Good people, good food and good times

By Joan Janzen
joanjanzen@yahoo.com

Tourists can choose from numerous modes of transportation while on vacation, but there are a small group of individuals from the Netherhill/Brock area who love to get out their horses, wagons and saddles and head out on a trail ride.

Lionel Story and his daughter Jodi Story, Larry Benjamin and Duffy Ham are part of a local group who has been going on trail rides for many years. Lionel said he’s been going on trail rides for about twenty-five years, and his daughter Jodi also followed the trail at least ten years ago.

Those trail rides have taken them to many scenic locations, including Kananaskis and west of Rocky Mountain House. “We go to a lot of different places,” Lionel said. “We’ve been going to Montana for four or five years. This time we just happened to be at the east block of Grasslands National Park because someone wanted to check it out; we’ve been to Cypress quite a few times.” The riders headed out on July 19th.

Touring the countryside in wagons became popular years ago when people were recreating some of the trails that pioneers and the Northwest Mounted Police used from Manitoba to Fort McCleod. Now Lionel takes his wagon pulled by his draft horses. The wagon serves as sleeping quarters and a place to prepare meals, but it’s also used to haul essential supplies, like food and beer for those hot days on the prairie. Although some of the wagons on the trail are modified for a more comfortable ride, Lionel said his isn’t, so it can be a bumpy ride on the trail.

The trail boss is in charge of the route, while the wagon boss is in charge of organizing the location of the base camp where everyone camps for the night and from which the riders depart for daily rides over four or five days. “There’s a lot of organizing involved,” Lionel said.

The organizing includes ensuring water, firewood and bathrooms are provided at the base camp. They also need to get permission from landowners to cross any land that is privately owned. This year there was the added concern of not wanting to start fires, so campfires were not permitted, but that doesn’t stop the riders from getting together every evening.

If there are a lot of wagons, they make a circle at the base camp. According to Lionel, riders range in age from kids to 80-year-olds, both male and female. “If rides are well organized, there could be ten to twenty wagons, and by the weekend, there could be as many as 100 outriders joining in,” he said. “Most kids ride, and there are games organized for them in the evening. This time they were playing in the water tanks.”

There’s the usual preparation each day. The riders generally get up early, look after their horses, put on the coffee, have breakfast and prepare their lunch for the day. Then the horses have to be watered and harnessed. “It takes some time,” Jodi said. “We travel up to five to six hours each day. This one was so hot on the horses and riders, so we didn’t go too far.”

Jodi said, although it was a bit smokey, the view of the landscape was very pretty. “Some places remind me of the Drumheller badlands,” she said. And of course, there are lots of rolling hills, prairie grass, and Fort Walsh is always interesting.

At the end of the day everyone gets together, enjoy a potluck supper and there’s usually someone who brings their guitar to provide entertainment. Lionel said, many times if they’re close to a town, they would use a hall or barn to have a supper and dance complete with a live band.

The small group from Netherhill tries to go on a trail ride a couple of times each year. “We enjoy horses and people. A lot of the same people return, and we make a lot of good friends from different areas of the province,” Lionel said. “It’s always nice to meet some new faces too, and we communicate often with the people we meet. It’s a neat little community of people.”

Going on a trail ride consists of three important components: good people, good food, and good times.

Photos:

Lionel Story and his daughter Jodi Story. Photos by Paula Larson

Riders at Grasslands National Park (east block) Photo by Joe Hartung