The day had finally come. We were finally kicking off our horseback riding trip through the Canadian Rockies. We dropped off the bags we were not bringing with us on the trip at our hotel and loaded into a van heading to the Banff Trail Riders stable. The trip was advertised as horseback riding through the mountains with no cell service and staying at remote lodges at night. It sounded like heaven, and I could not wait to get out there.
At the stable, we completed paperwork, got our rain poncho and saddle bags, met our guide, and best of all, got paired with our horse. I was paired with a dark palomino with a big white blaze named Timon. I was a little nervous when I got on and began riding. I had a couple of nasty falls off my personal horse at home and had lost a lot of confidence. I had hoped this trip would help me get comfortable riding horses again. Spoiler alert: it did.
Day One of Riding
We hit the trails, going further than those who booked one-hour trail rides and then further than those on the two-hour rides. After two hours, my hips were aching. Holy moly, was I not in riding shape! We stopped at a lunch spot along the Bow River.
It was beautiful, and I surprisingly still had cell service. The horses were tied to a line in the trees, which was their cue to take a nap. After lunch, we continued deeper into the wilderness, surrounded by tall pines and distant mountain peaks. A couple more hours later, we arrived at Sundance Lodge.
We dropped off our horses at their corral and walked across the bridge over the river, through the yard full of sunbathing marmots, to the lodge, where we met the staff who worked there, changing the sheets, cleaning, and preparing meals. I felt
awkward about not helping with the cooking or cleaning up. They won’t let you do anything to help out.
We were assigned rooms with our roommate and found our bags by the door. Something I haven’t mentioned yet is that everything, including our bags, is carried by mules. So the train of mules arrived earlier in the day, and they dropped off our bags. The mules carry everything that keeps the lodges in business, including sheets, groceries, garbage, hay cubes for the horses – every single thing. You will see them leave early in the morning with a line of 20 or so mules all strung together with big packs on their sides, heading further into the backcountry or back to town.
There were bathrooms inside, but they were only to be used at night, and the outhouses were reserved for daytime use. Otherwise, the lodge wasn’t at all what I would call primitive. It certainly felt like glamping or lodging in luxury! Oh, and I had long-lost cell service by then – an immediate relief.
A glacial river went by the lodge, and a couple of us went in. It was as cold as you would expect. I actually cut my finger when the current swept me downstream and didn’t notice it until I was out because I was so numb!
Day Two – Heading Further Into the Wilderness
This day was awesome. It was so picturesque riding through incredible mountain landscapes. It felt like a dream, and I couldn’t believe I was seeing it with my own eyes. It didn’t even look real. While riding along a cliff edge with a river bed below us, we heard a helicopter. It was growing louder, getting closer. Amazingly, the helicopter landed on a bed of rocks in the river right next to us. They were putting out fire ban signs since it had not rained in a while. They only stopped for a brief few seconds and then took off again. The horses were just as confused as we were at first, but they remained calm.
We crossed rivers (which was incredibly cool), stopped in another beautiful location for lunch, where the horses napped again, and then journeyed another couple of hours to our next destination, Halfway Lodge.
How can I describe Halfway Lodge in words? Serene, unreal, perfect. It’s a small lodge set miles deep in the wilderness, with no one else around, and the most iconic landscape
you can imagine surrounding it. You felt as though you were looking at a painting when gazing at the view. It just did not seem real. Our host here was Tegan – she was super. She ran around fixing things, making food, and keeping the lodge in working order all by herself.
There is no bathroom here – just the outhouse outside and one sink out around back for doing dishes, and where you can get a bowl of water to brush your teeth. But beyond that, there was a shower. The shower was set at the back of the lodge, facing an open mountainous landscape. It had three walls and provided hot water, so you could shower outside with an incredible view. This place was the closest I had ever been to heaven on earth, and we would be here for the next two nights.
Day Three – Allenby Pass
Typically, on this day of the trip, the group would ride up Allenby Pass. But it’s very much hit or miss and depends on the amount of snow, ice, and water up there – oh, and bears. The horses are used to drinking from the rivers and eating snow, but if there is “pink snow” or “watermelon snow,” then it’s a no-go. Pink snow is a toxic algae, so if it exists on the mountains, the horses can’t go up because they cannot drink. Also, Allenby Pass serves as a highway for the grizzly bears, including the infamous Boss.
The two people in charge of the mules went for a ride up Allenby Pass (not with the mules) the day before to assess whether it was safe to ride all the way up. They determined it was not. Bummed as we were because it’s typically a highlight of the 5-day trip, we knew that most groups don’t actually get to ride up it, so we were not surprised.
However, it may not have been safe for the horses, but it was safe for the humans. So the horses got the day off, and our guide and a few of us packed some water and sandwiches, bear spray, and a Bluetooth speaker, and began the hike up Allenby Pass. It was the coolest hike I have ever been on. It was the coolest landscape I had actually ever seen in my entire life. 
It was towering gray mountains topped with snow, but also grassy fields and dainty flowers growing out of rocks. The entirety of Allenby Pass used to be underwater, so way up at the top of the world, you can easily identify fossils in the rock. We stopped for lunch at the top and just took it all in. As we walked further, we came across a bear print.
I put my hand next to it, and the print was significantly larger than my hand. Knowing this is a popular bear route and how far away from the lodge we were, we decided this was a good place to turn around. I really wanted to see a grizzly on this trip, but I also wasn’t about to put myself in a dangerous situation.
When we got back, Teresa and I decided to go into the river. Let me take a moment to tell you about Teresa. She is a slender woman from Copenhagen who skinny dips in Copenhagen Bay every morning, year-round. In the winter, she and others in the area just push past the ice to get into the water. It’s just a part of her daily life. So, while on this trip, when we would all get up, she would bundle up, go to the river, take off all but her bathing suit, and take a dip. Then, she would calmly get out, put her winter jacket and hat back on, and start her day.
This would be my first time getting into the river at this lodge, and it was deeper than the river that we went into at the other lodge. You could jump into this river and actually submerge your body. In my bathing suit, I bent down by the water and fell in front first. There was no way I’d be able to get in slowly, and I didn’t want to jump and risk my head going under. So I just tipped in.
And when I hit the water, I swear my heart stopped. It was so cold that I could not breathe at all. I very dramatically swam around in one tiny circle, then clambered onto the riverbank so I could breathe again.
Day Four – Hike to the Waterfall
Since we didn’t get to ride yesterday, we were given the option to ride to a scenic lookout location or go on a hike towards a glacial lake, passing a waterfall on the way. We chose to go on the ride, but when we were getting ready to go, our guide hit her head and got a concussion.
She was immediately unwell. Long story short, she rode back to Sundance Lodge and was airlifted back to town. In the meantime, a new guide would be making the ride from town to our lodge. So our group was left to chill at the lodge with Tegan. We asked if we could go on a hike, but Tegan was too busy to come with us. After discussing with others over their radios, she said we could go on a hike to the waterfall without her, but we had to return by a certain time and bring bear spray with us. So that’s what three of us did.
Determined to get to the waterfall and make it back by her curfew, we hiked fast. And it wasn’t just hiking but bushwhacking. Not many people take this path, so it was very overgrown, and there were only a few ribbons for us to follow, placed by a guide earlier in the season.
We happily made it to the waterfall, turned around, and made it back to the lodge right on time. My brand-new wool long-sleeved shirt was turned to fluff from walking through dense evergreens. Although it would have been cool to see a remote glacial lake, I understand why they were being so cautious.
Day Five – Heading Back to Sundance Lodge
It was devastating to leave Halfway Lodge. The location is so remote and serene, and life felt so simple there. I never wanted to leave. But the mules had taken our bags already, so we got on our horses and began the ride back to Sundance Lodge. We stopped in an iconic meadow with the mountains and glacial lakes in the backdrop to take photos. This is the scenic location we could have ridden to the day before, so it was great that we still got to go there.
The scenery along the ride to Sundance was incredible as ever. Even just looking at it from the opposite direction, it still felt unreal, and despite being on day five, I continued to snap pictures on my phone throughout the entire day.
Day Six – Heading Back to Banff
It was our last day, and I was feeling the anxiety grow in me as we rode closer and closer to civilization. I loved not having cell service during the trip, and I dreaded when my phone would start lighting up with text messages, missed calls, and so on. I loved being inaccessible and getting to live in my own world, in the moment. We had more epic water crossings, one last lunch on the river, and took a picture with our pack mule, Pearl. I made the mistake and looked at my phone at the lunch spot. I had service there, and I saw a text message from my dad telling me President Trump had been shot.
I put my phone down and wished I had never read it. I didn’t want to know about real-world stuff. I loved not being involved. I just wanted to be at peace without the constant buzz of information.
That evening, back in Banff, we went out for a large group dinner. The next morning, feeling refreshed and clean, I boarded the Banff Airporter bus back to the Calgary Airport.
I reminisced about my trip during the entire travel day back home to Rochester and felt so lucky to have had this experience. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and I was happy I went with my gut and signed up. This trip has inspired me to go on more solo adventures, and I appreciate Wild Women for coordinating trips like this. I look forward to going on more trips with them and with other travel groups.