Day 6

We decided to enter BC via the southern route – the Crows Nest Pass.  We plan to make it to Fernie for the night. Our superb travel agent made us a hotel reservation so that there would be a room at the inn.

The highlight of the day has getting to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump. We arrived 5 minutes after the interpretive centre closed.  But our luck held. We are able to walk a path along the lower cliff – where the dead buffalo would have been.  It turns out that the first part of the name commemorates an early scientist. In the early 1800s a young buck wanted to see the event close up and experience the falling buffalo. So he found a protected ledge on the cliff and waited there.  Unfortunately for him it was a good year with a lot of buffalo. The pile of dead and dying buffalo buried him and when they found him his head was smashed in.

The site is impressive and worth a short visit. We are not sure how they got the buffalo to the top of the hill. But I am sure the geography would be clear when one tours the upper part of the site.  Elizabeth explained the difficulties of having an archaeological site declared a world heritage site. It means the first guy’s interpretations can not be contradicted because no one can dig there any more (or something close to that).

Other events of the day

1)      We drove by Dog River SK. I think that is the name of the town in Corner Gas. But we did not see a gas station or anything -just a grain elevator.

2)      Wilcox SK home of the Notre Dame Hounds hockey team.

3)      Alberta’s roads are better than Saskatchewan’s.  But all the roads are poor compared to the US ones.

4)      We got to see the Rockies rise out of the prairie. Last time smoke from forest fires obscured the mountains and we could not see peaks even as we drove through Banff.  ‘Hey kids the mountains are right there. You would be impressed if you could see them’.  That went over well.

5)      Alberta only welcomes you if you drive into the tourist info area at the border. Otherwise you cannot see the sign.

6)      We looked for the University of Lethbridge – Elizabeth looked into going there. But we did not see it. Worse we drove through Lethbridge without seeing a gas station. Weird. We might have missed one at the very beginning but that was it.

7)      Elizabeth was very impressed with southern Alberta when the horses started to appear.  So Lethbridge has its attractions.

8)      I think of Medicine Hat as a small dusty cow town. Well not anymore. Apparently it is the centre for gas development in southern Alberta.

9)      Elizabeth was impressed by the magnitude of the Frank Slide. We did not stop to read the signs.

10)  It was noted that Charles does the cross Canada drive about every decade: 1992, 2003, 2012.  Maybe one day he will take more than 7 to 10 days to do the trip.  The red motorcycle from yesterday looks good.

A final note. Our travel agent did an exceptional job. We have two queen beds, a view of the mountains, sauna, pool, free laundry facilities, and we can go white water rafting tomorrow. We may stay here for a while.

It is good to back in BC where the roads curve and dip and you cannot see an hour ahead.

The Notre Dame Hounds sign. Lots of hockey players from here.

Prairie lighthouse. We were lacking in water and decided this could be nothing but a lighthouse.

Welcome to Alberta.  The sign we had to search for to make sure we'd crossed the border.

If you look closely you can see the McCains sign.  McCains in Alberta – the potatoes are here somewhere.

 The Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump sign.  They're just missing the scientist at the bottom.

The cliff the buffalo fell off.  We don't think many buffalo got up and walked away after.

The first view of the Rockies.  From Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump.

 

 The awesome view from our inn.

The nice, spacious room at the inn.