Canadian Cowboy Country Jun/Jul 2021

Kolby Wanchuk

Riding Blind

New Pro Sport!

Breakaway Roping

Leisure Guide

Away & Back Again!

Serene & Stress-Free Adventures

Trailblazer Hughie Long

Tragedy to Triumph

Chuckwagon Thoroughbreds Behind the Backstretch

Trinity Ranch

Great Grass & Bred Heifers

Outlaw Trail

Stagecoach Bandit Pearl Hart

Old Yeller

By DYLAN BIGGS

It was the summer of 1990 when Bud and Eunice Williams came to the ranch. I won’t forget the first evening visiting around the dinner table after finishing supper. Bud asked what problems we had working cattle. I hadn’t given it much thought in terms of specifics, my mind went blank, and I made the mistake of saying, “I don’t know.” He bolted up out of his chair, slammed his clenched fist down on the table and yelled, “What the hell am I here for then?” That gave me something to think about overnight, and by the morning, I had a number of specifics. As it turned out, we needed help with pretty much everything.

Away & Back Again

By TERRI MASON

I was standing in line outside of the post office the other day, waiting to go in and check for mail. I overheard a friend telling his buddy that “if it weren’t for this lockdown, I’d have wintered in Mexico, then driven home via the West Coast, stopping in the Okanagan Valley along the way. I can’t do it this year,” he continued. “But I’m damn sure doing it next year.”

So in this time of upheaval and uncertainty, this is all we can do; make plans for the future and hope for the best.

The far-flung trips might not be happening anytime soon, but we can finally explore our own province without apology. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a bunch of sites that work hard to give you and your family a safe and peaceful vacation.

Life is fleeting; life is uncertain, so the best we can do is wash our hands, roll the dice — and get busy living.

Whitton Lake

Bison, Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Saskatoon

Riding Mountain National Park

World’s largest teepee, Medicine Hat

Alberta Where Prairie Meets the Mountains

When it comes to natural sites, Alberta has it all. On the far West are the foothills and the famed Rocky Mountains. To the North are the boreal forests and the last herd of truly wild bison; the East features the vast open sky over the undulating prairie and thousands of dinosaur remains; the South hosts a bit of it all.

Alberta is called Wild Rose Country, named after the perennial rose bush whose delicate pink blooms grace the province each spring. It’s this hardiness that so aptly defines the province and her people. This place is also home to the most UNESCO sites known the world over and treasured spots known to only a few.

Take a trip off of the main highways and seek the roads less travelled. Find your treasured spot high in the mountains or somewhere under the immense Western sky. Welcome to Alberta, where the prairie meets the mountains.

Interesting!

→ Wood Buffalo National Park, northern Alberta

The world’s largest dark sky preserve; protected wild Wood Bison herd

→ The Hoodoos, Drumheller Hoodoos naturally eroded land formations, stand 20 feet tall in the badlands

→ Red Rock Coulee, Orion Huge spherical rocks in the middle of the prairie

→ Columbia Icefield, Icefield Parkway

A surviving remnant of the thick ice mass that once mantled most of Western Canada

→ Medicine Lake, Jasper area Every fall, this alpine lake mysteriously drains

→ Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Aden Blackfoot petroglyphs date back as far as 7,000 B.C.

→ Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Granum

Historic First Nations bison drive kill site

→ Last Chance Saloon, Wayne Cross a multitude of bridges to get to this ghost town saloon

→ Nose Hill Siksikaitsitapi Medicine Wheel, Calgary First Nations medicine wheel

→ Frank Slide, Bellevue

The museum dedicated to the landslide that wiped out the town of Frank

→ Alberta Railway Museum, Edmonton Featuring a centuries-year-old steam engine

→ Reynolds-Alberta Museum, Wetaskiwin Automotive, farming machinery, and aviation museum

→ Iniskim Umaapi (Majorville Medicine Wheel), Vulcan County

A remote medicine wheel dating back 4,500 years

→ Donalda Lamp Museum, Donalda

The museum is home to thousands of classic coal and kerosene lanterns

→ Remington Carriage Museum, Cardston One of the largest collections of horse-drawn conveyances in the world

→ Northern Rockies Museum of Culture and Heritage, Hinton

The history of the Northern Rockies

→ Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, Lamont County

Living museum, costumed interpreters, demonstrations

→ Metis Crossing, Smoky Lake Immersive experiences, cultural education, exhibits and art

→ Elk Island National Park, Fort Saskatchewan Bison, elk, and other wild animals in this national park

Maligne Lake, Jasper National Park

Ram Falls, YaHa Tinda