Big South Fork Horse Trails???

[Joshua Szulecki]

I would assume they are, but does anybody know if the horse trails in Big South Fork are open to hikers? I have seen a handful of places that prohibit hiking on horse trails, but generally speaking, if horses are allowed, people are allowed...

[Joshua Szulecki]

I think the answer is yes...

"Remember, hikers may opt to use the horse trails, but horses are never permitted on hiking trails"
- http://www.charitcreek.com/hiking.html

[Ewker]

yeah it is allowed but the question is why would you want to hike on them 

[jaybird]

I think I have heard several say that several of the trails there are heavily eroded and you must constantly dodge horse poop.  Not my idea of a hike.

[Joshua Szulecki]

I have my reasons.

[South Fork Guide]

Hey Joshua,
I own a campground at Big South Fork, and the answer to your question "yes you can hike the horse trails", Ewker asked "why would you want to?", because it's a beautiful area, but there are 185 miles of hiking trails that horses are not allowed on, plus, the 200 miles+ of horse trail, and 50-60 miles of bike trail. Horse poop is nothing but chewed up grass, I know it's still poop, but it's better than dog poop ANY DAY! Some of the trails are washed out, horses are hard on a trail, but just erosion is our biggest enemy. Because Big South Fork is not well known, it does not get much Federal money to take care of it.

If she's that good, bring her up to the campground, and I'll rent you a horse, and take y'all on a ride to show you why we ride there.

Check out my website http://www.saddlevalleycampground.com

Ed

[Ewker]

Hey Joshua,
I own a campground at Big South Fork, and the answer to your question "yes you can hike the horse trails", Ewker asked "why would you want to?", because it's a beautiful area, but there are 185 miles of hiking trails that horses are not allowed on, plus, the 200 miles+ of horse trail, and 50-60 miles of bike trail. Horse poop is nothing but chewed up grass, I know it's still poop, but it's better than dog poop ANY DAY! Some of the trails are washed out, horses are hard on a trail, but just erosion is our biggest enemy. Because Big South Fork is not well known, it does not get much Federal money to take care of it.

Ed

My point of why would you want to is because there are good trails to hike without ever getting on the horse trails. There are a few trails that are shared by  hikers and the horses. Luckily you don't have to be on them for long. It is a mess to walk through. 

[Joshua Szulecki]

I was going to visit an alleged orchid population. It didn't pan out.

However, the trail was MUCH better than I expected. It was soft sand/dirt the entire way, even despite the heavy rains. I think they heavy use combined with the nice soil type work out to create a horse-track like surface which is nice and forgiving on your feet. It does require a little extra exertion to walk on, but the lack of achy feet really made up for it. The trail actually had very little poop on it, considering that it was a major horse trail near a horse camp, and it was refereshing to not have to swat branches and scale trees on a trail. I'll admit that with all the horse poop, I didn't pick up Scipio's leavings. I will use horse trails again in BSF. The bad thing is the crossings. Horses don't need bridges for foot deep wateer, whereas I do. Plus, those were the only areas I saw any really erosion issues. 

What really struck me was how excellently all the riders treated me in BSF. In some places I have had riders act like jerks when encountering a hiker, much as I have experiened on multi-use trails that allow bikes. I think a large part of it was that I know the rules of the road and yielded for them to pass.

Ewker: Not everything is on the hiking trail system. I really had no choice.

South Fork Guide: Thanks for the information. In this case, she was an orchid, so a horse would not have helped.