September 13-15
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, and the designer of the Interpretive Centre, which opened in 1987, won the 1990 Governor General’s Award for Architecture. It is easy to see why; it rises in levels set into the cliffside, and is so unobtrusive that you literally can’t see it until you are standing directly in front of it. At the top level, there is access to the Upper Trail, which takes you to the cliff which the Blackfoot used to herd buffalo over.
The name Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, contrary to popular assumption, does not refer to the buffalo, but rather, seems to have derived from a legend:
“A long time ago, the people were driving buffalo over these sandstone cliffs. A young brave wanted to watch the buffalo rumbling past. Standing under the shelter of a ledge, as if behind a waterfall, he watched the great beasts fall. The hunt was unusually good that day and as the bodies piled up, he became trapped between the animals and the cliffs. When his people began the butchering, they found him with his skull crushed by the weight of the buffalo carcasses. Thus, they named this place “Head-Smashed-In”.”
When first used 6000 years ago, the cliff was 20 metres high. Each time the jump was used, thick layers of bone, tools, rock rubble and soil built up. Today the cliff is only 10 metres high:
The view of the Oldman River Valley from the Upper Trail:
We spent close to 2 hours in the Interpretive Centre (far longer than we had planned!) because there was so much to see and learn. It is one of the most well-designed and engaging centres we have ever come across, and we enjoyed all of it, topped off by an outstanding video which recreated the hunt which would have taken place thousands of years ago, acted and narrated by Blackfoot actors. It was absolutely riveting.
Here are some photos from inside the centre:
A Bear in his tipi
And then there was this one of a kind piece of wood art; it is 70 inches high by 49 inches wide, made up of cedar, walnut, Tiger Wood, American cedar, Osage, Amarillo bloodwood, Purple Heart, bokote, zebrawood, Lacewood, canary wood, Yellow maple, rosewood, applewood and white aspen, which took 14 months to complete. Yours for only $18,000.
As we continued our drive toward the BC border on the Crowsnest Highway, we could see the fires burning near Pincher Creek and Cranbrook:
We stopped at Yahk Provincial Park for the night and found a lovely campsite next to the Moyie River:
The next morning, we were up early, with the goal of reaching at least Osoyoos. Driving Highway 3 (Crowsnest Highway) from Lethbridge to Osoyoos was new for us. We have driven it from Hope to Osoyoos going east, but never beyond that. What a treat! It is easily one of the most scenic drives anywhere, with stunning views around almost every turn. We actually wound up pushing as far west as Princeton before stopping for our last night on the road in Manning Provincial Park. Hard to believe that we will be home tomorrow!
We will celebrate our last night with some wine and a couple of games of cribbage in our cozy van seeing as it is 8 degrees outside and going down!
Travels with the Taylors 