Page 8 - AEF-AlbertaBits_Summer-2025

Trail Guide
Rocky
Mountain
High
All-season trail riding
in Kananaskis Country
By Joanna Patten
YOU DON’T NEED to look too far to find
adventure and spend time with your horse
this summer. We asked Kelsey Noland, a
photographer and equestrian enthusiast
from southern Alberta, to tell us about her
favourite trails in the province. It was hard
to pick one, she says, but the Sandy McNabb
trail system, named for an early 20th-century
horse trainer and oil worker in the Turner
Valley, is a stand out.
Located in Sheep River Provincial Park,
Sandy McNabb Equestrian Campground
8
Alberta Bits Summer 2025
Photos supplied by Kelsey Noland
is a great place to begin your trail-riding
adventure in the foothills of the Rocky
Mountains. Twenty minutes west of Diamond
Valley, the first-come, first-served campground
is the perfect home base as you explore
Kananaskis Country’s beautiful trails. As an
equestrian campground, Sandy McNabb is
outfitted with everything one needs to camp
with their horse, including covered horse
stalls and a well for watering horses. The
campground even has direct access to trails —
no need to trailer to the trailhead.
Riders of all ages and abilities can tackle
the trails in the Long Prairie Ridge, Death
Valley Loop and Price Camp.
“For those less experienced, riding alone
or who aren’t familiar with the area, it is very
easy to make your way around with multiple
maps posted throughout the trail system,”
says Noland.
Surrounded by pine trees and a crystal-
clear river, the area around Sandy McNabb is
truly stunning.
The varied landscape — from ridges to
valleys and meadows — offers beautiful vistas