Riding the Rocky Mountains

26/06/15

I don’t know why, but I’ve always wanted to go horseback riding in the Rocky Mountains. I really have no interest in horses, that’s Heather’s thing, but it’s one of those things I’ve always wanted to do. Rory and I had looked at several companies in both Banff and Jasper but we eventually decided to go for Timberline Tours, a family run business that specialises in horse riding.

I’ve been horse riding before, both successfully and unsuccessfully (who puts an eight year old on a gypsy’s pony and expects them to enjoy themselves?) but Rory’s a complete beginner so we went for the 3.5 hour trek to Little Beehive and the Lake Agnes Teahouse. Luckily the stables weren’t far from our cabin so we drove down and arrived at about 9am. I won’t lie, when we showed up my stomach dropped. The yard was a bit of a mess, there were dogs running around and a fair few caravans were parked up. Was this going to be a repeat of France 98? I shouldn’t have worried because we were promptly paired up with two lovely horses and two lovely guides. Rory and I really lucked out – we were the only ones on the trip so we could take our time and properly enjoy the scenery.

The trek was mainly upwards, first through thick forest and then on to narrow mountain passes. At times my horse was teetering on the edge and a misstep could have sent us both to our deaths, but good old Chocolate knew what he was doing. Our first stop was Mirror Lake where we took a few photos and let the horses rest before the steep climb to the top of Little Beehive. I’m writing this Blog in a log cabin, with no internet, so I can’t actually tell you anything about Little Beehive, other than it’s really quite high up. We had another stop and took some photos of Lake Louise, which is such a beautiful colour that the camera can’t even pick it up properly!

Our next stop was the Lake Agnes Teahouse. This little place is in an incredibly picturesque place but it’s so hard to get to that they have their supplies airlifted ounce a year! Everything is home made and while we were eating our $3 cookie, one of the waitresses went out to the lake, filled up a massive kettle and then took it inside to boil up! Talk about fresh from the source.

What goes up must come down and so we headed back to the stables. On the way down Chocolate, the little rascal, got a bit frisky and decided that he’d have a little gallop every now and then, which when you’re heading down a mountain, precariously close to the edge, is not ideal. He also had an itchy bum so we made several “rub my ass up against a tree” stops but I can’t fault him –he took me up and down a mountain without incident or injury, which I really appreciated, especially as I signed a waiver saying I couldn’t sue if anything happened to me!

I’m really glad that we picked this horse riding trip. It was effectively a private tour, through one of the most picturesque places in the world. It gave us a really unique viewpoint and it required little to no effort, which I really appreciated when I saw all the hikers huffing and puffing on the trails! I did feel bad for the horses, it was a hot day and a tough climb but they seemed very well looked after, we gave them plenty of breaks and they won’t be out on that trail again for a while. When we’d said goodbye to our horses we made the two minute drive to Lake Louise, to get a much closer look at one of Canada’s national treasures.

 The water really is amazing and despite being “the place to go” it wasn’t that busy. There were even some friendly Asian tourists who took some pictures for us! We had a quick walk round and I even had a paddle before making our way back to Storm Mountain.

The main lodge serves food and while it’s a bit pricey, we decided to give it a go. Despite trying to persuade him to try something different, Rory ordered the same thing as me – we had a strawberry, walnut and baked goats cheese salad. It had a balsamic dressing and there were a few grapes thrown in for good measure. It was delicious and the meal only got better – we both went for Bison steaks. I was worried that I wouldn’t like the taste of Bison but it just tasted like a really nice steak that was perfectly cooked and served with some delicious veggies. Unfortunately the dessert options didn’t appeal to me but hey, we have another night here so who knows what could happen?! We finished the evening by lighting a fire in our room and watching a few shows on the laptop. Bliss.