I was supposed to be down at Camp Boggy creek this past weekend for an endurance ride. Unfortunately, my truck kept acting up so I had to turn back around. Later that evening when I was all sad faced, Linda invited me to a slower, shorter ride with old friends. I said heck yeah I want to go! Can you pick Farley and I up??
With gal pal Linda behind the wheel, hot cocoa and 3 ponies in the box, we headed west to the newly reclaimed horse trails at the Florida Caverns State Park. After a little touristy view of all the winding roads within the park we made the right turn into the equestrian camping/parking facility where STA President Joyce met us. Shortly thereafter STA members Herb and Sharon and the Kremkau’s pulled in making us a little ride party of 7. The park equestrian campsite has big stalls and a few small paddocks along with 3 hook up sites, a pavilion and a very clean bath house. When the sites are full, the RV campsite is just down the hill where you can also hook up. Your horse can still use the barn and you are allowed to bring them to your trailer to tack. Cleaning up behind your manure maker is requested. This would be a great place for camping weekend or a stop over from TX or LA when heading to other parts of Florida. Ride the trails, explore the cavern, go tubing or kayaking down the Chipola River then check out Marianna and the little towns surrounding the area. The forest continues to recover from Hurricane Michael (10/2018). What was once a heavily wooded area is less so these days. Our small but merry group rode the 2 mile red trail 1st which led us past a sink hole and easy trails though the remaining tree canopy and new growth. It was a nice lollipop route which brought us back to camp and back out to the orange trail. The orange trail was a 6 mile course with open grass pathways which were nicely mowed and easy to maneuver. Our day was gloriously beautiful with azure blue skies. Not a single cloud, no bugs and a little breeze kept us comfortable in the saddle. While on the 6 mile loop, Joyce pointed out a house that was built over a cave. I would love to take a tour! While Joyce marveled at having your personal storm shelter in place; I was thinking more like personal wine cellar. Tomato – tomaahto. Emergency flashlight for my friend, a bottle of vino for me. Life is good! From there we headed to a pond where the horses took a big gulp and made bigger splashes. “We’re going down” almost came to a big splash event. Luckily for the rider, the big dip didn’t happen. While on this trail we passed different flora and fauna including lots of dill weed, thistle and what looked like mini black-eyed Susans. The horses seem to always know the go back trail and we picked up a little speed thus making our average speed just under 4 mph per Joyce’s trail app. Woo-Hoo! No matter the speed, any day spent with friends on horseback is a good day indeed! Though I am making a little joke about the speed, this really was a lovely ride that any horse and rider can do. The trails were marked as if Stevie Wonder along with the Lighthouse for the Blind marked them. We ended the day with a pot of chicken chili prepared by Linda while the horses enjoyed the lush grass around the facility.
A big thank you to STA President Joyce, the BOD and everyone else that put the effort in to reestablishing this trail.
Happy Trails! Chris