We really liked the park and the trails. They have a fantastic trial map that is pretty accurate and in color! We stayed on the North Legacy Way trail for a while...that trail is more like a wide dirt/gravel road that the park maintenance vehicles can travel on. We traveled on to the Ringtail Trail to get to the far end of the park. We didn't want to travel on anymore wide dirt/gravel road on the way back so we took the Gold Finch Trail, the Great Egret Trail, the Warbler Trail, the Black Rail Trail, The Golden Eagle Loop, the Pheasant Trail to the smaller portion of the South Legacy Way. Ended up on the Poppy Trail back to the parking lot.
We crossed at least 5 bridges on our ride. 3 of the bridges were long ones that arched up and over the creek. They were metal bridges with a dirt base over the top. The horses hoofs had a nice hollow, metal sound as they walked across the bridges. Each horse got to be first over each of the 3 longer bridges. Each one was a bit wary going over and had to be "talked" into it but it didn't take much to get them across. I was proud of them. Even after going over those bigger bridges they questioned the smaller ones too. They were wooden bridges, the kind we find on the way to Avery Pond back home. Zoe went first over the Salmon Run Bridge-the one furthest out and then shortly after that had to go over the small wooden bridge to get on the Gold Finch Trail. She seemed more worried about the smaller bridge than the bigger one. Funny horse.
The smaller trails were very well maintained and they were marked with signs that were accurate. Just in case you questioned your map reading abilities, there was the "you are here" maps, with a star for your position, next to some of the signs. It took us about 3 hours to make our trail ride, which was a good thing since I had to get back to the barn to feed the horses.
On the way back we had to go thru a locked gate at the end of the South Legacy Way Trail. The gate was made for a human to go thru, but horses had done it too. I was in the lead and asked Zoe to side pass up to the gate. She was a bit wary but did it anyway. I tried to get her close enough to the gate to reach down and unlock the gate. She did put her feet closer to the gate but leaned her body away from the gate...so I was really no closer to opening it. It took a few tries but she finally did it. Once it was open she said "oh, it's a gate". Once thru the gate we had to travel on a road next to a canal. That was new too. Zoe was still in the lead and wasn't too worried. Then we ended that and got on the Poppy Trail back to the parking lot.
All the horses did great. Dune had been there before but the other 2 hadn't been there. None of them was up tight or spooky. They each took turns being in the lead and did great. I had Zoe in the back for most of the way out and she did good in the back...even with Skippy leading with her nice fast trot. Sometimes we got too far behind so Skippy waited for us, but Zoe wasn't wild and crazy being in the back.
There are lots of trails here so there will be plenty of trips back to go exploring. The only trail we were warned about was the Creek Side Trail, part of it I guess is narrow with drop offs but I think it would be fine as you go farther out. By the end of the trip there was 6 trailers in the parking lot so I think mid week is the best time to go, weekends must be really crowded. We did meet a few hikers and the horses did fine with them.
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