Virginia’s Hunt Country Trail Ride
2008 Itinerary

Each day your ride will consist of one of the following trails.

DOUBLE TOP TRAIL
Today you will enjoy the scenic Shenandoah National Park.  Your ride will showcase the charm and splendor of the area while you and your horse ride through bubbling streams and creeks that lead to winding woodland paths that follow old Civil War roads.  You will cross old bridges that house countless stories of the soldiers, slaves and citizens that traversed the area in a time when the nation was still defining itself.  Deer, wild turkeys and sometimes even bear can be seen if you are lucky!

WHITE OAK TRAIL
After a hearty breakfast, you set off with your horse for the bucolic destination of White Oaks Falls.  Over the rolling hills, where there is plenty of opportunity to canter, you wind your way through the passes of wispy hemlocks that lead to the falls.  This area is also home to the Appalachian Trail, and you will be enjoying the true splendor of this pristine woodland area as you enjoy a picnic lunch by the waterfall.  The ride after lunch will continue through the countryside with views and paths through fields and woodlands complete with well tended farms and beautiful mansions.  After your ride you may want to venture out to one of the local wineries to watch the sunset.

UPPER RIDGE TRAIL
Explore the Blue Ridge Mountain area firsthand today.  Just like our nation’s forefathers, you and your horse will explore the trails originally forged by the first settlers.  Your ride today will wind through wooded trails and up and down hillsides that showcase spectacular panoramic views of this wonderful countryside displayed regally before you.  You may want to pack a light sweater today as you will definitely feel a change in temperature as you drop into the wooded areas or arrive into a highland meadow.

TALLY HO - HUNT COUNTRY TRAIL
Whether you have hunted regularly or enjoyed trail riding at a leisurely pace, this is a day to explore the wonder and adventure of the hunt countryside.  Renowned for its festive and active hunts, this area offers the quintessential experience.  You and your horse will splash through rivers, trot down wooded lanes and canter through open rolling, meadows occupied by herds of cattle.  For those that prefer, there are ample natural and man made jumps for you to enjoy.  Depending on the season, you may pick Paw Paws and taste this natural fruit enjoyed by Native Americans throughout history.

CIVIL WAR TRAIL RIDE
Ride back into the time of the Civil War.  Today you will explore the fields and trails used by the soldiers of the Civil War.  This area was truly the cross roads for the war and is well known for the Wilderness Battlefield where Lee and Grant met for the first time. It allows you to see the remains of old homesteads and trenches dug by the foot soldiers and even enjoy a drink from a spring once used by the Civil War Soldiers.

PRESIDENT HOOVER’S CAMP TRAIL
Leaving the inn, you will ride to the famous isolated recreation destination where Hoover brought World Leaders such as Charles Lindbergh, Thomas Edison and Winston Churchill to relax on occasion and to strategize on other occasions.  Taking narrow and sometimes steep paths, you wind your way through wooded areas, crossing bridges over fast flowing rivers and arrive as the original visitors did prior to the establishment of roads, to one of the original buildings erected on this rural site on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  You will understand personally why President Hoover felt that this area was a good “excuse for return to the woods and streams with their retouch of the simpler life of the frontier from which every American springs.”