Trail Review--Shawnee State Forest/Ben's Happy Trails

The following is a trail review created by Brenda....
Ben's is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Powell mostly down SR 23. There are no real scary roads (everyone who pulls a horse trailer knows what I mean by that). A few hills, narrow bridges, tight turns right before you get there, but not too bad. There is plenty of parking across the street from the main office by the cabins. However, the barn for the horses is behind the office. The best thing to do is park by the cabins (if that is where you are staying) and walk your horse over to the barn. We just left our tack in the trailer and brought the horses to it.

The cabins were nice (but had a layer of dirt/cobwebs). They are very small though. The bathroom is actually outside the front door on the porch with it's own door. There is a small bedroom and a futon in the kitchen - no real living room area. I wouldn't put more than 2 people in one.

Ben has about a half hour worth of trails on his property right behind the cabins. These are fairly steep/rocky loop trails. The Shawnee Forest trails are about 15 minutes away by horseback on rural roads. Those trails were also very steep and rocky, and most seemed to incorporate gravel roads as part of the trail. Our horses feet were pretty sore after the second day.

This would be a good place to ride if your horse has shoes on all four feet - otherwise, they will be sore. Even Liz's spotted saddle horse (who has been barefoot his whole life) got sore, and that was a first for him. Ben was a great guy and very helpful. He lives on the property and takes good care of it.

I would recommend this for an intermediate to advanced rider with a road safe horse. Keep in mind that the trails in the park are long, so don't start out on one you are not familiar with after about noon. We made the mistake of heading out for a second ride one afternoon around 4pm and didn't make it back until almost 9pm. The trail wasn't well marked, the last 1-2 hours were gravel road, and at times we were just hoping that we were going in the right direction. I'm sure you could hire one of the guides from Ben's - it might be worth it if you don't have a good sense of direction! Also, Ben will let someone in your group rent one of his horses for the day (if they pass a riding test) and take it out on their own.

All in all it was a great trip. We had perfect weather, awesome food, and a LOT of riding. Our horses were happy to see their home pastures at the end of the weekend!