Today was one of those days when everything seemed to disappoint. After our auspicious beginning yesterday, we were in the process of saddling up in the morning when a rather rotund female ranger came by. She wanted to know why we hadn’t paid our fees yet. We explained that we didn’t know how long we were going to stay, and assured her we would pay the correct amount on the way out. After all, it is the honor system, after all. She seemed unconvinced, treating us like some kind of criminal, which fell in nicely with the mindset that would put in water spigots that have to be held open to be used, assuming everyone is a thief, doing things for their own benefit rather than the benefit of the park user. Anyway, she then asked about our horse riding permits. I said that I thought that those permits were only at state parks, not at the national forest, and she informed me that it was Congress’ fault that they didn’t give them enough money, so they had to charge a horse permit fee. I told her that we had been in many national forests, and never before had we been charged a “horse permit fee.” Then she said it was up to the local forest, which completely contradicted what she had just said, but she didn’t seem to notice that. Then we asked if she could sell us a permit, and she said, no, we had to drive 15 miles back to town and buy it from one of their vendors. I said I didn’t think it was very sensible to make us drive 30 miles to go get a permit every day we rode, since we didn’t know which days we were going to ride, and not knowing what the weather was going to be, etc., and we weren’t about to buy an annual permit just for the few days we were going to be there. She just said that law enforcement would be coming around to check, so we better get one, but she couldn’t sell us one. How stupid is THAT system?! I finally just shut up and she went on her way, but by then Hubby and I were both in a foul mood. We left camp hoping the ride would alleviate our tension, but alas, things just went from bad to worse. Hubby had put on Clio’s new Boa boots just to try them out, but I was hoping to get away without boots today, though we put them in the saddlebags just in case. Our plan was to go about 6.5 miles, just doing the first loop and coming back. The trails are set up with four loops piled on top of each other, like a snowman, but the maps didn’t indicate any different colors for each loop, just all one. We left, hoping for the best. Like many trailheads, it started out with some gravel, and we thought that as we got further along, it would thin out. Not so. The gravel was kept going. After a short while, I stopped to put on Apollo’s boots, since it seemed like it was going to stay gravel. Not natural stone, mind you, but deliberately spread gravel. It was nearly impossible to enjoy the forest, partly because we had left in such a foul mood, but mostly because the gravel just went on and on and on. When we came to our first intersection, we continued to follow the color blue, since that was the trail we were on, and because the alternative was a FULL gravel road, great honking, freshly laid gravel that I was not about to ride on. After a while longer, we started to suspect that we had gone wrong somewhere, because we were still heading north when we should have been looping east. I check the GPS and found that, indeed, we had gone too far north. Another intersection later, and we finally discovered the error of our ways (or should I say, their mapping system). All four loops were blue, but the common trail between each loop was called a “connecting” trail, and those were ALL ORANGE. No where on the map is that mentioned, but it IS mentioned on a couple of signs at intersections, in fine print. Another example of genius at work, just like the genius who decided that gravel is good footing for a horse… NOT! We were getting more and more frustrated with the place. Our 6.5 mile trip turned into 14 miles, ALL of it on gravel!! We were stunned, particularly since the ranger had said that their trails had been voted one of the top ten trails by some group somewhere. All I could think of was that it had to be by the American Gravel Association or some such organization, or that the gravel had been added afterward so that the rangers could run around on their ATV’s and “maintain” the trail that way. Anyway, by the time we got back, we were so disgusted with the place we decided that we weren’t going to stay as long as we had planned. We had been on most of the trails already, and I wasn’t about to subject my horse to another mile of gravel, I was already heartbroken that he had had to endure 14 miles already! Very disappointing. Indiana really fell down on this one. I was actually going to put the extra “horse permit fee” in with my camping fee, but frankly, considering the state of the trails, they weren’t worth a plug nickel. The only good thing was that we can check it off the list (state #32) and never come back again. Oh, and I forgot to mention the vast areas of the forest that had been recently logged, and the logging crew that was hauling logs out that day, and the ugliness of most of the forest, with only a few areas that were actually pleasant to ride in. Very few. This National Forest has it’s priorities pretty screwed up.
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