In my last blog posting, I mentioned that there’s no better season to take a road trip through the Canadian Rockies than summer. After driving from Banff to Jasper, north on the Icefields Parkway, seeing the glory of the Rockies sure does make you wanna get out of the car and be a part of it.
That’s why I am here to tell you all about multi-day horseback trips in and around Jasper National Park.
While alpine meadows and glacial waterfalls make for great roadside attractions, the only genuine way to “connect” with nature is by physically connecting with it. That’s why my buddy Tom Vinson over at Horseback Adventures provides a whole variety of multi-day trips.
I always choose to stay in a tent. And when it’s warm enough outside, I scrap the tent and sleep under the big Canadian starry sky. Vinson takes adventurers into Jasper National park and they visit Rock Lake Solomon Creek Wildland Provincial Park along the park’s north boundary as well as Moose Horn Lake.
Now Tom is a no-nonsense kind of guy. He is the last of a dying breed in our globalized world, a true cowboy in every sense of the word. Vinson took over the family business from his father back in 1979. Horseback Adventures, however, goes further back than Tom Vinson Sr. Even before this here mountain man became a mountain man, horseback outfitters were driving cattle and tourists in and around Jasper National Park.
Tom and his staff of cowboys won’t let you down as you trot off into the Canadian wilds. But if 6 hours a day for three days in a row doesn’t sound like your kind of rodeo, there are outfitters in Jasper Townsite who take tourists into the Park for just a few hours, riding well established trails and soak up some natural beauty.
If you can’t make it up to Jasper for the horseback riding, I know some fellas down there in Banff who can help you out. Just book your animal through Banff Adventure Travel and enjoy a leisurely one-hour trail ride to the mouth of Sundance Canyon. These genuine, ole cowboys will show you how to rope and play a game of horseshoes. The day trip then provides riders with a steak dinner and back to Warner Stables for an hour along the banks of the Bow River
