Retired park warden Dale Portman lived his dream of riding the range for a living in the spectacular Canadian Rockies. His exhilarating tales take us to an Old West world of wild horses and hair-raising roundups, youthful bravado and larger-than-life characters: Bert, the tough Millarville patriach; Donny and Faye, free-spirited children of the Alberta foothills; and Jim, the eccentric park warden who careens from one potential disaster to another. Filled with humour and adventure, these true stories capture the excitement and danger of backcountry life.

Dale Portman is a retired park warden who spent nearly 30 years working for the warden service, often involved with backcountry travel, mountain rescue and avalanche control work in Jasper, Banff, Yoho, Glacier and Revelstoke national parks. He and his wife, Kathy Calvert, live in Cochrane, Alberta, and head to the mountains as often as possible. Dale has written three books about his experiences working in the mountains of western Canada: Riding on the Wild Side: Tales of Adventure in the Canadian West, Rescue Dogs: Crime and Rescue Canines in the Canadian Rockies and Guardians of the Peaks: Mountain Rescue in the Canadian Rockies and Columbia Mountains, the latter co-written with Kathy. Besides seeing new cultures in foreign lands, Dale's greatest love is for extended trips to remote parts of the Canadian Rockies, by skis, on foot or on horseback leading a couple of pack horses.

Dale Portman's profile page