.
Daydream Believer, I just checked the website for Lake Anna and it says more than 15 miles. The terrain is mostly wooded, some hilly areas, and you ride near the lake at various points. There are also a couple of areas where you can ride into the lake if you want. It is a good summer riding place as so much of the trails are thru the woods. You really need to do Petersburg Battlefield. It is one of my favorite trails to ride, especially in the summer. The parking area is shaded,as are most of the sections of trail. The footing is awesome and it is so beautiful. It is hard to believe you are right near a city.
Cool! I’ve not been to Petersburg yet. What exit is the parking off of? I’ve always been a bit confused on exactly how to get to the trail area itself. I’d be coming up 460 from Suffolk.
Thanks for the info on Lake Anna. That sounds like a lovely place to ride. Some friends of ours from Fredericksburg area ride there a good bit. I think for us, it’s probably about 2.5+ hours one way to get to that general area. It would be doable for a one day trip if we got an early start.
There is so little down here and its so freaking buggy in summer. This has to be the worst year yet for biting flies. The Greenheads are terrible. Poor horses and cattle. The cattle have it the worst with their bright black coats and they seem to attract even more flies than the horses.
1539 Hickory Hill Rd., Petersburg, VA 23803 is the actual address of where the horse parking is located. I don’t have my directions with me, but I think it is exit 50. I just map quested it, the exit is 50 and it brings you from 95 onto 460. So it looks like you would come up on 460 then turn right on Hickory Hill Rd. You can only go so far on Hickory Hill as it runs into Fort Lee. The area is on the left just a short way from the entrance to Fort Lee. It looks like you are going into someone’s driveway(house like building which is the ranger’s station).Follow the driveway which curves to the right behind the ranger station and then turns left into some woods. The parking area is a good ways off the road(can’t see it at all from the road). There is a pit bathroom(quite clean). The fee is $5 per trailer and the honor pay box is on the left across the driveway from the potty. I reccommend printing out a map to take with you as I did not see any at the parking area. The trails are two big loops and are marked with letters. To get to the trails, you ride your horse down the drivewayheading back towards the road and you will see the trail on the right. It runs behind a pasture. It goes a little ways and then you can either turn left or right. To the left you go aways and then cross a road that runs thru the park(not too much traffic) and continue past some relics from the war(cannons,etc). If you go to the right you can ride quite a ways before having to cross a road(again park road) The nice thing about the map is that it gives distances for different sections, so you can figure out how far you want to go. There are a few places where the trails are designated for hikers only. If I remember correctly the horse trails are marked with red blazes on the trees.
Wow! Thanks for the great directions and info. I’ll definitely put a trip up there as soon as we can get away. I’m googling for the maps now! Thanks again!
