TETRA - Trail Riding for Everyone

Region 5 Trail Ride at Half Ass Mule Camp


What a wonderful weekend we had at Half Ass Mule Camp. The weather may have scared off some riders from attending the ride, and it may have been raining in other parts of

Texas , but not at the Mule Camp! I was so excited to show TETRA members my favorite place to camp and ride. The owners of the camp are Jackie and Donna Bryant and their daughter, Salle and her son-n-law Roy Paul, help run the camp and are the most gracious hosts! All of them are TETRA members.

One of the reasons Wright Patman Lake area is my favorite place to ride is the only time you leave the canopy of trees is to cross the road to get to more trails or to ride on the shoreline of the lake. The camp is on the east side of

Wright Patman Lake, and east of Atlanta State Park . The Corps of Engineers manages Wright Patman Lake , which is approximately 55,000 acres of public forest land. We only had access to 20,000 acres that have around 200 miles of trails that we could explore, and the Mule Camp back gate opens to the 20,000 acres.

Saturday morning’s trail ride started at 10:00, and Jackie and Donna’s neighbor, Mr. Oliver Littlejohn, joined us. Oliver is such a sweet, funny, jokester, who is 86 years old, and is still riding. In fact, Donna, Salle, Roy, and Oliver made most of the equestrian trails at Wright Patman, and on several of the trails, he has added items of interest to them, such as the toll road and giant fake spider in a hollow tree that crosses the trail. If you get a chance to ride with him, be sure to ask him if there are any bears on the trails.  

Salle was our trail boss for both Saturday’s rides. The morning ride we rode about 2 hours and returned to camp for lunch with a total of 7 miles. Joe who is recovering from surgery didn’t ride after lunch, so he had supper ready by the time we returned from the trails. I can’t believe we rode for an additional 12 miles, and we made it back to camp just in time for supper.  Jackie went to town and brought back a cheese cake and some cookies for supper. 

Our Sunday ride started at 9:30 and we rode to the lake. I posted about 40 pictures and two videos on Facebook.

To sum up our weekend, we had a great time visiting with old friends and we made new ones. The Mule Camp is open Wednesday thru Sunday, and they have a website http://www.halfassdmulecamp.com you can email them at dbryant@wb4me.com or texasfruiitcakes@yahoo.com for reservations.

By Phyllis & Joe Petronella

Texas Equestrian Trail Riders Association, Inc.

P.O.Box 655

Springtown, Texas 76082

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