August 17: Calgary to Pincher Creek with Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

August 17

Since the weather is nice today, we decide to leave Calgary and drive the Cowboys Trail.  Our first stop before getting on the trail, is the Okotoks Erratic.  "The Big Rock" is an enormous glacial erratic – a rock transported far from its place of origin by glacial ice. The Okotoks Erratic is the largest known rock in the Foothills Erratics Train, a group of rocks that were carried by ice along the mountain front and let down as the glacier melted more than 10,000 years ago. The erratics lie in a narrow band extending from Jasper National Park to northern Montana. The Okotoks Erratic weighs an estimated 16,500 tonnes. It measures about 9 metres high, 41 metres long and 18 metres wide. The rock has broken into pieces, but is still a large landmark on the flat prairie.  There is a legend that includes bats smashing into the rocks to break them in two, and that's why bats have squashed faces.

We can see the Rocky Mountains off to the west but the landscape changes to rolling hills which remind me of northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

We eat our sandwich near the Oldman River Dam and the lower area with campgrounds and recreational opportunities.

Then the highlight of the day:  visiting the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.  Where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains, there is the oldest, largest and best preserved buffalo jump.  Legend says a young child wanted to watch the buffalo fall to their death during the hunt so he stood close to the cliffs where the buffalo fall. At the end of the hunt when it was time to gather their prey the hunters found the boy with his head crushed from the buffalo bodies - hence the name.

The displays are excellent including this eagle and buffalo; skulls were found nearby as the Native People think they were used to invite future buffalo to the site.  In the Blackfoot culture, the buffalo were created to provide for the people.  This site was used for almost 6000 years so there is so much evidence and bones.

This location was considered an excellent spot as it had the cliffs and was near water.  It was a very complicated process that took a lot of effort and planning which we see on the movie screen.  Buffalo have very poor eyesight but excellent sense of smell.  They created cairns on either side of a path which funneled the buffalo to the end cliff but they needed to wait until the wind was blowing the right direction.  One young man wears the buffalo hide of a calf that appears lost; since the herd gathers to protect their young, he is able to lead the herd towards the cliff's edge.  At the last moment, he jumps to the side.  Other young men are in wolf skins chasing the herds forward.   After the buffalo fall, the men made sure all died.  They quickly skinned them, cut the meat into strips to dry, the bones were crushed and boiled to get all the fat and nutrients out, and everything useful was taken.  Over time, the unused bones piled up.  

 Two arrows were found in the stream near the site that are 9000 years old; their connection to the buffalo jump has not yet been determined.

The buffalo fell from the top of this cliff.

This is a thistle plant that is as tall I am; I am standing on the wooden platform which is a foot above the ground.  The largest I've ever seen! There are many berry plants (saskatoon and chokecherry) which were used with the fat and dried meat to make pemmican.

The whole exhibit is fascinating and very well done.

Our final destination is Pincher Creek; see the pinchers next to the sign?  Behind that sign are the metal silhouettes.

Dinner is at the Salt & Pepper Cafe:  Fancy Fetticini with Blackened Shrimp and Garlic Bread with Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale and Robert Mondavi's cabernet.