Cowboy Country Alberta Ranches Provide A Relaxing Getaway And A Springboard To Other Canadian Attractions

He has a face like creased leather from a lifetime of riding the range in hot sun and icy wind. His eyes dance with mischief.

“I guess you could call me a cowboy,” he says. “A real-life cowboy, not like one of those guys in the movies.”

Bob Jenkins, cowboy, runs a 3,500-acre cattle spread here in southwest Alberta - the same ranch his grandfather started back in 1885.

“Ranching is still important here,” he says. “Oil and gas people tore up the country, but they’ll go away some day. Ranching will stay.”

This landscape of golden grasses - south from Calgary down to the Montana border - is Alberta’s cowboy country.

Here, where the prairies roll into the Canadian Rockies, are great ranches and a scattering of small towns with names like Pincher Creek, Longview, Standoff, Cardston and Hill Spring.

It’s not all work for ranch families around here.

The latchstring is out for neighbors and visitors with summertime barbecues and barn dances. Local hosts guide guests to fly-fishing rivers such as the Lower Crowsnest that abound with rainbow and brook trout. And in winter there are trails for cross-country skiers and snowmobile riders that lead into neighboring British Columbia.

Many travelers drive here from Spokane, Seattle and other Northwest cities. Others fly into Calgary and rent automobiles and RVs to go exploring around Alberta.

The Rockies gems of Banff and Lake Louise are only about an hour west from Calgary. Southwestern Alberta’s Waterton Lakes National Park, which blends into Montana’s Glacier National Park, is about two hours by highway south of Calgary.

There are plenty of lodges, bed-and-breakfast inns and RV parks. Best of all, there is space for city folk to unwind where horizons seem to stretch toward forever and the air is as tangy as new-stacked hay.

“It’s all about nature here - and it’s not always romantic stuff” says Jenkins.

The rawhide-tough, 57-year-old cowboy tells of tending cattle on days when the wind roars like an angry wildcat.

“You just tie your hat down and get aboard your horse,” he says. “You get tired and cold sometimes, but at the end of the day you know you got the job done.

“Yep, it gets nasty at times. Then the next day the sun is out and everything is fine again. That’s nature. That’s ranching.”

It was southwestern Alberta’s abundant native fescue grasses - “grass up to a cow’s belly,” said one pioneer - that attracted early-day settlers.

“You could call this area sort of a refuge,” Jenkins says.

“There was an awful winter up north in 1886. Cattle died. But those ranchers who drifted down this way found grasses where the snow had been blown off by warm chinook winds. Their cattle had plenty to eat. It’s still that way.”

We were sitting by the fireplace in Waterton Park’s Kilmorey Lodge. Jenkins was about to spin a yarn.

“Don’t get him started,” said Gerry Muza, the owner of the lodge. “You never know what Bob might say.”

Jenkins began: “Let me tell you about the time a hungry bear came to our ranch. Well, I found this bear sitting on my porch. I grabbed a pick handle and went after him…”

Turns out that Jenkins treed the bear, then put in a call for the local fish and wildlife agent. The officer arrived, and asked: “OK, where is the bear?”

Jenkins responded: “About 15 feet over your head.”

And then Jenkins walked away.

Tall tale or true?

“I’ll let you be the judge of that,” Jenkins said with a wink.

Andy Russell, 80, author and adventurer, thought he could top that. Russell used to lead pack trains 50 horses long through Waterton Lakes National Park, before there were roads in the area.

One day, Russell says, he was hunted by a grizzly.

“That bear was stalking me,” he recalls. “I circled. The bear circled. He was setting an ambush for me, by golly. We circled again. Finally, I shot him. And that’s the truth.”

The country town of Pincher Creek (pop. 3,500), about an hour’s drive from Calgary by way of Highway 22, is home for several of Alberta’s cowboy poets. The biggest gettogether of the year is the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in the Pincher Creek Community Hall - always on Father’s Day weekend in June.

More than 3,000 fans attended last year’s gathering to hear more than four dozen men and women recite their rustic rhymes.

“We have a lot of fun,” says Susan Ames Vogelaar, one of Pincher Creek’s poets.

Cowboy? Cowgirl?

“I’m a cowboy, too,” Vogelaar says.

Vogelaar has collected several of her verses in a book titled “Musings from the Outhouse.”

One tells of a rancher named Old Pete and his dog, Zak.

It was the end of the season. Pete headed for town with Zak for company. There was a bit of partying. Late that night, friends carried Old Pete to his horse. Zak jumped to the front of the saddle and took the reins in his mouth.

Vogelaar tells the rest of the story this way:

The pup delivered him safely.

To his bunkhouse on the ranch.

I don’t think he tucked him in though

Although there might be a chance.

This story seems a bit hard to believe.

But folks swear it really is true.

Old Pete didn’t believe in drinkin’ and drivin’

That’s why Zak went along, too!

Another popular poet is Darryl Vance, a local rancher and brand inspector.

Vance tells of brands shaped like “broken hearts and broken arrows, top hats and button hooks.”

And, yes, he says, there still are a few cattle rustlers in these parts.

“But that’s another story,” he says with a grin.

Turnouts for cowboy-poetry recitals, rodeos and barbecue evenings around here involve some hearty dining. Topping menus is grass-fed Alberta beef.

“Best there is,” says Susan Nelson, manager of Pincher Creek’s Visitor Information Centre.

Kilmorey Lodge, just inside Waterton Lakes National Park, in Alberta’s southwestern corner, is the place for fine dining - and surprises.

Don’t be startled if you are just about to slice into a slab of medium-rare Alberta beef and hear a blood-curdling scream from the next table.

It may be the start of one of Kilmorey’s murder-mystery weekends. And those diners at the next table may be actors. Then again…

Ah, the plot thickens.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO Ranch visits The Bar U Ranch, one of southwestern Alberta’s pioneer cattle ranches and still a working ranch, is open to visitors as a Parks Canada national historic site. The Bar U is near Longview, about a one-hour drive south of Calgary by way of Highway 22. Tours are offered from early May to early September for a small entry fee. Call (800) 568-4996 or (403) 395-2212.

Cowboy poetry The annual Alberta Cowboy Poetry Gathering is held on Father’s Day weekend (June 15-16 this year) in the town of Pincher Creek, south of Calgary. General admission is $5 Canadian. Evening admission is $25 a person for a program that also includes a barbecue dinner and dancing. Details: Pincher Creek Community Development and Information Centre; call (403) 627-5855.

Barn dances The Great Canadian Barn Dance welcomes visitors each Friday evening from mid-May to midOctober at its site near Hill Spring, a half-hour drive northeast from Waterton Lakes National Park. The family resort features country dining, dance lessons and hay rides. Entry fees are $7.50 Canadian for adults, $3.75 for children ages 11-17. Younger children are free. Dinner (priced at $12 for adults and youths; $6 for children age 10 or less) is served at 7 p.m. Free dance lessons begin at 8 p.m. Details: (800) 661-1222 or (403) 626-3407.

Lodging Top of the line in southwestern Alberta is Kilmorey Lodge in Waterton Lakes National Park. The historic lodge (dating to 1911) has only 23 rooms, and is open year-round. Rates range from $80 to $150 Canadian a night double. Details: Kilmorey Lodge, P.O. Box 100, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada T0K 2M0. Call (403) 859-2334.

For more information Chinook Country Tourist Association, 2805 Scenic Drive, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1K 5B7. Phone (403) 329-6777. Alberta Community Development, Bag 3014, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1J 4C7. Phone (403) 381-5148.

The following fields overflowed: SECTION = DRIVE SEASON ‘96 SUMMER TRAVEL GUIDE