Justin Goodin said he didn’t believe in miracles until he landed his dream job as a cowboy guide through the Rocky Mountains.
Shuffled through the foster care as a child, Goodin found his home at the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation – about 140 kilometres north of Saskatoon. When he was 10 years old he was exposed to western films featuring John Wayne, but the one film that stood out for him was ‘The Man from Snowy River.’
“All my life I surrounded myself with people who were willing to teach me and that’s how it all started, watching a horse trainer train a horse, that’s where it took off,” Goodin said.
From then on, Goodin said he always took an interest in horses, and as a teenager and into his twenties Goodin training and conditioned horses at various ranches and chuckwagon outfits in Saskatchewan and Alberta. But he said he always had his eyes on being a mountain cowboy.
Then, tragedy struck his family with the passing of his mother. Five months later, a stranger reached out to Goodin online, responding to his ad for a job in the mountains.
“A stranger inboxed me and said that they had a job for me up here in Lake Louise,” he said. “I didn’t know if I believed in miracles before, but now I do, it’s like she sent me this job from heaven.”
Riding as a guide for Brewster Adventures in Lake Louise, Alta., Goodin said he drinks fresh glacier water each day, while basking in the sun and shade of the Rocky Mountains. The best part though, Goodin said, is the tourists he leads through the meandering trails and the stories they share with him.
“They tell me about where they come from and every story is different. Every morning I wake up looking forward to meeting new people,” Goodin said, adding if it wasn’t for the personal connections, the job wouldn’t be the same.
And as much love Goodin has shown the mountains, the mountains are showing him. Goodin said Brewster Adventures has asked him to return to Lake Louise for the winter season of tours.
Goodin revels in the fact that he’s an indigenous cowboy and he hopes to inspire indigenous youth to chase their dreams.
“I put my mind where I wanted to be and here I am, living the dream out in Lake Louise.”
