The first entrance you hit as you go to the D Bar Ranch is for the residence. The sign clearly states to use the next driveway to access the campground.
Unbeknown to us, the American Barrel Racing Association had scheduled a weekend of competition during our stay. Barrel Racers are fun to watch, but they are not my favorite people. They tend to be loud and rowdy.
This is a large campground with a mix of long term and short term campers. We got there on a Thursday when rain was predicted. So, we put the horses in the covered stalls in the campsite next to us which was empty.
We had water and electric hook-up. $30/night for everything. For some reason, both the power and water were situated on the wrong side of our LQ, but we carry plenty of hoses and cables so we can manage the hook-up. There is an RV dump available next to the large group pavilion. They sell ice and firewood.
We did a short ride on Friday. There are about eight miles of trails, mostly on private land owned by the campground.
The trails are narrow horse trails. Gone are the wide, flat snowmobile trails I had gotten used to. This was an intermediate level ride. We had water crossings, bridges, and some steep hills to go up and down.
Part of the ride took us through open meadows.
On Friday, the barrel racers were scheduled to arrive. The rain was over so we moved our horses into the open corrals that came with our campsite. Our horses didn’t mind too much and the corrals are good-sized.
We spent Friday afternoon in Big Rapids, Michigan. We explored the downtown area, where they have these awesome bulldog statues placed outside of shops and public buildings.
The barrel racers were crammed into one campsite and at least a dozen people. They had seven horses. They put three of the horses in the covered stalls (two horses sharing a stall) and the other four they put on high lines. Some of the people slept in hammocks outside.
At 10:30 pm, the barrel racers were still up, sitting around the campfire, playing music, and talking loudly. I went outside and asked them to please quiet down so we could sleep. They were kind enough to turn down the music, but they stayed up talking until well past midnight.
Ari & I had planned to ride again on Saturday and leave on Sunday, but we had to accept the fact that what had been a laid-back campground had been invaded by barrel racers and their horses. Horses which called to their buddies when their buddies were taken away to compete. It was going to be noisy all day and we were in for another late night. So, we called our next stop to see if we could come in a day early. Fortunately, they were able to accommodate us and so we moved on to our last stop in Michigan…a private farm located halfway between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids.