"That's the pass we're heading for," Greg Olesky, our guide, said. He was pointing out a cleft in the peaks at the far end of the valley. "We'll camp in the valley on the other side tonight."
Ken, a fellow traveler, and I stared into the postcard-perfect landscape as our horses nibbled grass. Lush alpine meadows, sparkling creeks and shimmering waterfalls were bowled in by jagged, snow-dusted peaks. "No way," Ken said.
This made me feel better, because I was thinking the same thing. I was the rookie rider here, but Ken is an experienced horseman, and he knows how to judge horse distance. He comes from the flatlands of Minnesota, however, and Banff is Rocky Mountain territory.
This was our fourth day out, and I was finally feeling at home in the saddle. Lunch was an hour ago, though, and it just didn't seem possible to ride through all that dramatic landscape before nightfall.
There were seven of us on horseback here deep in the backcountry of Banff National Park, a 2,564-square-mile expanse of mountain wilderness. We were on one of Ron Warner's six-day wilderness expeditions. The brochure for this horse-packing adventure recommended experienced riders only. I figured my experience spanned about 35 years and totaled--not counting time on camels--perhaps five full hours in the saddle. I hoped it would do. Although I knew we might encounter bears or cougars, my biggest worry was whether I'd be able to sit in the saddle up to six hours a day. But if that was the price for getting into the legendary backcountry of Banff, I was willing to chance it.
Eighty miles west of Calgary, just inside Alberta near the British Columbia border, Banff was originally set aside for protection in 1885. Banff, Canada's first national park, is the most popular of this country's 40 national parks and reserves, welcoming more than 4.5 million visitors annually.
"Banff is the monumental landscape of the Canadian Rockies," Canadian historian Robert Sandford says. "And one of the finest accomplishments of ecosystem preservation in the world."
To preserve this natural habitat, there are no roads in the interior and no wheeled vehicles of any kind are permitted on the trails (mountain bike access is restricted to designated trails). The park's vast backcountry wilderness is accessible only on foot or by horseback.
