I've had several folks ask me about a Forest Service camp ground called Blackhawk on the Nebo Scenic Loop near Payson Utah.  Last weekend, I camped at Blackhawk as I volunteered to help Hoofbeats for Healing with their annual summer camp out. So I thought I would post a few photos about the camp area.

Black Hawk is a Forest Service camp ground.  It has 5 loops. A-D are for normal campers and the E loops allows horses. All though I saw more conventional campers on the E loop than horses. So as the camp ground fills up, the host will send campers into the E loop with the understanding that they may have horses as neighbors and no ATV or motorcycle use is allowed.  It is a first come basis, but reservation are accepted.

Since Hoofbeats for Healing does this as an annual camp out, They reserve the E-10 camp site each year. It is the largest campsite and can easily accommodate about 8 rigs with parking.  The road in and all parking spots are blacktopped and the parking spots are all flat.

They have plenty of hitching rails for each camp site

Each camp area has a common fire pit and picnic tables.  Water hydrants are near by as well as flush toilets

Although with the draught, we were warned that the spring was not producing enough water and that they may to shut down the bathroom facilities if consumption increased of the spring slowed any more.

There is a large meadow in the center of the loop. There is a horse water trough in the middle that was full of clean water. We were able to allow the horses to graze for most of their feed. But I'm sure later in the summer this will get eaten down and you would need to bring your own feed, which would need to be certified hay since you are on public land.

The Hoof Beats for Healing program is a equine therapy program that deals with kids, teenagers and young adults that have various problems. For the camp out, they bring the teenage kids and young adults. A lot of these young folks have attachment disorders. They have been abandoned by their parents, been in foster homes, and adoptions. They use all Foxtrotters horses and the director of the program has all kinds of studies as to why the motion of Foxtrotter helps to remap the brain of these young people. She won't use any other breed of horse and is careful to get foxtrotters that naturally gait and avoids the ones that the rider has to have enough knowledge to ask for the gait.

She knows that I have some good Babysitting mares and that I am knowledge about horses, so I get invited down to help out. I'll admit that patience with those challenging kids and doing lots of short rides so we get everybody on a horse is not my idea of the ideal weekend. But if my horses can tolerate riding back and forth on the same trail all weekend, I can too.

Blackhawk is close to the top of the mountain. Camp is about 8,000 foot elevation, So we are right on the bottom edge of the Sub-Alpine zone of the forest. Kinda of the upper zone for Maples, oaks and other deciduous trees and the beginning of the Spruce, Firs and Quakin Aspin trees.  Most of the trails are pretty level, Since you are already at the top of the mountain, So the trails circle around and cris-cross over the top of the mountain.

The trails are not difficult to follow and they occasionally had signs telling what trail went where.

I did get a little disoriented and ended up ridding into the "A" Loop of the camp ground where the Campground Host informed me I was not supposed to be with a horse. I explained, I was not familiar with the trails and had taken a wrong turn,  He told me to get a compass installed on the horse.  ( All in fun of course)

Its a pretty area to ride,  Once outside the camp ground, you will encounter cattle that are grazing on the  mountain, This gave us the opportunity to open and close gates from the saddle and to chase a few calves that found themselves farther away from their moms as we bumped into them.

We had some rain early in the morning so the trees were still dripping a little water when we brushed them, afternoon threatened some thundershowers which helped keep it cool enough  that we all kept jackets tied on behind the cantles.

The road in from Payson, is fairly steep and winding. I don't think much about driving, But I'm sure some of our flat land friends would be very nervous if they came to visit. The camp area is (I think) $10 per night and there are enough trails to ride for several days, Depending on how close you stay to camp and how far out you are willing to venture.  Payson Lake is about a 45 minute horse ride away if you want to ride over and go swimming with your horses.