The following stories you read where writen by Brent Wray of BC Canada, It is entirely his work and the way he experienced the ride. Pictures and Videos taken by Brent Wray, Christian Barreis and myself.
Best of Banff Tour: Day 1 16.9.
Up early, we checked out of the hostel, grabbed breakfast to eat on the road and headed to Banff to hook up trailers, feed horses and do final preparations. The amount of gear was the same, but allocating 14 days of food (13-day planned duration, plus an insurance day) was going to be tricky space-wise. Previous trips had been in the 7-10-day range; this one would be pushing the limits for an ultra-lite, unsupported adventure with no resupply opportunities. Weight wasn’t nearly as much of an issue given the simple, spartan, lightweight backpacker nature of our food. With the nature of this style of travel, we walk a lot anyway and all of us were in good shape, capable and prepared to do our fair share of walking.
We managed to get everything rationalized and allocated, then loaded the horses and hit the road. First stop, we’d drop my rig at Pipestone trailhead to be our pickup vehicle. Then, we all piled into Peter’s rig and headed to our starting point, Lake Helen trailhead.
As usual, the trailhead parking area was full, but lots of room in the big pullout overlooking Bow Lake on the other side of the highway. We parked the rig, angled, at the one end of the pullout, unloaded the horses, then saddled and packed them right there in the parking lot on the side of the Columbia Icefields Parkway. The biggest challenge was all the folk coming over to take pictures, pet the horses, chat and ask about our planned adventure. One fellow from Vancouver and his friends from Trinidad were particularly interested. It was shortly after 10AM when we were finally able to lead the horses across the highway and hit the trail. Our Best of Banff Adventure was officially under way!
The trail starts climbing, immediately, with occasional breaks in the trees to allow spectacular views down the valley and over to Bow Lake. Lots of day hikers on the trail headed up to Lake Helen. All were very polite and respectful, stepping aside to allow us to pass. Most were very friendly and happy to see horses on the trail, asking where we were going. Something along the lines of “Wow! What an adventure! Have a great trip.” was the typical response.
We watered the horses where the trail crossed Helen Creek, then stopped for a grazing break at Lake Helen, before the final push to Dolomite Pass. The high point of Dolomite Pass (2514m) would be highest pass we’d cross in our entire journey. All in, we’d gained 545m in the first 8km of our journey, not bad, and a very reasonable ~7% grade.
As we crossed Dolomite Pass, it was nothing but easy travel and spectacular views as we made our way to Lake Katherine, where we stopped for lunch, hobbled the horses and turned them loose for an extended grazing break. From there we turned north, and continued our way on the high mountain pass, enjoying the bluebird sky and incredible scenery.
Last year, I’d been on this trail with my friends, Jody and Angela, on our first major, self-guided pack trip with our own critters, gear and skills, and certain points brought back memories. The base of a waterfall, on the far side of Dolomite Pass, was one of those points. In 2023, we had to repack Cookie, my mutton withered, little mule, because her load was slipping. When Jody leaned into the final pull to tighten the lash cinch, the lash rope snapped, sending her falling, unceremoniously, onto her ass in wide-eyed surprise! After many trips, the friction in the same spot as the diamond hitch was completed, had worn the rope and while Jody isn’t that big, she IS mighty. That was all the weakened lash rope needed and it snapped, right there on Day 1 of our planned, extended adventure. Fortunately, I’d learned from my mentors and had the foresight to pack a spare, so it was just a matter of finding it. We were awful careful after that, making the final pull with fingers crossed as we tied our diamond, because we didn’t have another spare.
No such difficulties this time around, we just enjoyed the waterfall and the views as we began our long descent to Isabella Lake.
According to Banff National Parks website, the official horse camp is at the south end of Isabella. I had the exact GPS coordinates in my GPS. We wasted a lot of time looking for it in 2022, labouring through somewhat boggy swamp grass. Nothing! I knew better this time, so we just skirted the side of the lake to the great little horse camp we’d discovered in 2023, just south of the Isabella warden cabin. Day 1 was complete with 22km travelled and the highest of our mountain passes successfully crossed. We set up the electric fence enclosure for the horses, ate rehydrated chili for dinner, then rolled out our sleeping bags for a great sleep under a full moon and semi-clear sky.
Best of Banff Tour: Day 2 17.9.
It was roughly 11:30PM when I woke, instantly alert. Something was wrong. Was it just me, or were the horse bells too faint. I propped myself up and listened. My movement woke up Peter. “What is it?” he asked.
“I think the horses are out. The bells are too faint.”
He listened for a moment, then replied “It’s OK. I hear them; it’s fine.”
Knowing Peter, if he thought they were out too, he’d have been up in a flash, putting on his boots to catch them. I rolled over, closed my eyes and went back to sleep.
The next thing I hear is Peter, “Brent, take Charlie and tie him. The horses are out!”, and he hands me Charlie’s lead rope. Chris was hurriedly putting on his boots, then he and Peter left to get Rodeo and Ahi while I tied Charlie to a tree.
Shortly thereafter, Peter and Chris returned with Rodeo and Ahi, tying them to trees. They’d definitely gone through the fence, but hadn’t left. Instead, they were just grazing a short distance away; close enough for us to faintly hear the bells. Horse secured, we returned to our sleeping bags and went back to sleep.
First thing in the morning, we turned the horses loose to graze while we assessed the fence situation. Yup, someone had definitely gone through it. Judging from the long line of fence line down the trail, we’re guessing one of them went through at a midpoint in the fence line, jerking the handle loose and then dragged fence line and handle down the trail, until free of the line. Then they stopped to graze.
Mystery solved, we rolled up the fence line, gathered up strewn parts, had breakfast, packed up camp and hit the trail. We rode steady and cold, in the sunless shadow of the mountain, for almost two hours until we came across a wonderful sunshiney spot: a small, grassy meadow on the edge of a creek. Perfect spot for an extended grazing break!
From there we got into some really technical trail: narrow singletrack through the forest, with rocks, exposed roots, ruts, water, mud and slightly boggy in places. It was slower going, but didn’t faze the horses one bit. Seasoned mountain trail ponies that they are, they just confidently powered through.
Eventually the forest opened up and the terrain opened up to reveal the Siffleur Valley. We stopped on a slight knoll with a great view down the valley for lunch and another grazing break. From our vantage point we could see two mountain passes: Pipestone, to the south, and Clearwater, to the southeast. This was our first key decision point and emergency exit, if we were having trouble. Head south over Pipestone and we would reach our pickup vehicle in two days.
Fortunately, we were problem free, so we turned east, traversing Clearwater Pass, past Devon Lakes to the unofficial horse camp that would be our camp for the night. I still can’t believe our stats for the day. We’d travelled 35km, gaining 540m in elevation over a long, steady climb. Part of that trail was quite technical, necessitating a slower pace. We’d never rushed and we had a couple extended grazing breaks. Yet we’d done it all in less than 8 hours. Charlie had been a trail-eating machine, leading the way, stepping out with the rein a-swinging, keeping time with the rhythm of his pace.
Horses had a great evening grazing break through camp and the adjacent willow meadow along the trail. We had my American Goulash, a dehydration experiment I cobbled together from three separate recipes, for dinner. Clear skies, but we set up the tarp anyway, just in case. Horses were secured for the night in their electric fence enclosure on the hill above us. If any of them went through the fence, they’d have to come through camp to reach the trail.
Tomorrow, we’d ride one of my favourite sections of trail.
