|
Five Star
Campgrounds Named by Trail Riders
Heart of Dixie Trail Ride in
Troy,
AL, has been named the 2009
“Five-Star” Award winner, according to John Thurow, trail boss of
HorseTrailDirectory.com, a website created by and for trail riders.
To earn the coveted award, a
campground must receive the most Five-Star ratings from trail riders,
who post their ratings on HorseTrailDirectory.com during the year.
“Heart of
Dixie received five stars from 56 of the 64 trail
riders who rated it in 2009,” Thurow said.
In second place with 44
Five-Star votes was Timber Ridge Horse Camp, adjacent to the
Big
South
Fork
National
River and Recreation Area,
located between
Jamestown and
Oneida,
TN.
“These are really impressive
accomplishments,” said HorseTrailDirectory.com’s trail boss John
Thurow. “These campgrounds represent the top 15% percent of all
locations in the database. I think we can all appreciate the effort
this takes.”
Thurow said that
HorseTrailDirectory.com currently has over 800 trail and campground
locations in its database. They have been put there by people who have
ridden at the trail locations or by campground owners. Most of the
locations are in
North America but there are also listings in
countries around the globe, including
Argentina,
Spain,
Hungary, and
Russia. After visiting a
location, riders can comment on their experiences by posting reviews.
In 2009 approximately 950 reviews were posted. Two-thirds of all
locations have at least one review.
Each listing is described in
a brief narrative, accompanied by information about the location, such
as number of trail miles, trail difficulty, number of campsites, and
directions to the location. More detail is often provided via links
directly to related sites such as campground and national forest
websites. Trip planning is also helped by automatic links to local
weather forecasts.
Thurow said that most people
find out about new trails through word of mouth, and that getting first
hand knowledge from friends is the best way to discover new adventures.
“The advantage of the Internet is that a person’s circle of friends is
multiplied many times into a much larger community,” he said. “At
www.horsetraildirectory.com
you have a growing Internet community of trail riders sharing their real
world experiences about places they have ridden and camped with their
horses.”
|
2009
Timber Ridge Horse Campground