I have always wanted to take a week off from work and go trail riding but could never seem to find the time. My big chance came the first part of June when my husband went to Colorado to attend a professional guide school for 30 days. My friend, Linda, and I took off work the first week he was gone (week of June 10th) and headed to the trails. We learned a lot, rode a lot and sweated a lot, but we had a whole lot of fun.

Our first stop was Sportsman’s Lake. I have always enjoyed riding there and it is very close to my home so it was an easy first stop. One of the first things we learned was that, yes, Ann could drive the motor home without too much trouble. The new campground at Sportsman’s was great! It had several pull throughs that made the first time RVer very happy. The second thing we learned is that it takes at least two tries to get the motor home level. We made a quick camp and hit the trail for an evening ride. Linda and I rode until it was getting dark and made it into camp with just enough light to see to put up our horses. Before we bedded down for the night, we learned something else…a full size air mattress is not the same size as the "full size" fold down couch in a motor home. We must have laughed at each other until midnight trying to crawl around that big air mattress! We had a good night's rest in spite of it all and had a great ride the next morning. I must say, Sportsman’s Lake is a "must ride" for trail riders. The trails are really marked well, and easy to find.

After our morning ride we pulled up stakes and headed for Robber’s Cave. Robber’s Cave is my all time favorite place to ride. I think partially because I have so many good memories there, but also because both the camp and the trails are nice. We stayed three nights at Robber’s Cave and while we were there we learned some more interesting things. First we learned that it gets darker earlier when you are in the hills. On Sunday night, we almost didn’t get back before dark. We also learned that Sunday night is the night to find a camping spot. We were the only ones in the camp!! It was a little strange with just the two of us there and maybe a little scary. The park ranger was really nice and kept checking on us to make sure we were all right. The really neat thing about Robber’s Cave is there are other things to do in the park as well. If you desire, you may rent canoes, paddleboats, kayak things, swim or play mini golf. My friend Linda is in much better shape than I am. We went swimming in the lake, hiking, and we rode seven to eight hours every day. I finally had to take a nap!! Unfortunately, we also learned about the "down side" to Robber’s Cave.

The damage from the ice storm was horrible. There were several sections of the trails that will not be the same for at least a hundred years. I don’t think I have ever seen as much tree damage except for the May 3rd tornado that struck Moore. Hundreds of trees were bent over in grotesque U shapes. Other trees were broken off at the top with branches hanging all over the place. I can certainly see why the trails were closed for a while. You should still be careful in places while you are riding. We learned that they evidently re-routed trails because of the ice damage and making adjustments for erosion and then didn’t make the adjustments on the maps they hand out! One trail had been closed off because of environmental damage and was not marked on the map. That was a little frustrating to get out there to ride that trail and it was closed. We would have taken another route if we had known that trail was closed. We also learned that hobbling our horses was the best thing we could have done. When we stopped for lunch and for breaks, we slipped the hobbles on and let them rest when we did. Our horses stayed much fresher and calmer by standing hobbled rather than tied. Plus, we didn’t damage any trees by tying to them. After three days of riding, swimming and hiking we packed up camp and moved to Cedar Lake.

Neither Linda nor I had ever been to Cedar Lake. What a great campground! I must say, it is one of the nicest I have ever stayed in. Since we had never been there before, we were anxious to get a map of the area. The maps were easily obtained and had great mileage marked on them. It was also great to have a topographical map because we could tell approximately what we were getting into on the trail. Since our horses were tired, we were able to stay mostly on the valley trails and the less steep climbs. The scenery was breathtaking in places and everything was green and pretty. I was amazed that the ice damage didn’t seem as severe at Cedar Lake as it did at Robber’s Cave. At Cedar Lake, I had the opportunity to discover why trail riders wear helmets. I never gave it much thought before, but now I think I’ll wear mine a little more often. We were coming down a rocky portion of the trail and my horse’s feet became tangled in the rocks. He sidestepped to catch his balance, but his two right feet stepped on a slope covered in mud because it had rained the night before. Before I knew what was going on, his feet slid out from under him and down we went! I was very fortunate in my fall that I didn’t get hurt. By instinct I kicked my feet out of the stirrups and fell to the side of him. There was such a slope on the right side of me that I only fell about two feet. Two feet was enough of a fall to get a big ugly bruise on my leg and on my ribs from the rocks, but not enough of a fall to break anything. I am also very glad that I ride a broke horse. He could have easily scrambled or jumped to get up, but he didn’t. He just calmly got up and walked to the other side of the trail and looked back at me like "Hey, where did you go, I thought you were still with me!"

Cedar Lake was a great place to ride, but the trailheads were not marked very well. The actual trails were marked all right for the most part, but it was hard to find the trailheads if you were a new comer to the camp. The camp had generic signs that said "Equestrian Trail Access" or something like that, but then no direction indication for which trail you wanted to ride on. It took us at least 30 minutes of riding around camp to figure out how to get to the trailheads to ride out on the correct trail number. There are also many trails that have been made by people cutting across where I don’t think trails were intended to be, otherwise they were hiking trails and we didn’t realize it. We got on one trail that leads to a road and there were no markings of any kind to direct you. Fortunately, we are experienced trail riders and had a compass with us so we were able to figure out in a hurry where we were. We rode down the gravel road to another trailhead and were able to get back out on the trail. Cedar Lake is a great place to go, but a beginner should have an experienced trail rider with them the first time they go out. It is really easy to get turned around on an overcast day when you are in a bunch of trees that are all similar. After three days of riding at Cedar Lake we headed for home.

On the way home, to break up the trip, we stopped by Lake Eufaula for the night. We rode for a short time on their trails and found them to be a nice change from Cedar Lake. The trails were not quite as rough or as rocky as we had been riding. The campground there at Lake Eufaula was all right, but as far as I could tell there were no pull-throughs for us novice motor home operators. Fortunately, I could back just well enough to get in a spot for the night. We rode that evening until dark. We met some really nice folks at Eufaula that shared their pork chops and grilled chicken with us and we had quite a feast. The next morning we were sad that our trip was coming to an end, but we were happy it had went so well.

The trip home was uneventful. However, we did learn one or two more things. We learned Murphy’s Law would get you when you are out on vacation and you are not thinking about your house. While I was away, both my refrigerator and my air conditioner went out! Oh well, it was one of the best times I have ever had while trail riding. Definitely worth the trip!