Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, Va - June 13, 2009
AFTER LEAVING CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND WE HEADED NORTH TO MANASSAS, VIRGINIA TO RIDE THE CIVIL WAR BATTLEFIELD. WE CAMPED AT BULL RUN STATE PARK WHICH PROVIDED SOME NICE HORSE CAMPING SITES. YOU HAD TO PROVIDE YOUR OWN PORTABLE CORRAL OR TIE LINES. MOST SITES WERE SHADED. IT WAS A SHORT HAUL OVER TO MANASSAS BATTLEFIELD PARK.
WE SADDLED UP OUR HORSES THE NEXT MORNING TO RIDE THE TRAILS AT MANASSAS BATTLEFIELD WITH ITS MILES OF HISTORY. MONUMENTS ALONG THE TRAIL TOLD THE STORY OF THE BATTLE. IN FACT THERE WERE TWO BATTLES HERE, ONE IN 1861 AND THE OTHER IN 1892. TWENTY MILES OF EASY WELL MARKED TRAILS LED US THRU A GREEN FOREST OF OAK, HICKORY, MAPLE AND OTHER HARDWOODS WITH YOUNG SAPLINGS GROWING UNDER THEIR SPREADING BRANCHES. MOST OF THE TRAILS WERE SHADED BUT OCCASIONALLY BREAKING OUT INTO LARGE FIELDS. AS WE STOPPED TO GAZE OVER WHAT WERE ONCE FARM LANDS TURNED INTO BATTLEFIELDS YOU COULD IMAGINE GUNSHOTS RINGING OUT.
THE TRAILS LED US OVER ROLLING HILLS AND A FEW CREEK CROSSINGS PROVIDING OUR HORSES A DRINK OF COOL WATER. WE CAREFULLY CROSSED A COUPLE OF PAVED ROADS THAT PASSED THROUGH THE BATTLEFIELD.
SEVERAL PARKING LOTS WITH AMPLE ROOM FOR HORSE TRAILERS WERE PROVIDED
BULL RUN STATE PARK ALSO HAD ABOUT 10 MILES OF TRAILS. THE SHADED MARKED TRAILS LED US THROUGH A YOUNG FOREST AND THROUGH WETLANDS WITH QUITE A BIT OF WATER IN SOME AREAS FROM RECENT SPRING RAINS. A PAIR OF WILD DUCKS AND A CRANE TOOK FLIGHT AS WE PASSED BY. BULL RUN RIVER FLOWS THROUGH MANASSAS BATTLEFIELD AND BULL RUN PARK ON ITS WAY TO THE CHESAPEAKE BAY. THE TERRAIN WAS EASY RIDING AND RELAXING IN THE MORNING SUN AS IT FILTERED THROUGH THE TREES.
BOTH PLACES WERE GREAT!
STAY TUNED FOR OUR NEXT ADVENTURE. UNTIL THEN WE WISH YOU “MANY HAPPY AND SAFE TRAILS.”
BOBBIE AND LARRY
