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Member
Posts: 21
Location: Eaton Rapids, MI | I just wanted to share with everyone a really bad camping experience I had at Gilbertson's Lazy Horse retreat in Townsend, TN. We arrived with the understanding that there were three trails in the Smoky Mountain National Park that were accessible from their camp. Well, they are if you consider one is a 55 minute ride to get to the park and the other two are an hour and 50 minute ride to get to the park. Also, one of the trails highlighted on the map we received from them to ride is the most dangerous trail in the park. Many local veterans that had done it say never again. We came across a group that did it; and one of their horses went over the edge. Fortunately, the young girl riding the horse and the horse were able to make it back up. We were supposed to have electrical hook-up for our trailers and the stalls were supposed to be cleaned daily. We needed to condition our horses for the mountains so started out with a short ride the first day. We waited for our stalls to be cleaned; but they never were. Then we rode a little longer the second day, came back and our stalls still were not cleaned. My friend and I decided to clean the stalls ourselves. It turned out not to be just two days worth of cleaning; especially since our horses were turned out during the day. It took me an hour and 40 minutes of constant filling of wheelbarrels; and my friend taking them to the manure pile to get the stalls clean. There were three distinct layers of urine soaked shavings to work through. The odor was horrible. They had simply put shavings on top of the mess; so we did not notice until we started cleaning. I did not come prepared to clean stalls; and with no pitchfork ended up breaking my shovel working at getting up all the old shavings. We complained about that, received apologies; and they then cleaned the stalls daily. Then my friend lost her electricity three times in one day. Her outlet was not properly wired for a trailer; so we had to complain again and they had to have an electrician out to re-wire the outlet. We had our reservations since January for our trip in June; so they had plenty of time to prepare the campsite for the two trailers. After discovering the long distance it was taking us to ride to the National Park, we decided to rent their trailer to trailer to the trailheads. We used the trailer they were renting and drove 3000 feet up to a trailhead. When we got there, I told my husband that I smelled something burning. He checked the wheel on the trailer; and it was extremely hot. We had no choice but to take it back down; and when we got back to camp, the wheel was too hot to touch. This was obviously not safe to drive up and down a mountain! We complained again and were told we were just complaining to try to get stuff for free. We had also made several other minor repairs on the campground for free. We got woke up twice in the middle of the night by their dog after they had given us a lecture about not bringing our dogs as they may bark and wake someone up. Their fencing was sagging barbed wire with just a string holding things up in some places. Obviously, we did not stay three weeks. We stayed one and moved onto Rock N Horse stables which were 1000 percent better. I just thought I would let people know in case they are thinking about a campground in the area. |
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Veteran
Posts: 212
Location: novinger, mo | Thanks for the heads up!
j&j |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 500
Location: West TN | Just out of curiosity, what was the cost to camp there with regards to the site and stalls? I have never heard of a place cleaning the stalls on a daily basis. I was wondering how much they "charged" for that... even though they didn't do it. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 602
Location: md | I have been to one of the 2, but I can't remember which. It was a hike to the trail head, but we did'nt mind. We rode 8-12 hours every day and had a good time. We were there about 10 days. About mid-1990's |
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Member
Posts: 21
Location: Eaton Rapids, MI | The cost at Richardson's was $20 for camping and $15 for stalls. The cost at Rock N Horse was $15 for camping and $15 for stalls with dramatic nicer facilities. I was surprised about the stall cleaning included as well. Rock N Horse did clean the stalls everyday; and the stalls were clean when we got there too! Rock N Horse had three bathrooms that were air conditioned with showers and clean (we had to clean the bathroom at Richardson's). Rock N Horse also had a washer and dryer, indoor wash rack with hot and cold water and large paddocks made all out of board fence. The difference between the two was very dramatic. |
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Member
Posts: 26
Location: mt. juliet, tennessee | What is the name of that trail, planning on going up there in October???????? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 474
Location: White Mills, Ky. | Wow. So sorry to hear about your bad experience. There are so many nice places to ride in TN. It is a shame you drove so far to be disappointed. At least you found a good place to spend the rest of your vacation. We also had a horse fall off the side of the mountain in the Smokies (both horse and rider were shaken but okay). To this day, I still can't get Hubby to go back to the Smokies. Hope your next trip goes better. RIDE ON! |
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Member
Posts: 26
Location: mt. juliet, tennessee | Hey Dwight, could you please tell me the name of that trail!!!!!!! thanks |
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Member
Posts: 21
Location: Eaton Rapids, MI | It is the Rich Mountain Loop Trail. All the other trails I rode were fine. Some were a little edgy but not terrible. The description I got on the Rich Mountain Loop Trail is; if you meet someone coming from the other way, there is no turning around. It is mostly rock instead of dirt; so the horses do not have much to grab. There are supposed to be some almost straight up and down hills that are very close to the edge. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 379
Location: Columbia, TN | Sorry you had the bad experience I have stayed at Melody Gilbertson's many times and have not had those kinds of experiences but we usually leave our LQ at home and take the bumper trailer and rent one of her log cabins and then trailer in and out every day. I have ridden Rich Mountain many times and have not found it that difficult. There are some in the Smokies much worse but also some of the most beautiful trails are there. Never stayed at the place you are talking about but have stayed at Bear Hollow it was also nice. I also do not go up there any more in the summer. Lots of yellowjackets. We got in them 7 times going up to Russell Field and then taking the Appalation Trail over to Spence Field.
Edited by iCE CRM 2007-08-02 9:43 PM
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Location: KY | The moral to the story is always check with someone who has been to a place recently, ie within the last 6 months, before heading off. Ask me about the forest service horse camp in Colorado ! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 335
Location: Decatur, Texas | Okay, I'll bite. Tell me about the Forest Service horse camp in Colorado, Rose. |
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Location: KY | Hi Longrider Well, the directions to the camp from the FS were impossible to follow because of the non-existence of the road referred to; none of the locals knew of the existence of this camp....Purgatorie....yes, the name should have been a giveaway....anyway, pulled in finally and found camp totally overgrown with grass weeds so that traps could not be seen....my guy got trailer caught on/in a culvert (and he can park a trailer on top of the house, yes, he is that good at handling a rig) and there were odd pieces of concrete with rebar sticking out...the other people with us hit one of these rebar pieces and shredded a front tire...I am going to try to attach some pix......Could not believe the non-existence of maintenance by the FS.....and the difference between that camp and the FS camp in OK.....doesn't make any sense to me....oh well, what do I know.....Needless to say we did not ride in CO because we sure didn't want to shred a horse like that tire....... |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 335
Location: Decatur, Texas | Hi Rose: Sorry to hear about your bad experience in CO. FS budgets have been cut drastically for maintenance, mowing, etc. A lot of personnel have also been transferred to fight the fires that are so widespread across the country. The government's priority is NOT for recreational purposes. I know the district that wife and I work with has had their budget seriously curtailed. Even the usage fee that is collected there is now deposited into the government's general operating fund instead of staying in the district to help with repairs and maintenance. Sadly, I don't see any improvements on the horizon for at least three years. And I don't blame you for not riding there under those circumstances. |
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Location: KY | Hi Longrider Yes, I know that funds are limited, but it is so weird that the FS camp in OK was absolutely marvelous while the CO camp was awful. It is a shame that funds cannot stay in an area until that budget is met, but I guess that is the way it is. Personally I really think each area is dependent on the quality/interest of the people running it.....and from there it goes........ |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 335
Location: Decatur, Texas | Rose - You hit the nail on the head about the people running the facility. We're lucky in that aspect in our district because we have rangers that really want to cater to the recreational hiker, mountain biker, and horseback rider. They do all they can with what they get, but it just doesn't go far enough. But they're a great bunch of guys and gals to work with and their door is always open to those of us who volunteer our time and sweat trying to help. And they treat us with great respect like we do to them. Hopefully, before much longer, things will turn around so I can see it before I'm unable to ride anymore. |
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Member
Posts: 45
Location: Florida | We rented cabins at Rocking Horse ranch last December so the kids cold see snow. I was very impressed! Extremely nice all around. Of course keep in mind we did not have horses with us nor use their horse facilities. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 309
Location: MO | Hi Rose - Your experience at Purgatorie is absolutely the opposite of ours at Jack's Gulch, west of Ft Collins. There are only 5 horse sites and 2 of them are reservable. We reserved one for early August. It's a wonderful campground. The five sites are in a separate loop[ from the non-equestrian camp. The campground is managed by a private contractor and they keep the place spotless. A brick pit toilet that is swept clean 2X/day. a Dumpster for manure at each site. And the trails are excellent. So, you are right it depends on who is in charge. |
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Bad camping experience
