I was intrigued by the post on Broken Arrow Campground and was wondering what other Horse Camps are located in the Custer and Mount Rushmore area. I have looked at Horse and Mule Trail, but would like other reviews and sites to see/ride to from folks that have traveled to this area. What is Harney Peak and can you ride to it from Broken Arrow? What are must see trails that I should go on?
Is May too early for this area? If yes, what is the best month to travel to this area?
Has anyone stayed at Cabela's in Mitchell? From Kansas City area it looks like the trip to Custer would take about 12-13 hours so i'm thinking I need to split the travel day up. 10 hours is about all I can take pulling a trailer.... I get so stressed with all the idiots cutting me off etc.!
I'm already booking 2011 trail rides and Hubby would rather go here than Winding River Resort in CO :) Hopefully next year won't be as wet as this year .
Posted 2010-07-26 5:48 PM (#122811 - in reply to #122792) Subject: RE: Custer, SD Horse Camps
Veteran
Posts: 212 Location: novinger, mo
We have stopped at Cabela's. You need to get there fairly early in the evening to get a pen, even late afternoon they sometimes fill up. You can always tie to you trailer or set up a picket line with yours and a friend's trailer.
We stayed at Elk Haven a while ago. Nice, but you have to ride the same way everyday to get to the park.
Posted 2010-07-28 6:37 PM (#122924 - in reply to #122792) Subject: RE: Custer, SD Horse Camps
Veteran
Posts: 174 Location: Missouri
There are several horsecamp in the Custer area and we have stayed at several of them. Our favorite is Broken Arrow. You can't ride to Harney Peak from there but they have a trailer you can rent to trailer out if you would like to. There's plenty of trails there if you haven't been there though. You can ride to Harney from Elk Haven but it isn't quite as nice and not as much riding from there. Some of our favorite trails in the Black Hills are Silver City, Slate Creek, Spearfish Canyon and parts of the Mikelson. Lots of things to see and do besides ride if you want to give the horses a break. Custer Park is loaded with wildlife and the Needles road and MT. Rushmore are must sees and are within minutes of Broken Arrow.
If I were traveling from Kansas I would go thru Nebraska, much more scenic and good straight highways with little traffic. We overnite at the fairgrounds in Broken Bow. They have pens, stalls and hookups if needed. We go to Chadron and right up 385 to Custer. June and September are usually the best times to go as it can still be pretty cool in May. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Posted 2010-07-29 2:29 PM (#122962 - in reply to #122792) Subject: RE: Custer, SD Horse Camps
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 376 Location: Missouri
Ditto, Nebraska over SD for roads. There are 2 Cabella's in NE. One at Kearney and another at Sidney. Both have several pens. We just got back from a trip to NE Utah. On the way out we stayed overnight at Kearney and on the way back at Sidney. Sidney has more pens than Kearney. Kearney is usually open, because the railroads are close and some folks are not tired enough to sleep thru the train noise. There are also several fair grounds along the way. Here's a link to USA county fair grounds: http://www.countyfairgrounds.net/master/masterhome.html
If your going to use the fairgrounds, you usually need to call ahead and make arrangements. Many of them are locked, but you can arrange to use them with a simple phone call. Do check on the fees, some of them have gotten a bit out of hand. We were talking to some folks in Sidney that had to pay $25.00 per horse per night at a fairgrounds in SD. Don't recall the name of the fair grounds.
If your going to make the trip you might want to consider Wyoming(wind river area) or Montana(Gallatin National) or Utah(NE range). All 3 are better riding and more scenic than CO or SD. The Wind River Range in Wyoming is very good. Gallatin is very good also, but a lot farther away. When we rode Co, it was nice, then we rode Gallatin and Wind River and they are better yet.
Posted 2010-07-29 11:48 PM (#122986 - in reply to #122792) Subject: RE: Custer, SD Horse Camps
Elite Veteran
Posts: 781 Location: La Cygne, KS
Thanks to all who have provided comments. The photos are great pooperscooper!
I gotta tell ya, that just about going any where is more exciting and prettier than riding in NE Kansas. All I got here is man made lakes and Hedge Trees/Black Locust with a few Oaks. So just about any destination is going to be nice to us. Heck we even like Western Kansas in the Flint Hill even though there are few trees. It's the wide open expanse that make the Flint Hills interesting.
We only have 10 days for this current trip, so we won't be able to go further West. Some day when I retire I just want to load up and travel for a whole month or more. I just hope I can still swing a leg over a horse by then. Ha!
Posted 2010-07-30 4:23 PM (#123018 - in reply to #122986) Subject: RE: Custer, SD Horse Camps
Veteran
Posts: 214 Location: lyle,mn
Hey Pooperscooper, did you trailer into some of these places from Broken Arrow? We would love to trailer in somewhere for a day ride from Broken Arrow.
Posted 2010-07-31 2:40 PM (#123039 - in reply to #122962) Subject: RE: Custer, SD Horse Camps
Regular
Posts: 85 Location: Foothills of the Smokeys
bbsmfg3,
Can yu tell me where you camped in the Wind River area? I assume the camps are primative, but it would be nice to have hook-ups and corrals so we could leave the horses for the day and go sight-seeing in the area.
Posted 2010-07-31 6:22 PM (#123049 - in reply to #123018) Subject: RE: Custer, SD Horse Camps
Veteran
Posts: 174 Location: Missouri
Originally written by dawnb on 2010-07-30 4:23 PM
Hey Pooperscooper, did you trailer into some of these places from Broken Arrow? We would love to trailer in somewhere for a day ride from Broken Arrow.
Some of these are pictures taken from Broken Arrow and others are places we have trailered out to. If you haven't ridden at BA you probably will have all the riding you want right there. If you do want to trailer out the possibilities are endless. Some of the places I couldn't tell you how to get to but here are a few you might try. The prettiest trail I think I've ridden is part of the Deerfield trail beginning at the Silver City trailhead and going west along Rapid and Slate Creeks. Lots of bridges and creek crossings, wildflowers, and mountain goats. It is located N of Hill City on past the Pactola Lake dam. Turn west at sign for Silver City and wind a few miles down black top to the trail head. Room for 3 or 4 stock trailers.
The Centennial trail is also beautiful and a good trailhead is at Nemo and called Pilot Knob.
You can also trailer into Custer Park and ride. French Creek is beautiful also.
You can do a search on these and probably get complete directions.
Custer, SD Horse Camps
