Golden Hills Resort and Trail Rides is located in Texas County Missouri, about 90 miles East of Springfield and 160 miles South West of St. Louis. This resort offers horseback riders a change of pace, you may choose to "rough it" in your trailer or stay in the bunkhouse, which is a two story "motel". Each camper gets an 8x8 stall and there are a few paddocks available. Check out their website at Golden Hills for more information.

It is worth noting that they also have a Mountain Man Rendezvous scheduled to overlap the end of a Spring and Fall ride. This camp is located a few miles ride from the main camp and no motorized vehicles are allowed. We rode into their camp and were welcomed, encouraged to take pictures of their setups (tents and tee pees!) and invited back when the rendezvous was in full swing as there would be vendors selling hand made goods. This was really neat.

Golden Hills offers many week long trail ride packages per year.

Opinion:
The terrain is hilly and rocky. Depending on the time of year it could also be very dusty (so far both years we have been this was the case). Horse shoes are recommended. The meals which were provided were good and the camping was great with electric and water hookups for the trailer. They also arranged a sewer truck to come through camp or you could use their dump station (which we did). They have a couple of restrooms, with toilets and showers in camp for riders who sleep in tents or trailers without LQ's. Update Fall 2001: This is probably our last year attending this ride. We have heard rumors that the ride with the stars will be held at a different venue next year and the content will probably change quite a bit too. Check the main trail ride page of this site to see where we go next.

Directions:
Check the Golden Hills web-site for directions

Fees:
Check the Golden Hills web-site for fees which vary depending on accommodations and whether you byoh (bring your own horse) or rent one of theirs