The Trails
| Trail Map Status as of May 29, 2009 Mapped: 20 Trails 12.2 Miles of Trails |
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The trail descriptions are to help you plan your riding trip at Bear Creek Stables. What we think is easy may turn out to be quite hard for your horse. Likewise, what we think may be hard may be a cake walk for your horse. The times are based on a nice relaxed walk and will vary greatly with your riding style. An hour ride can easily be done in about a half hour if you like a spirited ride. If you have never ridden our trails before, please consider taking a guide with you. We know what to expect and can have someone that can go with you and do a nice calm ride or a more spirited ride. When you are on the trails, be aware of holes. While we make every effort to mark them and then fill them in, they constantly create themselves! STAY ON THE TRAILS - Do Not Take Short Cuts We strongly encourage you to keep your horse on the trails. We constantly work to keep our trails as safe as possible. Once you wander off of a trail you run the risk of your horse stepping into very deep holes or coming across barbed wire. There is lots of vines vines that would love nothing more than grab your horses feet and tangle him up or pull you by the neck completely off your horse. Think of it as a State or Federal park, must you start wandering off the trails then you start damaging the environment.Printable Maps
Trail Descriptions Holly Haven Intermediate Distance .6 mile Average Time: 15 minutes This trail joins the Wooden Bridge trail and the Boundary trail. A good portion of this trail winds it's way through a bunch of Holly trees. This trail has a one tricky stream crossings which is why we have classified this trail as an Intermediate. Be prepared to dismount your horse to get them over the stream crossing and be prepared for you horse to just jump the crossing. Wooden Bridge Easy Distance: .5 mile Average Time: 11 minutes Both ends of this trail are on the Boundary Trail. This trail is wide is has some excellent spots for cantering. If starting from the pond end, once you cross the bridge you will start to go up a gentle hill. While we consider this an easy trail, if your horse is not use to wooden bridges, it could pose a little bit of a challenge. Pine Ridge Crossing Easy Distance: .7 mile Average Time: 20 minutes This trail connects two points of the Boundary trail. One end starts down by the pond and the other side is at the end of Paul's Hill. This trail is easy. There is one area that you do some winding down/up a hill. Deer are frequently spotted on this trail so be aware. Stepping Creek Hard Distance: 2.0 miles Average Time: 45 - 60 minutes Both ends of this trail are accessed from the Boundary Trail. This is by far the most intense trail we have. This is due to four stream crossings that you will encounter. Many of these are crossed by going down into steep gullies where your horse may be sliding down towards the water. Be prepared to dismount your horse to get them across the stream. You will also ride on a nice open field. We ask that you stay along the edge of the field during your ride. This is a great place to open your horse up for a nice canter of even a gallop! Boundary Hard Distance: 2.7 miles Average Time: 45 - 60 minutes The Boundary Trail is pretty much the hub for all the other trails. You get a lot of variety on this trail as you will go through thick wooded areas and a large open pasture towards the end. In the pasture we ask that you stay on the sides where you will see car tracks. This is an excellent area to open your horse up! This trail has three stream crossings. If you are starting from the pond side of the trail the first stream crossing is pretty easy. The next two are more difficult which is why we classify this as a Hard trail. For a nice easier ride, if coming from the pond area take a left onto the Wooden Bridge Trail and head back towards the pond. After you pass both entrances to the Stepping Stone trail you will come to the large open pasture. We ask that you stay on the dirt rode and do not ride in the pastures. The road will enter the pasture but it you will see the vehicle tracks that you need to follow. Oak Valley Easy Distance: .4 mile Average Time: 15 minutes This trail goes between the Boundary trail and Pond View trail. It wanders through deep woods. If starting from the Boundary trail you can take a right or left onto the Pond View Trail. Pond View Trail is considered a Hard trail because of tricky stream crossing. Take a left and you will face this crossing and end up back on the Boundary trail by the dam for the pond. For an easier ride, take a right. Once you get up the little take another right and you will be on the Power Line trail heading back towards the barn. Homestead Easy Distance: .2 mile Average Time: 5 minutes Homestead trail passes a couple old home sites on the property. The primary purpose of this trail is to detour around the ring so that if there is activity going on there you can avoid it. While this trail is short, it is beautiful. This trail will also be the first trail experience for our beginner students! Deer Creek Run Moderate Distance: 1.4 miles Average Time: 30 minutes This trail connects the Big Rock Mt and the Stepping Creek trails. It also crosses the Boundary trail. This trail is considered moderate due to the fact that at the Big Rock Mt end there is a stream that must be crossed. The rest of this trail is easy. When travelling from the Big Rock Mt trail you will cross the Boundary Trail. If you turn left here you will be on the Bush Hog section of the Boundary Trail which is a great section to do some cantering or even galloping. It will become a little rocky eventually. Staying on Dear Creek Run you will come to a section fondly referred to as the Hoopy Doo Trail. This is an area with a lot of birms that we take kids on rides in 4 wheelers and they do a lot of "Hoopy Doo" yelling during this section. The trail will then come in contact with the Boundary Trail once again. You will take a sharp right and be on a narrow math going into the woods to stay on Deer Creek Run. The trail end at the Stepping Stone trail. Take a left on Stepping Stone for an easier ride back to the Boundary Trail. Once you come to the Boundary Trail take a right to head back to the barn. If you take a right onto Stepping Stone you will have about 2 miles of trail to ride and this is currently the most challenging section of trails that we have. Rock Pile Moderate Distance: .5 mile Average Time: 15 minutes This is a beautiful ride which wanders tightly through trees and a bamboo thicket. One end starts on the Wooden Bridge trail and the other is on the Boundary trail. This trail is considerate moderate as there is a stream crossing. When traveling from the Wooden Bridge trail you will be faced with a choice of which way to turn on the Boundary trail. Regardless of which way you travel, you will be faced with a hill and a creek crossing. For an easier way, turn right as the creek crossing is easier and you will go up a steep hill and be back towards the Wooden Bridge trail. You can take Wooden Bridge for the easiest trip back to the pond or stay on Boundary for a longer ride and another creek crossing, which is an easy crossing. If you go left, you will quickly be presented with a more difficult creek crossing. Once you cross the creek you will soon cross over the Deer Creek Run trail. Pond View Moderate Distance: .1 mile Average Time: 5 minutes This trail winds around the pond for some fantastic views! It is considered moderate due to a creek crossing and a muddy gulley you must cross. Currently this trail connects the Boundary trail on one end and the Pond View Loop trail. The Pond View Loop can be taken to make a circle and return back or connect with Power Line or Oak Valley trails. Pond View Loop Easy Distance: .1 mile Average Time: 5 minutes This trail is simply a little loop that connects to Pond View, Oak valley and Power Line trails. This loop is ideal for beginner riders as you can come down Oak Valley and ride around this loop and head back down Oak Valley or Power Line. Muck Bypass Easy Distance: 496 feet The name says it all! The Pond View trail has a very bad spot that we really don't like and the horses like even less. This bad spot is on the Boundary end of Pond View near the dam. This bypass allows you to skip the bad MUCKY area. The trail itself is short but really fun as it has a lot of sharp turns and dips on the trail! Pick A Path Easy Distance: .4 mile Average Time: 15 minutes This trail itself is easy. Some of it winds through tight wooded areas. Other parts are wide enough to ride side by side. The wide areas are perfectly suited for cantering. This trail gives you some choices, thus the name, Pick A Path. The trail itself has no creek crossings. To keep this ride easy go down the boundary trail from Paul's hill. Turn right onto Holly Haven and you will quickly be presented with one end of Pick A Path. After you follow the trail for a while it will be CHOICE TIME: Take a right to go back to Holly Haven. When you get to Holly Haven go straight, not down the little hill, and head back towards the Boundary trail. If you take a left you will face a creek crossing. Second choice would be to head towards Big Rock Mt and Deer Creek. To get on Big Rock Mt you will need to cross a creek. For the easier ride, take Deer Creek and you will come back to Boundary (take a left on boundary for no creeks) or stay on Deer Creek to the end at Stepping Creek. At Stepping Creek, take a left to avoid creeks and come back to Boundary. Camelot Crossing Easy Distance: .4 mile Average Time: 10 minutes One end of this trail starts on the Boundary trail just after you pass both entrances to Stepping Creek coming down Paul's Hill with the other end on Pine Ridge, just below it's connecting point the Boundary trail, again on the Paul's Hill side. This is a very scenic trail with beautiful rock formations and huge pine trees. Open Field Easy Distance: .2 mile Average Time: 6 minutes This is an easy trail which starts from the Paul's Hill section of the Boundary trail. Initially, the name is rather deceiving as the entire length of this trail is in deep woods which at points winds pretty tightly through the trees. At the end your reach your reward, a large open field that is completely surrounded by trees. This is an excellent area to do some cantering and even galloping in the field. When you enter the field and bear left aim for the center of the tree line at the far end, here you will find a section cut through which puts you back on the Boundary trail at the top of Paul's Hill. The length above does not figure in the distance traveled across the field to the exit back onto the Boundary trail. Open Field 1 Distance .4 mile Open Field 2 Distance .3 The Open Field trail ends in Open Field 1. If you follow the board of the field you will find an entrance through the pine trees to Open Field 2 or another one back to the Boundary trail. If you are in Open Field 2 you can exit by the white truck which will put you back on the Boundary trail. Open Field 2 contains some large remains of an old tank, so beware that this may spook your horse. You are free to go anywhere in these two fields and ride as you please. Tower Falls Easy Distance: .4 mile Average Time: 12 Minutes This trail connects both ends of the Boundary trail. It goes along the arena and along some of the pastures. At one point you will pass thru and open area, just looks for the markers on the trees on the other side to see where you need to go. Not long ago there was a microwave tower that was used to push WGN TV Station to a cable company. The tower was no longer used and when the tower fell it was in this general area. The building by the horse trailers is where the control room was for the tower and you will see some tower pieces around the property. Florabrook Way Easy Distance .1 mile Average Time: < 5 minutes This is a little detour you can take that you access off of the Boundary trail across from the Tower Falls trail end. This trail goes along Longtown Rd. and then will come back up to the Boundary trail. Be aware that there will be speeding cars passing by and as is the case some foolish people may blow their horns at you, so be prepared for a spooked horse. Power Line Easy Distance: .7 mile Average Time: 20 minutes This trail starts near the vault toilet near the arena. It ends on the Pond View Loop trail. At the end you can ride around the Pond View Loop and get on the Oak Valley or Pond View trails. The Oak Valley trail is easy and will take you back to where you started. The Pond View trail has a stream crossing. This trail starts going along the drive and you will eventually be on the Power Line right-a-way along Longtown Rd. At this point is is pretty much straight with a couple little hills. It is a good area for trotting and perhaps some cantering, but keep in mind there are some limbs and stones that you will come across. You will come to another driveway and will turn left and will quickly enter the woods. It is a whole different ride at this point as you will now be in a deep wooded area. Map 
Satellite View
Boundary
Deer
Creek Run
Stepping Creek
Holly
Haven Crossing
Power
Line
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