# camping at Lake Luzerne, NY



## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

This past weekend, Dean and I went up to Lake Luzerne, NY to spend a long weekend camping with the horses and a couple friends. These friends have been going to this campsite yearly for several years, but I was never able to go before as it was always the same weekend as an endurance ride. But this year the stars aligned and we were able to go!
Luckily the 5 hour drive to the campsite was relatively uneventful and we arrived in time to set up camp and be saddled up for noon.










Spent that afternoon exploring the local trails between the campsite and the Hudson river. We got to a nice vista overlook and got to entertain people tubing and kayaking in the river. Got to see a variety of terrain ranging from wooded single path trail to gravel roads that just begged for a gallop (according to my garmin, we hit 31.5 mph during one leg-stretcher!!). 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB_TJkdv6Co





















https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEL_4FwN2Gs


















After the ride, we went to a local Italian place for dinner, then to the rodeo. I was surprised to hear this rodeo was the oldest weekly rodeo in the country and a lot of people used it for NFR qualification. Good show!

Saturday, the others in the group went to Saratoga racetrack for the day. Dean and I had decided to go back out on some of the trail we had seen the day before, but to do it at training pace (the friends are not endurance riders but show people who actually enjoy trail riding at times). We had a lovely morning ride, with agreeable weather and empty trails. The horses felt great and were happy to move out. We stopped back at camp for lunch, then hooked up with some new friends for a trek to a local ice cream store. That ride didn't go quite according to plan as one of the beginners parted ways with her horse halfway there, but she was fine and a couple others who hadn't wanted ice cream anyway turned back with her. I was sorry to see the lady come off, but wasn't sorry to split with the group as beginners had not been part of the arrangement when we first agreed to go out with the people. Dinner was cooked over a campfire, which I haven't done in years.




















Sunday morning, we went out with our original friends again and explored some new trails. We had a nice 2 hour ride before returning to camp and packing up for the journey home. The trip took a bit longer as there was a lot of weekend traffic, but was overall uneventful. I was very excited to get home and see the results of the new helmet-cam.


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## huntfishnride (Jan 25, 2012)

Thanks for sharing. Pretty area.


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

Yep, beautiful country for sure.....I dont' see any sign of color changing yet.

Surely it can't be long?


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

gunslinger said:


> Yep, beautiful country for sure.....I dont' see any sign of color changing yet.
> 
> Surely it can't be long?



The colors start sooner up north, but for my area, we get the peak color in mid to late october. I do wonder, however, what craziness mother nature will cook up for us this year. Two years ago it was so dry, all the leaves just dried up and died without changing color. Last year, we got a freak October snowfall that stripped most of the leaves from the trees before they changed. Hopefully this year we get a break!


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