Relates the fascinating history of the valley from Neolithic peoples to present-day tourists. The area was controlled by the Stoney Indians in the mid-1800's when James Sinclair and Captain John Palliser travelled the valley in search of a pass across the Rocky Mountains. In the early 1900's trapper, surveyors and gold seekers set the stage for the commercial exploitation of the 1940's and '50's when the valley became a source of lumber, coal and power for the rapidly-growing City of Calgary. Nowadays the Kananaskis Valley is the heart of Kananaskis Country, a multi-use recreation area developed for Albertans in 1977.

When authors Emerson Sanford and Janice Sanford Beck began backpacking together nearly 20 years ago, they often wondered whose footsteps they were retracing and how today's Rockies trails came to be there. In Life of the Trail, they share their findings with hikers and history buffs, adventurers and armchair travellers. Life of the Trail 5 details the routes in the area bounded on the north by Lake Minnewanka and the Bow River and on the west by Altrude Creek and the Vermilion and Kootenay rivers. Featuring such historical characters as Duncan McGillivray, David Thompson, George Simpson, Tom Wilson, Walter Wilcox and Bill Peyto, Volume 5 in this remarkable series also sheds light on the early days of the now world-renowned Kananaskis Country.

Elizabeth von Rummel, born into aristocracy in turn-of-the-century Germany, came with her family to live on a ranch in the Alberta foothills, when working on it became the alternative to life in her World War One-ravaged homeland. Then, when most people were settling into middle age, Lizzie struck out on another challange; for 32 years she ran backcountry lodges like Skoki and Assiniboine, for which she received the Order of Canada and the friendship of hundreds of people whose lives were enhanced by her special charm.

Everything you need to know to explore on horseback. Packed with interpretive notes on wildlife, plants, geology, local history and horse language, this book tells you where to go, how to get there and what to do to have a successful one-day ride.

Today, many of the historic coal-mining communities of the Rocky Mountains are uninhabited ghost towns. Yet behind the crumbled ruins are tales of perseverance, danger and romance. A devastating mine explosion on Halloween shatters the lives of mining families in Nordegg. The miners of Mountain Park build a hockey rink still celebrated in local lore. A young immigrant couple in Mercoal establishes a successful business only to have their love story sadly cut short. These 11 dramatic and poignant ghost-town tales are sure to fascinate all who love pioneer history.