Riley Horse Camp
Location: NF-1825, Rhododendron, OR 97049
Facilities: Vault toilets, manure goes in garbage dumpsters, fire pits and picnic tables at each site Camp Site Amenities: picnic table, fire pit, Site Type: 1 Pull-through site at site 8, all others back in Water: Hand pump, broken in June 2022, supposedly fixed August 2022 Footing: Rocky, hoof boots recomended Cell Signal: No cell signal Dogs: Dogs allowed Other: Weed-free hay required Website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/mthood/recarea/?recid=53464 Reservations: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232834 |
Getting There
The best part about Riley horse camp is getting there. It is a super easy drive from Boring/Sandy. E Lolo pass was in rough shape during our trip but I have heard it should be newly paved as of 2/2023.
Must Brings
1) Water!! Lots of it. The hand pump was not working during my trip but now supposedly is. Also, it is a hand-pump. If you have never used one of these then you are lucky. They are a huge pain in the butt!
2) Manure bucket and cart - For hauling manure and emptying bucket into dumpster, a wheelbarrow doesn't work as well as the folding wheeled cart holders that you can remove the bucket from to lift it into the dumpster. 3) Satellite phone - No phone reception, having a phone with an SOS button is a good idea for longer rides 4) Download Gaia maps - I could not find super maps of the trails in this area. Download Gaia map app then you can see where you are in relation to the trail even without cell service. You have to upgrade and pay for this version of the app. 5) Download Netflix - Yes this is a necessity, enjoy nature but equally awesome to watch a movie in the forest 6) Saw - Only if experienced, lots of downed trees 7) Back up camera - So many rocks you can hit trying to back into sites 8) Fly sheet with belly band and fly mask- One of the other horses at camp developed ventral edema from biting at the itchy fly bites 9) TP!! There was TP at the camp site but we rode to the Ramona Falls parking lot, used the porta potties and were totally out of TP. 10) Use a dog harness instead of a collar - We tried to cross the Sandy river once and saw a dog fall and his owner luckily grabbed him by the handle of his dog harness to keep him from being swept away by the river. |
Below: Water hand-pump
|
New Favorite Camping Items
Technology and gadgets totally make camping so much more wonderful! If you are easily distracted by tech, read more HERE.
Horse Camp Sites
The horse sites here are just a little weird. So, this campsite was designed when horses were transported in horse vans which were much shorter than our modern living quarters trailers. The site driveways are a lot shorter and the turns here are sharper. The driveway length and max vehicle lengths are very different which is also confusing. Below on the left is the campsite map shown on recreation.gov. This map is not totally accurate. In the map on the right sites are shown more accurately however sites 12 and 13 should be swapped so that all odd numbers are on the outside of the loop and even on the inside.
Site 1 - Older style 4-horse corral, really close to site 2 to the point that you should have a friend in 2 or may get to know a new one.
Driveway length 37 feet. Maximum vehicle length 35 feet. Site 2- Smaller parking area and only 1 tie-rail, very close to adjacent site, no horse corral, close to creek Site 3- Smaller parking area, no corral, and walking up and down a small hill, short path to reach picnic table, tie rail, close to creek Site 4- Older style wood 4-horse corral, corral more of a distance from back in and picnic table. Driveway length 50 feet. Maximum vehicle length 35 feet. Site 5-Older style wood 4-horse corral, hard to see where you are supposed to back in, horse corral so unused that lots of grass is growing in corral, corral far from picnic table. Driveway length 45 feet. Maximum vehicle length 35 feet. Maximum vehicle length 20 feet. Site 6- New wood 2 horse corral, this is now my favorite site, wider area to back-in, picnic table placed nicely close to parking and corral. Driveway length 50 feet. Maximum vehicle length 20 feet. Site 7 - Older style wood 4-horse corral. Driveway length 37 feet. Maximum vehicle length 35 feet. |
Site 8 - Pull through with old style smaller 4 horse corral, even though it is a pull through it was really tricky to maneuver without hitting rocks! Driveway length 80 feet, maximum vehicle length 35 feet.
Site 9 - I saw people back a 3h lq trailer into this site and hit a rock, nice newer wood corrals. Site is not listed on campsite map. Site 10- Back in, old style, smaller wood corral, 2 horse corral. Driveway length 42 feet. Maximum vehicle length 26 feet. Site 11 - New 2 horse wood corral, long back-in. Driveway length 62 feet, Maximum vehicle length 26 feet. Site 12 - New 2 horse wood corral, may be hard to back into. We were at site 8 and Sam spent some time in the newer corrals at site 12 which I could see from site 8. Driveway length 50 feet, Maximum vehicle length set at 0 at reservation site?? Site 13 - X shaped metal tie rail, not on recreation.gov campsite map. Site 14- New 2 horse wood corral. Driveway length 48 feet. Max vehicle length not listed. |
Campsite Pictures
Below site 2, indistinguishable from site 1 pictured on the right with the horse corrals. Site 2 only has a tie-rail but would be good to share for 2 groups that know each other and carpool with their horse trailer. Might be a little too close if you don't know the occupants of the other site.
Site 3 pictured below. Site 3 only has a tie rail and is more secluded. Might be a good tent site for a non-horse camper.
Campsite 4 below on the right, corral far from picnic table.
Campsite 4 below on the right, corral far from picnic table.
Campsite 5, clearly not used often with the grass growing in the corral, the corral was far away from the picnic table. Was confusing to figure out which corral went with site 4/5. Would be nice if the corrals were also labeled.
Campsite 6, my new favorite site with a wide area to back into and new-ish wood corral
Camp site 7
Site 8, a pull-through that may not actually be a pull-through due to the rocks in just the wrong place.
Site 9, no picture taken, this is an excuse to go back for another trip. I watched people hit a rock backing into either site 9/10.
Site 10
Site 11
This site had a really long back-in, good for bigger rigs except for the angle you have to back-in at from the main road is tricky.
This site had a really long back-in, good for bigger rigs except for the angle you have to back-in at from the main road is tricky.
Below: Site 12
This angle of a back-in seemed hard to get into. The corrals were new. I liked parking in the pull-through at site 8 and keeping Sam in #12's new corrals.
This angle of a back-in seemed hard to get into. The corrals were new. I liked parking in the pull-through at site 8 and keeping Sam in #12's new corrals.
Site 13
This is kind of a strange site. It has a very short parking area and the picnic table and tie-rail is far from the parking area.
This is kind of a strange site. It has a very short parking area and the picnic table and tie-rail is far from the parking area.
Site 14 - tbd next trip
Riding
The riding here was limited during our stay due to an impassable Sandy river, a downed tree on Cast Creek Trail and not knowing how to cross Cast Creek on Horseshoe Ridge Trail. Also the forest road 382 in Kim's book is overgrown and non-existent. Despite these obstacles, we still had 3 amazing out and back trail rides going different routes on each ride. I strongly recommend downloading Gaia, paying for the upgraded version where you can download maps and GPS tracks. This is such an amazing app, you will never get lost with Gaia on your phone!
Cast Creek Trail
This is a beautiful trail that goes up some switchbacks to reach a ridge. It was an unreachable ridge for us due to a downed tree 1.1 miles in. We still enjoyed the ride. I recommend hoof boots, there are gravel roads and the dirt paths are rocky. This is a climb uphill and could tire out the unfit horse. Sam is used to the Colorado Mountains and was ready to trot up this nice trail.
If you go to the east side of the horse camp and start by going right on the signed Cast Creek Trail you will cross a fairly wide, rocky creek with a little bog in the center. Sam and I did this fine, but my husband Jon tried to walk on a log and ended up taking a swim. Just wade through the creek as that is a lot safer than falling into the creek. My Cavallo hoof boots stayed on but my Scoot boots came off. |
To avoid this creek, take the unsigned left fork (there is a sign but it is blank) out of the east end of the horse camp you hit a forest road, go right on the forest road and that takes you through a much more narrow creek crossing. This creek crossing is managed with a large step from your horse (or a jump) and has steeper in/outs beside the creek bank.
Below: Blank sign where you should take a left out of east camp to reach the forest road. Turn right on forest road to cross more narrow creek and continue up Cast Creek Trail
We took a left at the fork to head up the switchback of Cast Creek Trail. It was beautiful and a good climb. Unfortunately it did not last long as a downed tree cut our ride short.
Sandy River Trail
Total Time: 2.75 hrs
Total Mileage: 6.4 miles Ascent: 603 feet This is a pretty trail that parallels the road and winds through the forest to reach the Ramona Falls Trailhead then parallels the Sandy River. Braver souls have crossed the river to ride on the PCT to Ramona Falls. We did not feel the need to do this. We enjoyed riding up to the river then turning around to retrace our steps back to camp. Even better, the Ramona Falls parking lot has a porta-potty and a picnic table. This was the perfect place to get off, take a bathroom break, adjust your saddle and use the picnic tablet to get back on. We did not go all the way to the point where hikers cross the Sandy river. I did stop when Jon decided to climb down a steep grade to let the dogs drink. Sam and I watched in amazement as our 80 lb Visla mix Sage decided that the best way to go down the steep hill was to throw himself into my husband's arms from a 4 foot drop pictured on the bottom right. Please use a dog harness! The handle on the harness may have been the only reason Sage the dog did not do a face-plant down the cliff! |
Horseshoe Ridge Trail
Total Time: 42 minutes
Total Mileage: 1.8 miles Ascent: 116 feet This was a really beautiful trail going south-west through a lot of moss and pines. It was mostly a very slow decline going away from camp and a slight climb going back to camp. Extremely lovely! It was short because I did not want to cross the river and Jon was on foot and fell in the river last time we tried to cross. I was also worried I could not make the 5 mile loop described in Kim's book, due to the non-existent 382 forest road. Instead, we combined this ride with going North-East on the Sandy River Trail for a much longer ride. |
Pros and Cons
Pros
-Riley Horse Camp is amazing due to its location alone. It is close to SE Portland, this site was 40 minutes from my barn in Boring and I loved that I didn't have to drive through Portland. During the week we had a very quiet, uncrowded, camping experience. The views of Mount Hood are beautiful and it is peaceful and easy to get to from Gresham/Boring.
-Most of the trails do not allow bikes. This is good and bad. It is great to not have the fear of bikers coming up unannounced. I like to ride Sam while my husband rides his bike. It is also too bad there aren't some truly multiuse trails.
-The newer wood corrals have nice gravel footing and are larger. They looked very unused during our trip. You also don't know which site has newer corrals unless you do a lot of google searching beforehand. I do like being able to hang tarps from the support beams in bad weather. I still don't like the chain gates and would like bigger corrals in general that are flexible in configuration.
Cons
-The first challenge I noticed was as soon as I turned left off Hwy 26 onto E Lolo Pass Road the road was incredibly bumpy. It is a paved road you can just feel every patch and hole since it is driven so much. The speed limit posted was 45 and we drove 20 mph to the chagrin of everyone behind us. Update: 9/2022 there is work being done to pave E Lolo pass. This means our horses' ride to camp will be so much smoother!
-Hand Pumps. These pumps are hard to operate and you cannot attach a hose to the pump spigots.
-The trailer sites are all back-in except for one site (#8). Even this pull-through site has some very badly placed rocks which makes it hard to pull your trailer out without precise positioning. I have no idea how you would back into some of the horse trailer sites if you have a larger rig. The rocks and site signs are not well placed and they create obstacles that are sure to damage your rig if you are not a excellent driver.
-The one pull through site (#8) also had the old-style horse corral, which was tiny, and my horse is 16 hands. This site is reserved for only horses which is great, however, ironically, it is the worst set of corrals in camp!
-No manure bin. Ok, so in theory we are supposed to haul our manure with our own equipment (none provided) to the dumpsters and somehow heft the load of very heavy manure into the dumpster bins. No wonder there are piles of manure everywhere! Not everyone is a boy-scout and the logistics of putting manure in the dumpster is very difficult. During my stay I cleaned up many piles of old manure. I do not blame these campers. This set-up is asking for non-compliance.
-Lack of trail access. I am very happy not crossing the Sandy river but a tree was down on Cast Creek and taking the Horseshoe Ridge trail I could not figure out how to cross the river. This leaves you with 3 out and back riding options, Sandy River Trail, Cast Creek and Horseshoe Ridge.
-Many non-horse campers. I am happy people go camping, but I would much rather see horses at these sites. I know why there aren't more horses, it is probably all the reasons I list above. If we/OET/someone could fix the above problems, then you could attract more horse campers.
Could be Improved
I would start by moving select site signs and rocks that could make it easier to maneuver your trailer into the sites. The only other horse trailer camper I met, hit a rock when I watched them back in. They definitely damaged their very nice living quarters trailer. A few sites could be made into pull-through sites and that would help vastly!
Label the horse corrals. So, it was hard to tell the corral of site 4 and 5. It would just be nice if they were numbered so it was clear which corral went with which site. If this horse camp was ever busy it would be helpful.
I would also love to have corrals that were flexible in size and arrangement. For example, have a large corral that could be divided by opening a gate or moving a panel. Or even if people could divide a large corral themselves with a lunge line. This could be done by removing the dividing logs at site 8 and making a 4 horse corral into a larger 2 horse corral. This improvement alone would be amazing! I hate that I ride my horse 8-14 miles and then he stands in a 12 x 12. This is not good for his body, and I can't imagine how sore I would be if I had no movement after a long work-out!
Manure/compost bins would be a major upgrade, even if they were left to compost. You could probably do this by having multiple locations and it would increase compliance and decrease random manure piles around camp. If you fixed the above problems I would be more willing to camp here So would others. Then, we could take back our horse camp. Having more horses would increase the demand for trail access. More traffic would cause more awareness of downed trees and impassable river crossings which in turn would correct these challenges.
-Riley Horse Camp is amazing due to its location alone. It is close to SE Portland, this site was 40 minutes from my barn in Boring and I loved that I didn't have to drive through Portland. During the week we had a very quiet, uncrowded, camping experience. The views of Mount Hood are beautiful and it is peaceful and easy to get to from Gresham/Boring.
-Most of the trails do not allow bikes. This is good and bad. It is great to not have the fear of bikers coming up unannounced. I like to ride Sam while my husband rides his bike. It is also too bad there aren't some truly multiuse trails.
-The newer wood corrals have nice gravel footing and are larger. They looked very unused during our trip. You also don't know which site has newer corrals unless you do a lot of google searching beforehand. I do like being able to hang tarps from the support beams in bad weather. I still don't like the chain gates and would like bigger corrals in general that are flexible in configuration.
Cons
-The first challenge I noticed was as soon as I turned left off Hwy 26 onto E Lolo Pass Road the road was incredibly bumpy. It is a paved road you can just feel every patch and hole since it is driven so much. The speed limit posted was 45 and we drove 20 mph to the chagrin of everyone behind us. Update: 9/2022 there is work being done to pave E Lolo pass. This means our horses' ride to camp will be so much smoother!
-Hand Pumps. These pumps are hard to operate and you cannot attach a hose to the pump spigots.
-The trailer sites are all back-in except for one site (#8). Even this pull-through site has some very badly placed rocks which makes it hard to pull your trailer out without precise positioning. I have no idea how you would back into some of the horse trailer sites if you have a larger rig. The rocks and site signs are not well placed and they create obstacles that are sure to damage your rig if you are not a excellent driver.
-The one pull through site (#8) also had the old-style horse corral, which was tiny, and my horse is 16 hands. This site is reserved for only horses which is great, however, ironically, it is the worst set of corrals in camp!
-No manure bin. Ok, so in theory we are supposed to haul our manure with our own equipment (none provided) to the dumpsters and somehow heft the load of very heavy manure into the dumpster bins. No wonder there are piles of manure everywhere! Not everyone is a boy-scout and the logistics of putting manure in the dumpster is very difficult. During my stay I cleaned up many piles of old manure. I do not blame these campers. This set-up is asking for non-compliance.
-Lack of trail access. I am very happy not crossing the Sandy river but a tree was down on Cast Creek and taking the Horseshoe Ridge trail I could not figure out how to cross the river. This leaves you with 3 out and back riding options, Sandy River Trail, Cast Creek and Horseshoe Ridge.
-Many non-horse campers. I am happy people go camping, but I would much rather see horses at these sites. I know why there aren't more horses, it is probably all the reasons I list above. If we/OET/someone could fix the above problems, then you could attract more horse campers.
Could be Improved
I would start by moving select site signs and rocks that could make it easier to maneuver your trailer into the sites. The only other horse trailer camper I met, hit a rock when I watched them back in. They definitely damaged their very nice living quarters trailer. A few sites could be made into pull-through sites and that would help vastly!
Label the horse corrals. So, it was hard to tell the corral of site 4 and 5. It would just be nice if they were numbered so it was clear which corral went with which site. If this horse camp was ever busy it would be helpful.
I would also love to have corrals that were flexible in size and arrangement. For example, have a large corral that could be divided by opening a gate or moving a panel. Or even if people could divide a large corral themselves with a lunge line. This could be done by removing the dividing logs at site 8 and making a 4 horse corral into a larger 2 horse corral. This improvement alone would be amazing! I hate that I ride my horse 8-14 miles and then he stands in a 12 x 12. This is not good for his body, and I can't imagine how sore I would be if I had no movement after a long work-out!
Manure/compost bins would be a major upgrade, even if they were left to compost. You could probably do this by having multiple locations and it would increase compliance and decrease random manure piles around camp. If you fixed the above problems I would be more willing to camp here So would others. Then, we could take back our horse camp. Having more horses would increase the demand for trail access. More traffic would cause more awareness of downed trees and impassable river crossings which in turn would correct these challenges.
Rating
I am happy if I can see my horse 24/7 and ride everyday. I am going to try site 6 next time and see if having Sam in the bigger corrals is better. Overall, I do want to see some improvements to increase the horse traffic at this horse camp. If horse organizations see decline in their membership then they need to ask why. Some of my input here in all of my webbook chapters could be part of the answer. Their reaction to criticism is also part of the answer about why they cannot attract and retain new members. I want to see horse camp sites that meet the needs of the next generations and are flexible with their own evolution.
Next Generation of Horse Campers
-Dominantly female with partners (male or female) that do not want to ride a horse, their partners may want to ride a bike, ebike or walk the dogs along on the trail to be with their horsey partner
-Are urban, live in the city and board their horse, only have 1 horse per family, trail ride but also do dressage, jumping and cow work
-Have a living quarters trailer that is longer, take with them comforts of home, want to camp but not to "rough it", less interested in primitive camping
-Tech savvy, don't use paper anything, good at using apps and GPS tracking devices
-Work on-line and need phone service to work, can work from camp and camp continuously seasonally at the right types of campsites, often cannot go days without checking and responding to emails due to work obligations
-Dominantly female with partners (male or female) that do not want to ride a horse, their partners may want to ride a bike, ebike or walk the dogs along on the trail to be with their horsey partner
-Are urban, live in the city and board their horse, only have 1 horse per family, trail ride but also do dressage, jumping and cow work
-Have a living quarters trailer that is longer, take with them comforts of home, want to camp but not to "rough it", less interested in primitive camping
-Tech savvy, don't use paper anything, good at using apps and GPS tracking devices
-Work on-line and need phone service to work, can work from camp and camp continuously seasonally at the right types of campsites, often cannot go days without checking and responding to emails due to work obligations