Posted 2011-07-21 12:15 PM (#135923 - in reply to #135894) Subject: RE: Shawnee
Member
Posts: 39 Location: Southwestern, Indiana
Whichever one you happen to be at! A bad weekend camping and trail riding beats working anyday!!!
Actually it is difficult to answer a question like this, because opinions vary by people. We have had great experiences camping at Little Lusk, Double M, 34 Ranch and Circle B. Others have not. Others have had great experiences at Hayes Canyon and High Knob. Both of which are on our to do list. Our only bad experience has been with Bear Branch. You get to see different parts of Shawnee depending on which campground you ride out of. Our experience is Little Lusk had the cleanest restroom and a nice lake for swimming. Double M has a great Owner and easy access to good trails. 34 Ranch had a great band and horse shoe on Memorial day weekend (2010) and Circle B was good overall.
Posted 2011-07-21 5:02 PM (#135938 - in reply to #135894) Subject: RE: Shawnee
Member
Posts: 15
Location: S.E. Louisiana
Shawnee is way over rated. Guess a good place for the yanks who live close by but not worth a long drive. Arkansas has much better scenery and more to do. Better yet take the time and drive to Colorado or New Mexico.
Posted 2011-07-21 8:38 PM (#135942 - in reply to #135894) Subject: RE: Shawnee
Veteran
Posts: 123 Location: illinois
On my to do list is to Ride in New Mexico or Colorado. Until then We love Shawnee. Our favorite camp so far is Hayes.Good Host and the rest rooms and showers are Clean. The trails are great! I do want to try High Knob but for this fall it will be Hayes again. NO complaints here.
Posted 2011-07-21 8:38 PM (#135943 - in reply to #135894) Subject: RE: Shawnee
Veteran
Posts: 123 Location: illinois
On my to do list is to Ride in New Mexico or Colorado. Until then We love Shawnee. Our favorite camp so far is Hayes.Good Host and the rest rooms and showers are Clean. The trails are great! I do want to try High Knob but for this fall it will be Hayes again. NO complaints here.
Posted 2011-07-22 5:54 AM (#135949 - in reply to #135894) Subject: RE: Shawnee
Regular
Posts: 84 Location: Crestwood, KY
We stayed at Hayes and really liked it, except that some of the pens looked unsafe (ours were okay), and the flooring in our pens was coarse gravel so the horses never layed down the whole week we were there. The owners are very nice, camp was quiet, and the shower house was clean.
Posted 2011-07-22 2:55 PM (#135971 - in reply to #135894) Subject: RE: Shawnee
Regular
Posts: 99 Location: Pleasant Plain, Ohio 45162
We have been to Shawnee and stayed twice at Bear Branch and once at 34 Ranch. Liked both places but Bear Branch has a pretty quick access to the trails and pretty many of them. Had nice stalls and we stayed in our horse trailer. Shower house was fine. 34 Ranch was hard to find the trails but we had a local take us and did some great riding. Liked how open 34 Ranch was and you weren't camped on top of one another. I think they have about 500 acres there. Shower house was not the cleanest I have ever been in. Really enjoyed all the fising there also.
Posted 2011-07-22 5:44 PM (#135978 - in reply to #135894) Subject: RE: Shawnee
Location: KY
for my two cents, Colorado is way over rated....The abject poverty in south Colorado and the deplorable conditions in the USDA recreation areas......I will never go back to Colorado.
Posted 2011-07-23 6:58 PM (#136002 - in reply to #135894) Subject: RE: Shawnee
Veteran
Posts: 212 Location: novinger, mo
We've stayed at:
Hayes Canyon...great campground, nice owners and good access to many trails.
Bear Branch...lousy campground. Same trails as Hayes.
34 Ranch...wonderful campground but not good access to trails. Awesome trails once you finally get to them. Can ride to One Horse Gap from there.
High Knob...The campground has new owners and they are making vast improvements. Big (12 x 12) covered safe stalls. The riding is less well known than the Lusk Creek area around Hayes, but every bit as gorgeous. You can ride to Garden of the Gods easily from there.
Circle B is located between Hayes and Bear Branch. You ride the same trails. Not easy to get a big LQ in there. All 3 are in the Lusk Creek Wilderness area.
As far as AR and CO we have been to both. Also WY. Yes they are nice, we love the mountains of CO/WY and the beauty of AR. But I would not say that Shawnee is overrated at all. Each to his own. We have also been to PA, TN, KY, SD and a dozen other states.It all depends what you want to see.
Shawnee
