Horse Pack Trips

Horse Pack Trips & Camping

Your Pack Trip

Horse Pack Trails and Group Size

Trails & Group Size

Guides and Horses

Guides & Horses

Camp, Meals & Equipment

Camps, Meals, Equipment

Horse Pack Rates & Dates

Horse Pack Rates & Dates

Horse Trail Riding and Horse Camping in Beautiful British Columbia

Home Sweet Home in the Chilcotin Mountains

It’s very surprising how little you need to make life comfortable while camping out on a horse trail ride. On our pack trips it’s back to the basics.  A great horse camp offers essential needs:  a beautiful flat spot to pitch our tents, sweet mountain grasses for the horses, clean cold water, a great view, a campfire and protection from the wind.   

Our two person tents are spacious and provide protection against the rain or wind. Quality tents are used with full rain tarps. Normally we have two people to a tent to help keep the loads lighter for the horses, but single tents are available.  Keep in mind, four hands (two people) make lighter work when putting up and taking down your tent. 

Each person receives a duffle bag: the duffle bag carries your extra clothing, toiletries, sleeping bag, foam sleeping mat, which is body length and an inch and a half thick providing comfort and insulation while sleeping.  This may seem like a lot but it all fits nicely. The guides will give you instructions how to pack your duffle bag.

    Horse Camping Trip
    Camp fire

    The Art of Camp Fire Cooking –Tasty, Sizzling and So Good

    Meals on the pack trips are made with fresh ingredients and are delicious and plentiful.  The morning’s meal is a hearty Canadian breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes, eggs benedict, or our famous Chilko scramble, all cooked over a camp fire.   Lunch is packed in your saddle bags and is made up of sandwiches along with an apple or orange and a candy bar. Dinner is a fresh salad, vegetable, meat, pasta, rice or potato.

    If you require a special diet, please check with us as we may be able to accommodate your needs. However, we are limited in what we can pack in. Meals are prepared family style over the camp fire, although we can take additional salad, pasta and fruit.  We are unable to prepare “special separate meals” on a pack trip. 

    Cooking Over a Campfire – It’s All in the Wood

    The success of cooking over a camp fire is all in the wood. Depending on a camp’s location, we like to use two types of firewood. Pine creates a hot, crackling fire but burns quickly. In order to control the heat, we tend to use kindling size wood to control the flame. Fir is excellent for producing coals for grilling steaks. It burns hot but slower than pine.  The wood of the Poplar makes a nice slow burn and is great when combined with pine. Of course all of the wood is best if it has been dead and dry for a number of years. A green piece of wood does not burn well and creates a lot of smoke. On your adventure, all riders help collect wood. 

    Horse Camping
    Horse Packing Equipment

    The Art of Horse Packing and Equipment

    We use pack horses to carry our food and supplies into the mountains. Each pack horse has a special pack saddle and we use the traditional “sawbuck pack saddle”.  Each horse carries a set of pack boxes which hold the food and cooking gear, plus two tents and three duffel bags. To secure the load and keep the packs dry, we cover the load with a tarp and secure it using the “Michigan Hitch”, a tried and true method of keeping the pack nice and tight. Usually three to five pack horses accompany us on a trip. Of course, this depends on the size of the group. One horse also carries our “mini-bar”, which is known as the “pack trip bar”. We also stock the mini-bar with oats and brushes for the horses. 

      Horse Camping

      There is a feeling as you travel on horseback in an untouched, pristine land that brings out a sense of connection to the world around you, an awareness that can only be described by experiencing it first-hand.  Every day your horse takes you on a unique experience through beautiful rugged valleys: meadows filled with vibrantly colored wildflowers, crystal clear lakes and fresh mountain streams.  At camp, there is plenty of time to unwind around the warmth of a camp fire, as the aromas of delicious home cooked meals float through the air. After the day is done and the horses are staked out, tents secured, look up and fill your eyes with the dazzling blanket of stars overhead, while listening to the unique and quiet stillness found only in a pristine wilderness. This is what our horse trail riding and camping trips are about.

      Come share our passion of horsemanship and Join us for your next Horseback Adventure and Discover The Adventurer In You! 

      Horse Camping

      See For Yourself...

      Want to see more of Tsylos’ Lodge Riding? Take a look at our Lodge Riding gallery of photos to help you really understand the amazing experience you’re about to embark on. Click here to see all.

      Ready to Visit?

      Book Your Chilko Adventure Now!

      CHILKO TALES...

      Trail Horse Spring Tune Up

      Trail Horse Spring Tune Up

      JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

      • Hidden
        MM slash DD slash YYYY
      • By submitting this form you agree to our Privacy Policy

      CHILKO PHOTO GALLERY

      Tsylos Park Lodge Fences

      Tsylos Park Lodge & Adventures

      Location: Chilko Lake, BC Canada
      Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2560 Williams Lake, British Columbia Canada V2G 4P2
      Toll-Free: 1-800-385-6614 / Office: 1-250-483-4368
      Email: [email protected]

      © 2022 Tsylos Park Lodge & Wilderness Adventures | Chilko Lake BC | All rights reserved.

      Vancouver Web Design by Rainy Town Media