A fun place to camp in the Shawnee National Forest is Bear Branch Campground. I've camped there many times over the last 30 years, and I must say that it was always an adventure....mostly that of never knowing my way around and chancing a return to camp before sundown! So this past November '07 a new riding friend and I decided to head down to Bear Branch for a quick weekend.

  We found we had the campground almost entirely to ourselves. The best surprise was the purchase of a map which was greatly improved over the old topo maps....this one had trail markings and GPS co-ordinates on it. And even more to my surprise, the trails are now marked! The markers are not the best (small wooden and not real distinct), but I sure am not complaining. These factors made the entire riding experience a truly GREAT time.

   Jill and I rode the west trails on the first day and then ventured out to the east trails on the second day. We took our time and were gone "only" 6 hours and 7 hours respectively....and time went all too fast!

  Click here to view a slide show (Nov. '07) of some of the places we rode to. See Footnote below.

Click here to see a slideshow of the October 2010 ride.

    Footnote: Two months after this ride, I nearly lost Littleman to a cancerous cecal tumor. He was supposed to be euthanized 2 different times, then overcame the odds and after 54 days in the U of I vet hospital, continued to survive for 2 more wonderful years. Littleman was put to rest on March 31, 2010. Tragically, five months after this ride, Jill lost her horse Jack to a devastating barn fire.