Alberta
Outdoor Adventure in the Canadian Rockies With Your Grandchild
Program No. 21822RJ
On this active adventure with your grandchild, discover the Canadian Rockies by raft and on horseback and watch for grizzly bears, eagles and mountain goats in the wild!
Enroll with Confidence
We want your Road Scholar learning adventure to be something to look forward to—not worry about. Learn more
Protecting the Environment
We offset a portion of the emissions created by your travel. Learn more
Prefer to enroll or inquire by phone?
800-454-5768
Age 9 - 12
ROOMING OPTION PRICING
The figures below indicate the rooming options available.
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DATES | ||||
Jul 7 - Jul 13, 2024
3,299 2,299 | ||||
Jul 7 - Jul 13, 2024
| 3,299 / Adult
2,299 / Child
| 3,299 / Adult
2,299 / Child
| 4,299 / Adult
2,299 / Child
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Jul 21 - Jul 27, 2024
3,299 2,299 | ||||
Jul 21 - Jul 27, 2024
| 3,299 / Adult
2,299 / Child
| 3,299 / Adult
2,299 / Child
| 4,299 / Adult
2,299 / Child
| |
Filling Fast! Aug 4 - Aug 10, 20243,299 2,299 | ||||
Aug 4 - Aug 10, 2024
| 3,299 / Adult
2,299 / Child
| 3,299 / Adult
2,299 / Child
| 4,299 / Adult
2,299 / Child
| |
7 days
6 nights
15 meals
6B 4L 5D
1
Check-In, Registration, Welcome Dinner, Orientation
Calgary, Alberta
2
Calgary Zoo, Heritage Park, Transfer to Banff
Banff, Alberta
3
Banff National Park: Johnston Canyon, Cave and Basin Site
Banff, Alberta
4
Whitewater Rafting, Yoho National Park, Field Centre
Banff, Alberta
5
Horseback Riding, Ranching, Free Time
Banff, Alberta
6
Grizzly Bears, Lake Louise Gondola, Moraine Lake
Banff, Alberta
7
Program Concludes
Banff, Alberta
At a Glance
Take a deep breath and take in a huge gulp of some of the freshest air you’ll ever breathe as you visit the Canadian Rockies with your grandchild. Together you’ll experience the beauty of the majestic mountains along the Bow River trail from the saddle of a friendly horse. Explore the glittering waters of Lake Louise, and observe grizzlies from a gondola in one of the best places on earth to see these magnificent creatures in real life. The Rockies are just waiting for your curious, enthusiastic discovery.
Activity Level
Outdoor: Spirited
Walking two miles daily, stairs, river float on Class II to III rapids. Elevations up to 5,700 feet.
Small Group
Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.
What You'll Learn
- Float along the gentle natural roller coaster of Kicking Horse River by white water raft.
- Explore Yoho National Park, home to timber wolf, lynx, cougars, black bears, moose and more, and learn about Burgess Shale fossils.
- See a train looping over and under itself as it figure-eights through snowcapped mountains via the amazing Spiral Tunnels.
General Notes
Program is for grandchildren ages 9-12. For a comparable family adventure for all generations, check out "Outdoor Adventure in the Canadian Rockies With Your Family" (#23439)!
Featured Expert
All trip experts
Sonya Pollock
Sonya Pollock grew up in Calgary, Alberta and loved taking trips out to the Rocky Mountains as a child. These trips with her family solidified her love of nature and wildlife. Her passion for helping animals resulted in her pursuit of an MSc in animal behavior and welfare where she studied thermoregulation in the Indian rhinoceros. She’s currently a Ph.D. candidate in wildlife ecology at the University of Alberta where she studies grizzly bear habitat selection in Banff National Park.
Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.
Brenda Blair
View biography
A summer job as a general studies student changed Brenda Blair’s life forever. She spent eight years living in Cold Lake before moving to Sydney, Australia for a few more. For the past twenty years Brenda has lived in Calgary, being involved in adult education as well as having a particular interest in vintage and historic aircraft. That had her working for a number of years at the Aero Space Museum of Calgary, bringing her passion to life for visitors.
Sonya Pollock
View biography
Sonya Pollock grew up in Calgary, Alberta and loved taking trips out to the Rocky Mountains as a child. These trips with her family solidified her love of nature and wildlife. Her passion for helping animals resulted in her pursuit of an MSc in animal behavior and welfare where she studied thermoregulation in the Indian rhinoceros. She’s currently a Ph.D. candidate in wildlife ecology at the University of Alberta where she studies grizzly bear habitat selection in Banff National Park.
Suggested Reading List
(18 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Outdoor Adventure in the Canadian Rockies With Your Grandchild
Program Number: 21822
All Fall Down: The Landslide Diary of Abby Roberts
After her father dies, Abby and her family move west to live with relatives who run a hotel in the mining town of Frank, Alberta. Abby keeps busy helping out at the hotel, being chief caregiver to her little brother with Down Syndrome, and learning Morse code at the telegraph office.
When the devastating Frank Slide buries much of the town, Abby must do all she can to help. But a long-buried family secret emerged just before the disaster — and now she will have to wait for the dust to settle before getting the answers she so desperately wants.
Inspired by two of her own relatives, one who helped run a telegraph office in the late 1800s and another who shares Abby's story (and her family secret), Jean Little crafts a compelling story rich with emotion and historical detail.
The Amazing Death of Calf Shirt and Other Blackfoot Stories, Three Hundred Years of Blackfoot History
A wonderful collection of stories, illuminating the history of the Blackfoot people of the prairies of southern Alberta and northern Montana.
Mark of the Grizzly
McMillion gives readers a thorough understanding of the behavior of these magnificent, yet deadly creatures through examples of encounters gone very wrong.
Scats and Tracks of the Rocky Mountains
An essential pocket guide to tracks, scats and signs of not just the mammals of the region, but also of the reptiles, amphibians and birds. Each of 70 species gets a double-page spread, with line drawings of the animal, scat and track, range map and description.
After the Ice Age: The Return of Life to Glaciated North America
Eighteen thousand years ago, an immense sheet of ice covered all of present day Canada and northernmost U.S. This story tells of how a harsh terrain was transformed into the environment we know today.
Rocky Mountain Nature Guide
This guide includes information on mammals, fish, birds, trees, shrubs, wildflowers, insects and reptiles from the entire span of the Rockies - Alaska to New Mexico. Featuring over 300 exact full-color illustrations.
Rocky Mountains
This National Geographic "Destinations" book, featuring breathtaking color photographs, introduces the wildlife and terrain of the Rocky Mountains. Geared for kids ages 6 to 12.
Stories from Where We Live, The Great North American Prairie
An anthology of writings about this North American ecoregion, from Alberta and Saskatchewan south to Texas -- wonderfully useful as a young person's guide to people, nature and place.
This Wild Spirit: Women in the Rocky Mountains of Canada
In 1912, Mary Vaux, a botanist, glaciologist, painter, and photographer, wrote about her mountain adventures: “A day on the trail, or a scramble over the glacier, or even with a quiet day in camp to get things in order for the morrow's conquests? Some how when once this wild spirit enters the blood…I can hardly wait to be off again." Vaux's compulsion was shared by many women whose intellects, imaginations, and spirits rose to the challenge of the mountains between the late-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. This Wild Spirit explores a sampling of women's creative responses—in fiction and travel writing, photographs and paintings, embroidery and beadwork, letters and diaries, poetry and posters—to their experiences in the Rocky Mountains of Canada.
Reading The Rocks, A Biography of Ancient Alberta
Scientists at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology and natural history writer Keiran worked together to bring about this vividly detailed account of Alberta’s rich geological history, beginning with the Big Bang and traveling into the modern era. Includes over 200 full-color photographs and 45 maps, timelines and line drawings.
Raven's End
A young raven, with no memory of his past, arrives to the beautiful and dangerous landscape of Yamnuska, Banff. A book that looks at the complex world of ravens.
Lost in the Barrens
Two brothers face the wilderness with no food and little hope of rescue when their canoe is destroyed by the rapids in this tale of adventure for ages ages 9-12. To survive, they build an igloo, battle a towering grizzly bear, track several wolves, slaughter caribou for food and clothing. They tame two lost huskies for companionship -- and maybe a way home.
Switchbacks, True Stories from the Canadian Rockies
A native Albertan and park warden in the Canadian Rockies, Marty relates colorful anecdotes from friends, colleagues and his own youth in this collection of tales, which includes A Horse Named Candy.
The Rocky Mountain Berry Book
In an inspired move, Bob Krumm included recipes in this family oriented field guide to 15 berry species of the Rockies. Now children may pick and parents may cook, and everyone will be pleased.
Handbook of the Canadian Rockies
Geology, plants, animals, history and recreation from Waterton/Glacier to the Yukon.
A Prairie as Wide as the Sea: The Immigrant Diary of Ivy Weatherall
Ivy Weatherall and her family leave a comfortable life in London for the promised riches of Canada's expanding West. Expecting to make their fortunes on Uncle Alf's ranch, the Weatheralls are shocked to find themselves living in a sod hut on a rented farm. Ivy is determined to taste life to the fullest, whatever hardships she may encounter. Writing in her diary, she recounts learning the new skills expected of a young farm girl. She struggles to help the family survive, but ultimately learns that responsibility brings its rewards.
As Long As the River Flows
In the 1800s, the education of First Nations children was taken on by various churches, in government-sponsored residential schools. Children were forcibly taken from their families in order to erase their traditional languages and cultures.
As Long as the Rivers Flow is the story of Larry Loyie's last summer before entering residential school. It is a time of learning and adventure. He cares for an abandoned baby owl and watches his grandmother make winter moccasins. He helps the family prepare for a hunting and gathering trip
The Great Rocky Mountain Nature Factbook
Ewing's family-friendly guide, with black-and-white drawings throughout, answers the curiosity of engaged visitors about the plants, animals and natural features of the Rockies.