About Timberwolf Tours, Canadian Tour Operator
Canadian tour operator for soft adventure tours with small groups in Western Canada
Timberwolf Tours is specialist for guided adventure tours in Canada. You experience western Canada in small groups with tent- or hotel accommodations. Here you find a selection of guided active adventures, canoe trips, family vacations and bus round trips. Almost all tours include several specially selected day hikes. So many impressions, so many memorable sights when travelling in the Rocky Mountains and to the far western coast of Vancouver Island.
Tour operator in Canada since 1986, family owned and operated.
Timberwolf Tours is a western Canadian tour operator, based near Edmonton, Alberta, the gateway to the Canadian north. The private company, established 1986 by Mike and Annemarie Kuhnert, is a well known and reliable outfitter for adventure tours in Canada. We operate small group travel from the Canadian Rockies to Vancouver Island in BC. Thanks to so many years of experience, we have mastered guiding small groups for outdoor- and active adventure tours. From your first contact with us to your last Good Bye, we strive to deliver the best possible service and ensure that your holiday will be an enjoyable and stress free experience.
In the summer of 1986 we guided our first soft adventure tour with a small group in western Canada. Everybody had a good time, word got around, year after year we kept growing. We learned a lot and still today are always on the lookout for new destinations and adventures. Each summer, after all the preparations, we are looking forward to the start of the season when we meet so many wonderful people from all over the world, hear their stories and make new friends. We have been perfecting outdoor and active travel for small groups and families. Thanks to our experience we deliver a high level of service. From your first contact with us to our last fare-well, we strive to make you feel comfortable and your vacation a safe and enjoyable adventure.
Our program is a selection of guided hiking, adventure and canoe trips for small groups as well as family vacations and hotel / bus tours. You find outdoor summer vacations with accommodations in tents or good hotels in western Canada from the Rockies to Vancouver Island and the Yukon Territories. They usually include activities like hiking, camping and walking and some canoe trips. Here, as well as with the hotel round trips for small groups there is time and opportunity for options like whitewater rafting, kayaking, bear or whale watching excursions, mountain biking, trail rides and much more to stay active.
References from travel professionals
Dozens of travel agents, tour operators large and small from many different countries trust us with their clients. You can believe they have checked us out. Agents know that we comply with all legal requirements, have all necessary licenses and permits and that we deliver what we promise. Feel free to ask them about Timberwolf Tours.
Book with confidence
Plans can change, we’ve all learned. Cancellation or a reschedule is possible, cost free, up to 31 days prior to travel. After that your deposit will be applied to any future trip. If the tour is not possible due to current local government restrictions, a full refund will apply.
Our service
A complete package! No hidden costs or unpleasant surprises. It is clearly spelled out in the detailed itineraries if meals or activities are not included. Just ask your guide to arrange optional activities or visits. We at Timberwolf Tours are known to take care of every detail. Our guests shall have enough time and leisure to enjoy their holidays in Canada without stress and hopefully get a little closer to nature.
Guides
Our friendly, qualified guides are familiar with the areas, know the ideal hiking trails for each season, the local history, the best swimming holes, the nicest restaurants and most interesting shops. The Canadian west has so many enchanting and unspoiled regions to offer, our guides show you the hidden natural treasures away from the much visited attractions. They are not merely drivers, but accompany you on all hikes and, just like their guests, they are looking forward to relax by the evening campfires.
Travel Insurance
We strongly recommend that you are adequately insured for your travel, including changes in the return flight, or an emergency flight back home. World Nomads, for example, offers simple and flexible insurance for travellers.
Transportation
You travel in a comfortable, air conditioned minibus in small groups of up to twelve passengers plus your guide who is also the driver. Luggage, trekking and group equipment is transported in a trailer. The 2 and 3-week tours include transfers between airports and hotels.
Meals on the campground and in restaurants
The guides are perfectly able to do the kitchen chores alone, but will certainly accept your help. They also appreciate your suggestions for new dishes. You will be amazed what a variety of delights can be prepared on the camp fire, fresh, healthy, balanced and abundant. Special dietary requirements can be accommodated.
Some programs do not include the meals. Everybody pays into a “food kitty” at the start of the tour. The group decides the meal plan. The guide of course has suggestions and recipes and will gladly look after the grocery shopping. You need about $15.00 to $20.00 per day for the three camping meals, or about $70.00 per day for restaurant meals. Many guests on hotel tours buy food for snacks and lunches in the grocery stores and keep it in the guide’s cooler.
Accommodation
We use good middle class hotels with private bathrooms and usually two beds per room.
Hotels are in short supply in the popular places of western Canada. Sometimes we are forced to make changes on on short notice. A list of the scheduled hotels can be supplied upon request. Most of the guided camping tours start and end with a night in a hotel. For the other nights we supply one tent per two persons. The tents are rated as 4-person tents. With only two persons, there will be plenty of room for luggage and some privacy. For families we have even larger tents which can sleep up to 6 people.
Why not spend an extra day in Canada before or after the tour for shopping and sightseeing in our friendly western cities? We can arrange the additional hotel accommodations.
Equipment
THE GROUP EQUIPMENT for the hiking and camping tours is modern, in good shape and of course complete. Cooking and eating utensils, propane stoves, spacious two person nylon tents with ground sheets and sleeping mats. Then there is a large rain tarp, folding chairs and smaller items. The canoe trips are fully equipped as well. Our hard foam sleeping pads are 1 cm thick, not super comfortable but adequate for most campers. If you like it extra cozy, we strongly suggest you bring your own self-inflating Thermarest or other air mattress.
YOUR PERSONAL EQUIPMENT: we will send you an equipment list once you paid your deposit. Just remember, it can get cold at night in the mountains, even in August. The grading of sleeping bags is usually quite optimistic. We recommend for camping tours you bring a sleeping bag graded for minus 10 C. It will not get that cold but you want to be comfortable in your tent. You can also buy one for about $60 once you are in Canada. Just ask your guide. For hotel tours make sure you bring a ski jacket or a heavy fleece.
Can I do it?
Of course! If you are reasonably fit, you can take part in all of the activities. Our adventure travel itineraries are usually flexible, there are alternate hiking routes and things to do. One day you may want to test your limits to the max and take it easy on the next day. Our guides gladly suggest alternate activities.
Never paddled a canoe before?
No problem! The training before the trip gives you confidence and you quickly learn the necessary techniques by actually paddling on the river.
Are you feeling too old?
Don’t let age hold you back either. The average age of our guests is 22 to 45 years. We have had adventurers in their 80s who could teach their young companions a trick or two about stamina and enjoying the moment.
Are you travelling alone?
The days of living together in nature soon unite a small group of initial strangers to an adventure team and can pave the way for great and lasting friendships. A single traveler should not worry about remaining an outsider. We don’t have a mandatory single charge. If you don’t want to pay extra for single, we try to find another same sex single person to share the hotel rooms and the tent with you. If you prefer to have the hotel rooms and the tent guaranteed for yourself you have to request it well in advance and we will add the single charge to your invoice.
Participation
We don’t require it, but it really is the standard in small groups of this kind. On the first campground the guide demonstrates how to set up the tents. After that, everybody manages to set up their own tent. If all lend a hand in the kitchen and when loading and unloading the bus, the chores are quickly done, the group has more time for the hikes and for more interesting activities than doing dishes.
Photo contest
Please send us your Canada holiday photos! Each guest can enter our yearly photo contest. We select the finalists and publish them at the end of the summer season on social media (e.g. Facebook). You all are invited to vote for the proud winner who will collect the $500 cash prize.
Congratulations to the winner of the 2024 contest, Maren Eisenberg for the picture of the powerful Saskatchewan glacier carving through a valley and a hiker on top of a ridge, drawn to its beauty.
Liability insurance waiver
Like all operators of adventure products in Canada and USA, we too have to carry liability insurance. As well, without this insurance we would not get operating permits for the national and provincial parks. Insurance companies demand that prior to starting a tour, all participants sign a “Waiver of Liability”. The operators of optional activities (rafting, whale watching, trail riding etc) will all present you with their own waivers. Nobody joins without a signature.
Unfortunately these waivers are written in a rather unfriendly and offending style, perhaps to discourage frivolous claims. But as any lawyer will agree, it is certainly possible to sue in serious cases of fault or negligence and after all, serious cases are the purpose for having liability insurance.
Operators who do not ask their clients to sign a waiver, most probably do not even have insurance, consequently they would not have permits to guide groups on hiking trails in the parks. It is very possible that a park ranger will not allow these guides to lead their groups or to use the trails.
The bus and all passengers are insured separately.
Before you book your flight to Canada
Foreign nationals who fly to Canada need an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA). Exceptions include U.S. citizens and travellers with a valid visa. The cost is only $7.
Find out about the Electronic Travel Authorization
After your tour – Welcome home!
Do you have some amazing photos of your vacation? Did you discover a hidden gem during your trip? We’d love to hear about your travel experiences with us! Please let us know what was great and what we could do better! Here are links to leave a review on GOOGLE, or on TRIPADVISOR, or to fill out our EVALUATION. Thanks for your help.
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