Ride the Alberta Rockies: 5-Day Horseback Trips in Canada

5 Days

These horseback pack trips in the Alberta Rockies in Canada will bring you to one of the most splendid wilderness areas of the world, and will give you memories that will last a lifetime.

Trip Dates (2008):

June 30 to July 4 Full
July 7 to July 11 Full
July 14 to July 18 Full
July 21 to July 25 Full
July 28 to August 1 Full
August 4 to August 8 Full
August 11 to August 15
August 18 to August 22
August 25 to August 29

How This Trip Makes a Difference:

The main trail in the Clearwater Valley was used by the prairie aboriginal people as a route to Indian Days in Banff during the early years. The entire trail network was developed and used by hunters, trappers and outfitters for the last 100 years.

Each season brings different vegetation colour and animal viewing as they move from higher to lower elevations

This entire area is all part of the Bighorn Wildland Area. It is classed as a Forest Land Use Zone, which offers limited, in-season hunting and non-motorized recreation.

There is ongoing wolf, grizzly, and elk study and surveillance. Alberta Forest Services does insect and vegetation studies. Alberta Fisheries has an ongoing bull trout study.

This low impact use of the area and the revenues it generates provides employment to local people who are knowledgeable of the land. Their observations of changes in wildlife populations and resources contribute to the sustainable management of the area.

Please note:

All departures are from Monday to Friday. There will be a minimum of 4 riders and a maximum 10 guests on each ride. The minimum age for participants is 12 years old.

All Monday rides will depart from the Country Inn and Suites Hotel in NE Calgary at 8:00 a.m. Guests will be driven directly to the Trail head approximately 2.5 hours from Calgary, West of Caroline and into the Clearwater river valley.

Cost of transport to and from trail head are included in the cost of the pack trip. At the end of the trip, transportation from the trail head will arrive back in Calgary at the Country Inn and Suites on Fridays sometime after 8:00 p.m.

Guests staying in Red Deer must notify the outfitter for departure plans.

Guests may decide to stop on their way to and from the trail head for coffee on Mondays and/or supper on Fridays depending upon timing of trip/weather, etc.

Guests must make own arrangements for hotel stay in Calgary for the night before and night of return from pack trip. This cost is NOT included in the pack trip. Please see attached hotel options in NE Calgary below.

We will supply horses, tack, rain slickers, pommel/horn bags, wranglers, cook, sleeping tents, cots, foamies, and water bottle. Please see attached list for suggested list of things to bring for guest comfort and necessity.

Daypacks and backpacks are NOT allowed while riding. Fanny packs, and pommel/horn bags are recommended to use for essential day items on the trail. The outfitter reserves the right to limit the amount of items being carried in personal saddlebags.

Camp layout includes: cook tent, camp fire marquee tent, outhouse tent, guest wall tents, staff tents, shower enclosure.

Sleeping Arrangements: 8x10 waterproof canvas wall tents that will accommodate a single or couple comfortably. Stand-up room is 6 feet in the center. Single sleeping cots with foamies will be provided.

Meals: three meals a day Tuesday-Thursday and two meals on Mondays and Fridays are included in pack trip rate. Vegetarians in the past have found that our menus accommodate their needs quite well and no other supplements are needed.

Please see attached menu summary below the itinerary in the next column.

Luggage: Each guest is restricted to 30 lbs of luggage, including sleeping bag. We suggest guests pack their gear in a water repellent bag or use garbage bags inside their luggage to keep their belongings dry. Guests must use soft sided bags. We are unable to pack luggage with wheels, hard sided luggage or hockey bags. Please see attached list for guests on suggested things to bring for their comfort and safety. Extra luggage not going on the trail can be kept at the hotel or trail head as staff is on site.

It is important that each client reviews the list of things to bring as outlined in this package.

CHECKLIST OF THINGS TO BRING:

Sleeping bag with a rating of 3 seasons (fleece or flannel liner adds comfort)
Warm jacket
Vest or wool sweater
Hat or cap and gloves
Light hiking boots or riding boots (or boots with a heel)
Extra pair of shoes for comfort after riding
Lots of good absorbent socks
Swim suit
Sunglasses, sun screen, insect repellent
Evening refreshments if desired (non-breakable containers preferred). These items must be packed with the outfitter's food rather than in the personal luggage.
Towel, soap and personal effects
Flashlight, camera
If medically controlled condition, a short history to be kept on person at all times (in case of emergency)

Luggage will be limited to soft sided bags (no wheels, hard sides or hockey bags allowed). Maximum weight limit per person is 30 lbs. including sleeping bag. Recommend water repellent bags or garbage bags inside luggage to keep belongings dry.

Package Price:
1050.00 Can./Person
0.00 U.S./Person

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Location: Alberta Rocky Mountains
Weather: Cool nights - Warm days

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Day 1

Pick up at NE Calgary hotel – 7:30 – 8:00 a.m.

2.5-hour drive to staging area

Lunch – Orientation – Saddle up and head out for a 6-hour ride to the camp with breaks

Site heritage interpretation along the way:

-Winters Flats: this was the location of a horse ranch in the 1920s to the 1940s. It raised and provide horses for the prairie farms, ranches and logging operations.

-Bob Dial trap line cabin

-Beaver Lake – headwaters of Cutoff Creek. This location is great moose and loon habitat.

-Sawmill Creek Camp and Flats: the location of a 1940s sawmill business.

-Forty Mile Patrol Cabin: this is an occupied forestry patrol cabin built by forest rangers in the 1940s. The cabin is on the bank of the 40 Mile Creek and Clearwater River, with a great view of the flats and Forty Mile Ridge, Sawtooth Mountain, Indian Head and Mount Peters.

-Dominion Forestry Cabin: this is an old cabin used by the Federal forestry agency before the land trade between Alberta and the Federal Government.

Day 2

Depending on the weather, day rides may vary from this schedule to include :

Poplar Ridge – 2 hrs each way, scenic views above tree line
40 Mile Ridge – 8,000 feet, 3 hours each way, 360 degree panoramic view above tree line ofvalleys below, steep climb.
Horseshoe Lake – 3 hours each way, pristine secluded lake, wildlife corridor.
Christmas Tree Meadows – 1.5 hours each way, but also on the way to old Indian Head Meadows where old patrol cabin was prior to 1957.

Day 3

Lost Guide Lake ride – 3 hrs each way

High mountain lake – 7,000 feet

Cut throat trout

Each season brings a new look

Day 4

Day ride to Bear Man Cabin

A 2-hour ride through rugged terrain to a trapper’s cabin and horse shed, on Forbidden Creek – lots of interesting tools for the trapping business to be seen

Stop at an Indian grave site on the ride back to camp

Day 5

Pack up for the ride back to the staging area.

SAMPLE MENU

Two meals provided Mondays and Fridays

Three meals provided Tuesdays-Thursdays

Breakfasts are served in camp and include a variety of choices such as; hot/cold cereal, pancakes, eggs, French toast, bacon, ham or sausage patty, fruit, bread, biscuits or muffins, fried potatoes, etc.

Lunches are served on the trail and would include a variety of choices including; cheese, crackers, meat, canned fish, canned and fresh fruit, puddings, breads, desserts, canned chicken, trail mix, etc.

Dinners are served from the camp stove or over the open fire and may include; baron of beef, pasta, beef sausage, baked ham, pork chops, steak, desserts, biscuits/bread, canned or fresh vegetables, condiments, potatoes or rice, etc.

Appetizers/Snacks: popcorn, tacos and dip, veggies and dip, soft tortillas, peanuts, etc.

Vegetarians are welcome and have in the past mentioned that our menu provides enough selection to satisfy and meet their needs without supplements added.

WE SUPPLY

Rain slickers (we provide but you are welcome to bring your own)

We supply pommel/horn bag. Day packs or back packs are NOT allowed while riding. Fanny packs are allowed. We reserve the right to limit the contents of personal saddle bags.

Due to weather conditions and climate changes in the mountains, guests are advised to dress in layers to maintain comfort and safety. Guests will not leave the trail head or camp without a jacket and rain slicker.

Weather range can be viewed at www.accuweather.com

Reviewed by Graham Dury, UK

"Our family, including 3 boys of 14, 12 and 10 have just returned from one of your pack horse trips in the Clearwater Valley area of the Canadian Rockies. We wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed the experience and benefited from such an unusual holiday. We were not expecting to see quite such a beautiful, unspoilt landscape. We felt privileged to visit such a pristine, well cared for area.

Our guides really made us feel welcome with their hospitable and relaxed attitude. We felt we were in safe hands throughout the trip and they did their best to take us to areas of the back country which would otherwise have been inaccessible to us. The camp and facilities were simple but well organised and blended in with the forest setting. We felt we did no damage to the tranquil environment and came home feeling inspired, refreshed and ready for new challenges.

By travelling on horseback we got further into the mountains than we had hoped, and the horses worked as a happy team following in an orderly line which made the trip relaxed, enjoyable and safe. Thanks for putting us in touch with such a great experience. We thought it would be a 'once in a lifetime' experience, but we are hoping to do it again soon.

I didn't think that at 45 I could change much as a person. How wrong I was. The week we spent in the Rockies was truly a life-changing experience. We all feel so much better for it, physically, but more important, mentally. Thank you so much for arranging it all. And could you pass our thanks on to Stan, Dave and Donna, who were everything we hoped they would be and more. Our three kids had a mental picture of Stan long before they met him, and he has had such an influence on them. I honestly believe they'll remember him as long as they live."