Day 3 – White water rafting on horseback
Had a nice relaxed morning this morning – got up around 9.30am and headed down to the gym to do my stint on the treadmill. Got back up to the room, showered and treated myself to a room service breakfast of hot oatmeal, fruit and banana bread – yummy!! Then it was time to get my cowgirl on, so on came the boots, jeans and check shirt (alas, I had to leave my cowboy hat at home as I didn’t have enough room in my luggage!) and head on over to the Warner Stables for my 5hr back country trail ride. The weather had been looking fairly murky and threatening all morning and, by the time I got to the stables, was a full-on rain!! Ugh!! Got there by 12.30pm as instructed, ahead of a 1pm start – however, it was just me on the trail ride so needless to say the checking in process didn’t take very long!! One of the wranglers took pity on me (or maybe was trying to chat me up?!) and offered to lend me his slicker (no rude jokes, thanks very much) – which I absolutely accepted (all I would have needed would have been my cowboy hat to really have looked the part!). Then it was time to meet Vince, my guide for the ride and Flash, my trusty steed. I soon learnt that Flash was a complete misnomer as there was nothing speedy about my horse – he would lumber along at the slowest walk imaginable, then break into a short trot to catch up with the Vince’s horse in front! After five hours of that, certain parts of my anatomy were feeling a little saddle-sore!!!
So the route we were taking was around the base of Mt.Rundle, through the Spray Valley along the banks of the Spray River. It was fun to be on horseback again (its been a while) but everytime I do these walking treks, I re-realize that I actually like to go quite fast and, after a bit, just walking can be a bit dull! But the scenery was absolutely stunning (although, if truth be told, after a couple of hours of just walking through pine forest, it did get a teeny-weeny bit boring!). Fortunately, to spice things up a little, we embarked on a little equine river rafting as we dropped down from the forest trail right to the side of the river and proceeded to cross and re-cross at seemingly random intervals. All good fun, though, as you sat perched on the top of your horse wondering how good his footing was or if he was one of the clumsy ones!! Fortunately, both for my uninsured arse and also my camera kit, my horse had his wits about him and didn’t dump me off into the river – I’m not sure how happy they were about this turn of events, though, as the water looked pretty bloody chilly!!
After about 2.5hrs of trekking and wading, we stopped for a rest break and a cereal bar in a meadowy bit, before turning round and basically heading back the way we came. This was the first tour that Vince had done for a while so I don’t think he quite got his times worked out cos I think the last hour of the ride definitely felt like “let’s just wander around for a bit so I don’t get back to the stables too early!”. It was fun, though, as we rode past some cool waterfalls and also in the grounds of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel (so now I can say I’ve been there and can tick it off the 1000 Places to see before I Die list!) – all the little kids we passed were very excited to see horses, so I did feel a bit of a rock star as I waved and said hello to my adoring public!
So, got back to the stables at quarter to six and decided to head straight into town for dinner as the evening was lovely and sunny, so I thought I’d find a terrace or rooftop bar where I could enjoy the sunshine in a well-ventilated area (ie that wouldn’t mind me reeking of horses!). At the recommendation of the taxi driver, I went back to the Elk and Oarsman, but unfortunately their roofbar wasn’t open, so I eventually ended up in a place called Saltlik instead. Had to try the Alberta beef, so I had a steak and baked potato and it was yummy! Started off outside but moved in cos it got pretty cold pretty quickly (and also started raining too!). Got back to the hotel around half eight and just chilled out in my room, reading and watching a bit of telly before turning in around 10pm. Tomorrow’s adventure is a hike around Lake Louise – need to be up reasonably early to pack ready for my transfer at 8.45am.