Traveling Cowboys: Wing Night With the Two Cowboys in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada

Waterton Wing Night Wings

"Wing Night is a ceremonial and sacred evening during which many chicken wings will be eaten by a gathering of gluttonous friends. Each step of the preparation and consumption of the wings is carefully orchestrated and held holy. Deviation from tradition (i.e. inviting your girlfriend, not eating til breathing is difficult, leaving early, not toasting the first wing, not getting everyone a beer when yours is finished or you get up, bringing non-wing food to the gathering, de-winging during the meal) is strictly and violently forbidden. The only consumables other than chicken wings welcome at wing night are blue cheese dressing, celery stalks, and beer - lots and lots of beer."

We checked in with three establishments in Waterton Lakes National Park's Town Site to find more out about their wing offerings. We were spoiled for choice in what is essentially a really small town. Here is what we found.

DO YOU YOU WANT YOUR WINGS FEATURED?

Zum's Eatery and Mercantile 

Zum's is an institution when it comes to southern-style fried chicken in Waterton. As a result, their chicken wings didn't disappoint. They know their chicken. It was lightly breaded, well cooked and succulent to the bone.

The sauce didn't have the kick we were looking for. Instead, it had the flavour that complemented the wing nicely. The challenge with southern-style wings is that it is a rich wing. You will have to pace yourself not to fill up too quickly.

Is it a typical Wing Night wing? For the Cowboys, it needed more heat and we will probably not run out of beer, as you should when having Zum's hot wings. It is more your Sunday lunch kind of wing. Add the restaurant's amazing patio and scenery and you have a must-do stop in Waterton where you can take the whole family for fried chicken.

Thirsty Bear Kitchen and Bar

The Thirsty Bear is the Bar and a favourite hangout in Waterton. All bars need hot wings on the menu at the Thirsty Bear didn't disappoint.

The Cowboys would have liked to have a few more than three choices of wings on the menu. Considering the gourmet-feel the rest of the menu offers patrons, it may have made the choices too hard. We usually get distracted by the Truffle Mac n Cheese. If there was a way to dip our wings in that we may just have gotten ourselves into trouble.

For this particular occasion, we tried the hot wings. It came with a unique Dill Dip (get the Aussie to say it ;-)) that was almost as good as the Mac n Cheese. Go for the dip when you visit! The wings needed more heat to be classified Cowboy hot, which is probably acceptable given the delicate flavours of the dip.

The Thirst Bear stands out for its excellent selection in craft beers. If Shameer's cook can make the wings hotter, they may just get us to drink (a lot more) of the delicious local beer.

Trappers Mountain Grill

If there is one place that spared no expense in laying out the red carpet for the Cowboys it was Steve West and the crew at Trappers. Here comes the disclaimer: You will probably need a VIP access pass to the Trappers' inner circle to get the buttery smokey gourmet wings laid out for us during our visit. What we tasted was from Trappers' test kitchen. We took one for the team and every bite was worth it!

I think we convinced Steve to put the new flavour wings on the menu if he can manage to repeat the feat and make the food cost work. A lot of labour and love went into making these wings and it was the most flavourful wings we've tasted thus far.

Steve is not going to like what comes next. Sorry, Steve, we needed more heat. Not burning heat. Rather, more flavour heat. Something that made us thirsty. The beers were huge and icy cold and we were dearly looking for an excuse to have even more beer. We didn't get it. We ended up looking for more wings instead!

Observations

Waterton has a variety of food establishments and a great community of people. While chicken wings may not (yet) be a good reason to make the trip, who knows, it may become one in the future.

Please support Waterton's businesses. Say hello to the people of Zums, Thirsty Bear and Trappers. Tell them the Two Cowboys sent you and ask for parmesan with your wings.

We thank them all sincerely for indulging us while we are trying to find the best Wing Night wings in Canada and hope they will have us back after seeing and reading the above.

Hendrik van Wyk

Winging Cowboy

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Zum's Wings

Trappers Wings

Thirsty Bear Wings

Winning Wings!

Traveling Cowboys: Seeing the Light with Dark Sky Guides in Waterton, Alberta, Canada

Not So Dark

Sometimes you need darkness to appreciate the light. This is indeed an opportunity in Waterton National Park as the residents of the town reinvent themselves after the devastating Kenow fire of 2017.

One of the ways they are doing it is to offer a new experience that is well suited for the literal darkness of the destination - stargazing! You can now have a guided stare at the breathtaking heavenly night sky of Waterton with Dark Sky Guides.

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The four Robinson Brothers were lucky to grow up in Waterton Lakes National Park, and over the years they explored all areas of the National Park, both in daylight and after dark. As third-generation tourism service providers (they also operate Waterton Shoreline Cruise Company), sharing Waterton Park’s abundant human and natural history has always been a part of their lives. Now they are starting at the heavens and they want to take you with them.

After the Kenow Mountain Fire burnt a significant portion of Waterton Lakes National Park in September 2017, the brothers knew it would be more critical than ever, to show people that there is more to Waterton that just daytime hiking through (the once forested) mountain landscapes. And so, Dark Sky Guides was born.

Between the four of them, the Robinson Brothers officially have 40 years of experience acting as tour guides in Waterton Lakes National Park. And over the years the brothers have travelled to many destinations around the world, picking up best practices from other tour guides and companies across the planet.

Dark Sky Guides offers small, personalized tours that will open peoples’ eyes to an entirely new area of Waterton Lakes National Park – the night sky above. The brothers hope to encourage every single tour participant to connect on a personal level with the National Park, in their own particular way.

Observations

We were lucky to be invited to the dinner kick off and Dark Sky Guide launch night on the 29th of May 2018.

Keith, his brothers and their team surprised us with a fantastic meal while we waited for the sun to set and the moon to shine. At around 22:30 we were treated to the new experience of having our own local guide - one of the brothers - from Dark Sky Guides showing us the heavens above Waterton Lakes National Park.

The moon was full. With the telescopes they provided, we were given a chance to see it in a whole new light. We were left with a renewed appreciation for the area and for our own small place in the vastness of our Universe thanks to their expert guidance and commentary about the heavenly bodies.

Keith noted that while the summer nights in Alberta doesn't provide a lot of dark hours, they hoped to offer the experience year-round. Winter in Canada is a stargazers dream, and there is no better place to dream than amongst the beauty of Waterton Lakes National Park.

This is a recommended Two Cowboys experience, and we wish the Robinson brothers all the success they can have with their new venture!

Hendrik van Wyk

Moon Cowboy

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Two Cowboys: Smoking Meat, Cold Beer and BBQ is a Lifestyle at Trappers Mountain Grill in Waterton, Alberta

A BBQ Lifestyle

I once asked a competitor at a Canadian BBQ Society sanctioned competition how long he's been grilling and smoking meat. He surprised us with his answer. Two years, he said. Truth be told, my question was meant as a joke! We didn't know there was another way to cook meat. We've been doing it for all our lives.

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BBQ, smoking and grilling meat is a lifestyle for the Two Cowboys. Five out of seven days, at the close of the day, we are outside doing our thing with steak, chicken, pork and whatever we can find to cook on the grill or in the smoker (including vegetables like pumpkin, asparagus, potatoes etc.).

We've done it in rain and sunshine, in blazing summer heat and when it is -30 C in Canada. To us, it is a sacred, primal, right of passage as a reward for being at the top of the food chain. We cherish the opportunity. The rite that plays itself out alongside our grill, fire or smoker is as old as humanity itself. It is who we are. We love every moment of it and are always looking forward to it. In the same way, we are always on the scout for fellow comrades with a similar passion and commitment to the lifestyle.

We meet many during our travels and we love telling their stories. This is how we've come to know Steve and Debbie West from Trappers Mountain Grill in Waterton, Alberta. Steve shares our love for BBQ and cold beer. He is also an innovator and a passionate entrepreneur that makes Waterton his home for six months of the year when he is not fishing in Florida. Steve likes to do something unique that allows him to share his passion for good food, BBQ, Gin and Beer.

Observations

This is how Trappers Mountain Grill is launching something new in Waterton this season. Steve calls it his Backyard BBQ. The plan is, once the rush of the summer days subsides and the lines for food and ice cream are over, to do a delicious smoked meat sandwich. It will be available at the back-door of his restaurant on main street Waterton Avenue.

It promises to be an excellent sandwich that will go down well with your own crispy cold beer (sorry folks, you have to bring your own beer). For Steve and his team, it is another way of sharing their passion for cooking meat in one of the worlds most picturesque locales. He is doing it with his new US$35,000 smoker!

Apparently, he's been practicing all winter to get the recipe locked down, and it is finally ready for the "big time". In his own words, "It is a mean piece of equipment with the single purpose of delivering the best-smoked fair available in Waterton town" - authentic Southern-Style BBQ.

Steve's venture promises to deliver a hearty meal and great fellowship when most food establishments in the town close down for the evening. It is the way it should be done, simply and deliciously with good friends. The Two Cowboys were there to give it a try. Enjoy our experience with us.

Hendrik van Wyk

Trappers Cowboy

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Backyard BBQ

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See You There!

Traveling Cowboys: It is Summer 2018 and Waterton is Open for Business Again in Alberta, Canada

Now More Than Ever

Waterton is a place dear to our hearts. Its scenery is breathtakingly beautiful. But, we are most fond of its people. Waterton is open for business in 2018!

The tiny seasonal village adopted us, the Two Cowboys, as their own. From our start in 2016, they gave us an opportunity to showcase their natural beauty, the variety of food and intrigue, to the world. We cannot start a Summer in Canada without our annual visit to Waterton. This is our fourth year.

Open for Business!

Waterton After the Fire

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At the end of May, the snow melted, and the remaining trees were green. The flowers were out all over Waterton's grasslands, and in the town, the baskets were in bloom. We made our way to our favourite camping spot unsure of what 2018 will hold for the destination. During the last couple of years, we've worked with Waterton to promote the town, the destination and its businesses.

This year we were even more committed than usual to show the world a little of our Spring paradise, because of the recent Kenow fire. The disaster destroyed a lot of the natural attraction of Waterton in 2017. The good news was that the village was saved, except for the Parks Canada Information Centre (which was slated to be moved anyway), and nobody got hurt. We found Waterton open for business.

At the townsite, many of the faithful pilgrims returned to pick up the pieces after the disaster, with the hope to continue where they left off, before the fire. The big question on everyone's mind this year was if Waterton would recover from the incident. Will the visitors return and will patrons again come to enjoy the beauty and the people of the community?

Observations

With every significant and sudden change in people's lives, such as what happened in Waterton, there is a sense of loss. However, such a move also provides ample opportunity for reflection and renewal. Some may regard the event of a massive forest fire in Waterton as a disaster and a loss. We make the case that it need not be the case.

It is not a loss for nature. Instead, it only a step in the continues cycle of renewal. It's a natural cycle that been playing itself out in the forests and on prairies of Canada, over and over for millennia. It will continue to do so long after humanity left the planet. Waterton's forests and animals didn't lose something. It gained necessary renewal.

The question that remains is if the event will translate into a loss for the town and its businesses. Will tourism return in 2018 like before and will the businesses suffer if they don't? People will be aware that what they came to expect from Waterton's Park landscape is no longer there. Instead, there is something different, and equally spectacular, or will they drive by towards the other natural attractions of the Province?

The opportunity now, for the visitors to the Park is to discover this natural process of renewal and experience the unique ways that trees recover, new flowers blossom and animals return to a rebirth of a region.

With it, the businesses in the town have an opportunity to renew and refresh. The tourists are unlikely to return to previous numbers in the near term. It will put pressure on revenue and force a rethink for a complacent few that got too accustomed to the visiting masses. For others, it will open opportunities to try something new, upgrade, or for new businesses to step in where some may decide to throw in the towel.

Waterton's businesses and its people are as much an attraction for the destination as its natural beauty. They are all given a chance to renew, rebuild, attract and grow. The ones that take this chance will be the folks who prevail and flourish and who we will promote in years to come. Those are the people you will find in Waterton this, the next and the years thereafter.

We are glad that Waterton is once again open for business.

Hendrik van Wyk

Waterton Cowboy

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On the Water of Waterton

Majestic!

Waffletons

Renewal

The Locals

Traveling Cowboys: Freeing our Cowboy Spirits at Waterton National Park, Alberta, Canada

Free Your Spirit

You should know that we have a favorite little piece of heaven at the southern most tip of our Alberta Province. Waterton National Park and Village is where we hang out at the beginning of every summer. There is just so much to do, with so many great people to meet. It is the place where our spirit soars as we get ready for summer.

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This year was no exception. We started with the Waterton Food Festival at the end of May. By the end of June, we were back to take in more of the sights and sounds of this great destination.

What to Do

Waterton's biggest attraction is what it offers hikers. There is a walk for any and all skill levels. It also provides the unique ability to hike the border between Canada and the USA. Remember to bring your passport for this unique experience. You will still have to be stamped in and out. It is a Peace Park, so better to keep it peaceful and keep your human footprint to a minimum by respecting the wildlife.

If you need any outdoor equipment, because the weather can change quickly and dramatically, then the Tamarack Store is the place to pick up what you need. It's been equipping hikers and trampers in the valley for more than forty years. Waterton Adventures, which operates from the Tamarack, offers day-trip and multi-day guided hikes to show you more of what the backcountry offers. If you are in a hurry, they offer a trail running experience.

Waterton's golf course is one for the bucket list. It is also one of Canada's oldest. Inspired by Stanley Thompson and constructed from 1929-1939, this 18-hole course will both challenge you and take your breath away. It is a public course that offers a range of amenities including club and cart rentals, a pro shop, a practice green and a licensed clubhouse. The 18 hole course is challenging, fun, and reminds you of why you started to play the game. Bring your windy game with you. There is bound to be a fresh breeze that will test your resolve, if not keep you cool on a hot day out.

Then there are the horses. It is Alberta, and you have to see a little bit of this great sky the way it was meant to be done, on horseback. Waterton is the start of the Alberta Cowboy Trail for us, and it begins at Alpine Stables. The Stables is a family operation established in Waterton since 1969. Dee and Lorna Barrus and their young family began with 25 to 30 good ranch horses and a desire to show visitors the splendors of the Alberta Rockies. Dee’s ranching savvy, her tracking and trapping experience, love of the wilderness, and his adventurous spirit combined to ensure a memorable ride, whether of one hour or five-day duration. This tradition is carried on by their capable and enthusiastic family, now into the third generation. Today Alpine Stables has fifty head of experienced mountain horses ready to accommodate both beginners and the most experienced riders.

Take home a special memory by enjoying a "two-nation vacation". Step aboard the historic M.V. International for a two-hour cruise. The boat is in its 90th year of operation and continues to be lovingly restored. It travels along the shoreline of beautiful Upper Waterton Lake and across the International border to Goat Haunt, Montana, several times a day. Shoreline Cruises operates the boat and provides this iconic cruise on one of the few remaining ships of its type, in the world.

There is so much that Waterton offers a visitor. It is a place that stays with you. In Waterton, people welcome you with open arms. The scenery is always breathtaking. The wildlife an experience. It is where we free our spirits and where we recommend you should do it too.

Hendrik van Wyk

Waterton Cowboy

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Tamarack Outdoor Store

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o-CNN: Food and Friends at Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta

Where Else?

Let's be honest. You don't really need an excuse to make it to Waterton Lakes National Park in the South Western corner of Alberta, Canada. The scenery there is so breathtaking, the air so fresh, and the water so spectacular that you have to make at least one pilgrimage in a lifetime to this place. It is a "bucket-list" visit.

The Two Cowboys had an excuse. We came for the breathtaking scenery. But, it was the food and the people that made us want to stay.

In 1858 Lt. Thomas Blakiston, originally a member of the Palliser Expedition, embarked on an expedition of his own looking for a railway pass through the mountains. On his journey, he encountered members of the Kutenai tribe who told him of the South Kootenay Pass. Taking their advice, Blakiston re-crossed the divide, traveling along what would later be called Blakiston (Pass) Creek and out to a chain of three large lakes.

On September 6, 1858, he wrote: "After two hours traveling on level ground along Red-stone creek (Red-Rock) we emerged on the Saskatchewan plains, just six geographical miles north of the 49th parallel and camped at the lakes... The scenery here is grand and picturesque...."

Blakiston named the lakes "Waterton", after British naturalist Charles Waterton, although the locals continued to call them Kootenay Lakes for many years after.

Food Festival

The Waterton Park Chamber of Commerce hosted the second annual Food Festival for the town. The Cowboy News Network managed to get an invite. It all happened on the last weekend of May and the first of June, 2016. 

For a town with less than one hundred permanent residents, we found Waterton surprisingly busy for late Spring. Locals tell us it is because they've had less snow this year. The warm weather drives people to make the trip. Wait until July to September, and you will have to share it with 600,000 other motivated visitors.

The business owners, many who don't overwinter in Waterton, usually open their doors beginning May to prepare fresh coffee, wieners, pie, ice cream and great Alberta fried chicken. This year it was no exception, and the Food Festival added incentive to get the cobwebs out, and the systems working early for when the really big crowds arrive. It all shuts down in October again.

The town was already bustling with tourist from all over North America and Europe when we arrived. A fair amount of people from Lethbridge, the nearest "big town", made it out for the festival too. "Local knowledge" dictates that you have to get your Waterton fill in June, else risk being stampeded and trampled during summer.

What more do you want in a holiday place that nature, friends and food? Waterton has plenty of it all. For our trip, the food was definitely outstanding. The Pie Cruise stood out as the highlight. You get to sample creative baking from local establishments, while cruising on the lake towards Montana. Even the eateries that don't serve pie baked for this trip. 

We were glad to finally make our first trip to Waterton Lakes National Park. Rest assured, we now have a good excuse to do many, many more. Now, we know the locals...

Hendrik van Wyk

Waterton Pie Enthusiast

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The View

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Montana

Time Machine

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