Want to escape Banff’s crowds? Saddle up and hit the backcountry

With my shoulders squeezed between two tourists I watch the landscape of Banff spread out below the gondola as we glide higher into the mountains. The scenery is unparalleled – the vast expanse of the Canadian Rockies reveals itself, carpeted with spruce and pine trees, and cut by the electric blue river weaving through the valleys.

But despite the striking landscape below me, I’m hot, cramped and irritable. To get on the gondola I’d stood in a 30-minute queue, sweating in the Canadian summer sunshine, and as I clamber out at the summit, I find myself elbowing my way through crowds and dodging to avoid being caught in the background of selfies. It’s undeniable that the views up here are breathtaking, but it’s also a stark reminder that Banff is a victim of its own beauty. The 2025/26 season was the busiest on record for Banff National park, welcoming some 4.5 million visitors through the year. While grudgingly acknowledging that other travellers have the same right as me to be here, I can’t help being annoyed that there’s just so many of them.

Just two days later, it’s a very different story. I’m in that same ruggedly beautiful landscape, but my only company is the steady clomp of horses’ hooves and the rush of the Bow River in the distance. Mobile phone service dropped off a couple of hours ago and I’m watching out for black bears, moose and deer, while Herb, a sturdy chestnut gelding, picks his way through the undergrowth. We’re deep in Banff backcountry, far from the tourist crowds.

I’d spent my last night on-grid at the Fairmont just outside of town, then dropped my small duffel bag with a few overnight necessities at the Banff Trail Riders ranch to be carried ahead by pack horses and mules. Our small group of riders has our own mule, Bugsy, who is carrying our lunch and any supplies we may need for the day as we wind our way into the wilderness of the National Park.

Our destination is Sundance Lodge, roughly 16km from Banff town, sitting in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. To reach the lodge we ride along mountain trails as the odd trickle of hikers and cyclists slowly disappears and the vast snow-crested peaks rise around us. At lunch I pull my hot feet from cowboy boots to be soothed in the icy cold river, fed by the surrounding glaciers, and drop my cowboy hat over my face to snooze by the water. It’s utterly peaceful.

This adventure into the backcountry involves three days in the saddle exploring Banff’s unspoiled wilderness with two nights at Sundance. As we ride into the valley and the lodge comes into view, marmots scamper across the lawn in the early evening light and swallows swoop low in the valley. The 10-room lodge is completely off-grid, powered by solar and kept warm by wood heat. It is steeped in Western lore, sitting near the original 10-Mile Cabin, which was built in 1923 and used as a rest shelter for trail riders heading to Mount Assiniboine.

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This doesn’t mean we’re roughing it. Sundance is simple but beautifully kept, with hot showers and cosy beds, plus there’s a lodge cook who rustles up a family-style dinner at the end of the day and a hearty breakfast before we hit the trails in the morning.

Owner of Banff Trail Riders Julie Canning meets us on our second evening at Sundance Lodge and regales us with stories of life on the trail, along with photos of the wildlife that call the National Park their home – from wolves, bears and cougars to pine martin and bald eagles.

“The backcountry is one of the most special places in all of Canada,” she tells me, as the group crowds around the long wooden dinner table. “Being able to explore thoese places that are still pristine, that are still magical, I think is really important.”

Banff Trail Riders offers 17 different types of horse riding trips, from hour-long trail rides to several days off-grid in the backcountry, all with the aim of taking you to places you wouldn’t otherwise get to see.

Julie explains that these experiences encourage visitors to become “environmental stewards” – something she describes as “truly caring, truly protecting, truly being present in these special places” and leaving them unimpaired for future generations.

She adds: “That role of bringing people sustainably and responsibly into the backcountry is really the core of everything that we do.”

There is no wifi at Sundance lodge and no electricity for charging devices, and I feel a moment of mild panic on the first night as the last bars of battery drain from my phone. With no option to scroll, I climb the short trail that weaves above the lodge and watch as the last dregs of sunshine dip behind the mountains, before finding a couple of old paperbacks to read while sitting out on the deck in the cool evening.

This sense of being disconnected from the outside world, but completely connected with the natural world is a key ethos for Julie.

She says: “Where else can you go and be truly present with yourself, and be truly present with the people that you're travelling with?”

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The values of the West run through everything the Trail Riders do – but these aren’t the macho, red-blooded qualities you may associate with cowboy culture.

“They are the values of stewardship, responsibility, caring, and loyalty,” Julie explains. “The things that are sometimes forgotten in this crazy fast-paced world.”

Julie points out that not only is cowboy culture often associated with masculine virtues, but wild spaces in the North American West have in the past been thought of as the preserve of male explorers. “Women traditionally weren't part of that”, she adds.

Work on the ranch is often challenging and physically demanding, but many of the Banff Trail Riders employees are women – with a significant number holding top leadership positions.

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Julie says: “As we find our place in the world of Western lore – rebalancing old values and creating safe places for women in the backcountry – we are demonstrating how capable we are and that we belong out here.”

As Herb and I amble back into the ranch after three days in the backcountry, I’m saddle sore, achy and covered in several layers of grime. But I’m also blissfully relaxed – far more so than I have been following any luxury spa experience.

Julie laughs when I tell her this, and sums it up perfectly: “You are never the same person that rides out as the person that rode in.”

Annabel’s trip was supported by Travel Alberta.

How to do it

The Banff Trail Riders Sundance Lodge Explorer trip includes three nights backcountry riding, two nights accommodation at Sundance Lodge, all meals (vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free can be arranged with advance notice), trail fees and cowboy guides. Prices start at £986 per person.

How to get there

WestJet and Air Canada both offer direct flights from the UK to Calgary. Flight time is around 9 hours 15 minutes. From Calgary, transfer by road to Banff takes around 1 hour 30 minutes.