Epic Travel → North America → Canada → Banff National Park → Banff Horseback Riding

Location: Banff area, Banff National Park, Alberta

Time Required: 3-5 hours

Red Tape/Notes: Various tours available, prices from $64CAD – $200CAD per person for day trips (overnight options are also available); the tour described below (Horseback Ride and Cowboy BBQ Cookout) is $162CAD. Details on the various options can be found on the Discover Banff Tours website here. Entry into Banff requires an additional daily fee of about $10 per person (or ~$20 per family/group); alternatively, you can buy a Parks Canada Discovery Pass if you’re staying for an extended time.

What’s Nearby?: Fairmont Banff Springs, Cave and Basin National Historic Site, Banff Hoodoos, Ink Pots, Bow Falls, New Year’s Eve Party, Johnston Canyon

This is probably delightful if it hasn’t been pouring rain. In the rain, you can take one of two approaches: be cold, miserable, and grumpy, or take it as an opportunity to imagine you’re a real cowboy on a cattle drive – rain and cold doesn’t stop real cowboys when the cattle need to be rounded up. This is just part of life on the trail. We went out with Banff Trail Riders, and they do a really nice job. The park has a strict policy that you’re not allowed to take the horses above a walk, so that’s a bit restrictive, but most of these public tourist outfits won’t let you do anything other than nose to tail anyway. We did the dinner and barbecue option, so we rode out along a trail along the Bow River to a place called “3 Mile” where they grill up steaks (or vegetarian kebabs), and feed you a great meal (really, it was extremely tasty). They have horseshoes and a couple of lasso stations set up so you can practice your calf-roping while they cook dinner. After dinner it’s back on the horses, but you take a different route home, heading up and over a large hill through the trees and across a nice meadow. It was a fun outing even being almost completely encompassed in clouds – the views are probably incredible on a nice day.

Epic Travel → North America → Canada → Banff National Park → Banff Horseback Riding