Every year I organize a weekend horse trip on the Haller Grinder trails system, west of Clinton, in the Edge Hills and Marble Mountains. Several club members have attended because:
- It’s lots of fun
- It’s a great introduction to mountain horseback riding, and if you’ve ever dreamed about hunting with horses or packing into the mountains but aren’t sure just what that might be like then this is a trip for you.
- It’s great opportunity to camp in a beautiful place.
- There’s hiking, quading, dirt biking and exploring for those who don’t want to ride.
- You get to camp with horses.
- You can explore new country
- See wildlife
Haller Rec Site
Haller Rec Site is a pretty cool camp spot. It’s west of Clinton on the Jesmond Road (51.17141655260646, -121.95455740354774). The red pin is the camp. You get there by leaving Clinton and going down the Kelly Lake Road, then the Jesmond Road to just past the Circle H Mountain Ranch. Kostering Creek runs through the site, there’s a cool horse corral and lots of stuff to do around there. We ride from the site each day.
The Rides
We typically leave each morning around 9:00 and ride for several hours. Bring your own horses or rent one for $200/day. Jennifer or Charlie guide us through some spectacular country. People turn up and ride for one day or for multiples – some ride Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and some just ride Saturday. It’s nice for Charlie and Jennifer if we can get all the horses rented (there’s only about 5). Give me a call or email for more details. The views and wildflowers are awesome.
Jesmond Peak Lookout:
From Haller Rec Site its easy day trip It’s roughly 25–30 km away, but plan on 1.5–2+ hours because the road is steep and rocky. A truck might make it all the way, or at least will get close, and then you canjust park and walk the final few kilometres. The lookout itself is an old fire tower on a high ridge, with big open views over the Marble Range and Fraser Canyon country. It’s not a formal trail or maintained site—more of a classic backroad objective. On a clear day, the payoff is huge: wide alpine views, quiet, and very few people. It’s a solid half-day mission from camp, or a relaxed poke-around if you’re already out exploring.
Mount Bowman and/or Wildhorse Ridge:
Either of these are good day hikes. Bowman is the mountain we look at from camp at Haller. You can walk the whole thing or drive up to the trailhead and save yourself a coupler kilometres. Wildhorse is a longer hike, but it’s pretty epic. Trailforks has the specs here.