The weekend before last, Dave went camping with a couple of his buddies out to Ya Ha Tinda. This the only federally operated working horse ranch in Canada and there is also the Bighorn Campground. The ranch was established by the Brewster Brothers--a guiding, outfitting and touring company-- in 1908 as a place to breed and train the horses for the tours. The Canadian government took it over in 1917 and since then it is where all the horses that are used for patrolling and protecting Western Canada's national parks, are wintered and trained. Ya Ha Tinda means 'Mountain Prairie" in the Stoney language--Nakoda. The Stoneys are part of the Lakota First Nations people. I first became aware of Ya Ha Tinda when I worked for the Alberta Forest Service in the 1970's. Sonya and I loved the name---it sounded so romantic--we were both avid readers of Zane Grey westerns!!
The ranch covers 3,945 hectares, or about 9,850 acres, and runs 27 km. along the north bank of the Red Deer River. There are lots of trails for riding and hiking, and wonderful scenery.
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| The guys at the campsite. |
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| Bighorn Creek |
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| Creek canyon wall |
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| Bighorn Falls |
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| Some ambitious person created a chair out of the shale slabs |
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| And here's the king sitting on his throne!! |
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| Nice horse riding trail--Diana???? |
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| Still lots of snow on the Rockies |
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| Ranch buildings |
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An elk (wapiti) heading up the slope.
We are hoping to go to Ya Ha Tinda after the weekend. It's supposed to rain the whole weekend, but clear up by Monday, so I hope we can take Duffy and have a picnic! Fingers crossed!!!
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11 comments:
It looks like a beautiful place for a picnic. Hope yours comes out perfectly with great weather:)
Wow! Such amazing scenery - & right in our backyard! Those canyon walls and falls are very impressive. Love the name. I sure hope the weather co-operates for you :)
I also really like what you've done with the place! This template is so fresh and streamlined.
Thanks! I sure hope so!
Thanks Jane! It's a different look alright! I like the fact I can make the pictures much larger and not over-run the sidebars. There are lots of hidden and not so hidden gems of nature in our lovely province and I'm hoping to see this one in a couple of days!!
That is soooooo beautiful there! And yes, good horsey trails! All of it is just breathtaking! The rocks are a lot more like KY/TN than California. There are huge craved out sections of the hills for the highways and it looks like those rocks. Very, very pretty!! I need to trailer up with some horses & collies and go camping!! Wouldn't that be a trip! Nice post Dianne.
Oh and cool on the new blog look!! We all needed a change didn't we? Hahaha!!
Yes Diana, I guess we did!! Hahaha!!
The whole of the Rockies are like that too and then into BC with the Purcells, the Selkirks, etc. Roads and railway tracks blasted out of the rock with sheer rock faces. Quite something. That would be so cool if you came up here with horses and collies and camped and rode the mountain trails!!
One day.........I will put it on my list!
I love the photos! I want to go there too! Have a great time when you go and get loads of photos.
The new style of the blog looks great. So streamlined and tidy. :)
We love the picture of the falls.
Essex & Sherman
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