May 21st, 2011
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Author: PELHAM, Alabama — The latest offering at Oak Mountain State Park — an equestrian campground — is now open to the public.
The campground, which has water, electrical, sewer hookups and picnic tables, was largely built with the help of Shelby County. A grand opening ceremony is set for today at 11 a.m.
Bobby Whaley of Alabaster, president of the approximately 345-member Outback Trail Riders, whose members ride the trails at Oak Mountain State Park, said the campground gives riders an opportunity to do what they love to do closer to home.
“With gas prices as high as they are, $5 (for) diesel fuel, we don’t have to drive all the way to Tennessee,” Whaley said.
The new equestrian campground has 12 campsites and is located just as you enter the main gate of the 9,949-acre park, said Park Superintendent Mike Jeffreys.
It adds another amenity to the park, Jeffreys said. The campground also opens the park up to another group of people who participate in a particular type of recreation, he said.
“We have a large number of people who come out and ride horses,” Jeffreys said.
Oak Mountain has 14 miles of existing horse trails.
They will also be available for one-day rentals to people who might be coming through the area in a camper and want to stop off for the night.
Without funding from Shelby County and the work of County Manager Alex Dudchock and Dudchock’s staff, the campground project would not have happened, Jeffreys said.
“This project will serve the current traffic to the horse trails and allow us to target the equestrian traffic that comes through the I-65 corridor heading north to Tennessee and beyond,” Dudchock said
The county also plans to do some special weekend and weekday projects with Whaley’s Outback Trail Riders group, he said. The county also will assist Oak Mountain State Park and the Outback Trail Riders with putting in additional trails and making repairs to existing ones, Dudchock said.
Join the conversation, add a comment or email: mdaniels@bhamnews.com
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