Leaving Grasslands, there was one very steep hill that I wasn’t sure I could make towing the Jeep especially with the road still very muddy and slick!  So, Gail followed me in the Jeep, and even though it got a bit iffy a couple of times the RV did great!  We made it back to the visitor center in Val Marie and hooked up ready to head west again.

Our destination was Cypress Hill Interprovincial Park in Alberta.  This is an interesting park because it crosses the two provinces.  As the girl at the park office said, we are like stepchildren who don’t talk to each other.  We got to the park, but the signage was very confusing and there were about 10 different campgrounds and RV parking areas.  We got turned around, missed the turn, and had to back track.  We even called the office and got directions and were still confused.  But we finally found our spot and relaxed.  It was in a nice area and had full hooks again.  But the Jeep had a dead battery, and our portable battery backup came in handy again.  Lesson learned, she has added checking the lights to her checklist when she puts the Jeep in neutral to get it ready to tow!

That evening we went to hear an astronomer discuss constellations in the night skies and some stories of how the constellations and stars got their names.  He was a great speaker and the talk was very interesting.  And it was just clear enough that we could see a few of the ones he had highlighted.  I was still hoping to see more stars in a few days when we got to southern Saskatchewan.  Maybe what I learned would pay off.  And we did get up just before sunrise to see the 6 planets aligned, but we only could see 2 of them.

The next morning, we drove up the Head of Mountain which is the highest point in Canada between the Rockies and Labrador.  4810 ft.  Nice views but it was still a bit hazy from smoke coming down from fires in north.

As we left the park, the drive was once again flat and farmland, as we expected.  It also had  large wind turbine fields along the way.

Our next stop was Writing on Stone Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  The park is known for its unique landscape and the rock art preserved there.  And this was our first view of the hoodoos.  These are  pillars of rock that look like something out of a fantasy world that are formed by a process of erosion and weathering.  Hoodoos typically consist of relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements.

We had limited time, so we only did part of a walk and saw only a few of the preserved pictographs.  We would recommend a longer stop if possible. Also, since the  park is just north of Montana and you can see the Montana mountains.  Very nice views. 

We headed on to Lethbridge, but before checking into the RV park, we detoured to a car wash made for semi-trucks to try to get the mud off from Grasslands.  Both vehicles were still covered!  I spent over an hour on the RV while Gail worked on the Jeep.  They both looked a lot better but still had a lot of the clay-ish mud in the more hidden places.  I just hope it rains heavily on the next drive!

The stop in Lethbridge was to visit the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, another UNESCO site.  The center tells the story of how the indigenous people used the site for communal bison hunts.  Archaeologists have found evidence of hunts beginning 6000 years ago making this site one of the oldest, largest and best preserved buffalo jumps in North America.   Before horses and guns, the indigenous people herded buffalo off a cliff, and the results provided them with both meat and hides for the winters.  They also used the bones to make tools, beads, etc.   The  Interpretive Center does an excellent job of telling the story and there is a short walk through the area also. 

The unusual name for the site comes from a story about a boy that wanted to watch the buffalo jump from below the cliff.  So, he found a place under a ledge and waited.  After the jump was completed, the members of the tribe went down to begin the cleaning and found the boy with…  Well… You get the picture!

We also learned that one of the Indigenous tribes in the area was the Blackfoot.  Since they often burned the grasslands so they would regrow grasses for the buffalo, their moccasins were black and that is how they got their English name.

Our next stop was further north to Drumheller, known for dinosaurs and more Hoodoos.  We had a few days there and I took the opportunity to take the Jeep in for balancing.  Come to find out there was still quite a bit of mud inside the rims and Gail may have knocked a balance weight off when she was cleaning them back in Lethbridge!  But all is smooth again!

That afternoon we took a drive out to the “ famous” Lethbridge Hoodoos.  It was very busy and crowded!   But they were interesting. We felt the ones at Writing on Stone were just as nice and not nearly as many people. 

We did some more sightseeing in the area.  Coal mining was a big part of the history in the area.  It is also known for the largest trestle bridge in the world. The bridge was started during 1908 and was completed in 1909 and is just over a mile long at 5,331 feet and rises 314 feet over the Oldman River.

The next day was our dinosaur day.  The Royal Tyrell Museum is Canada’s only museum dedicated exclusively to the study of ancient life.   While it talks about all phases of life on earth, it focuses on the Mesozoic, Triassic and Jurassic eras when dinosaurs were alive.  It has  one of the world’s largest displays of dinosaurs.  Many of the fossils have been found in the nearby area.  It is very educational.   There is also a short, guided walk with more views of the terrain and more hoodoos. 

We drove down the road to Horse Thief Canyon.  Again, more views and prairie dog holes!  Gail tripped in one and fell.  Luckily just a few scrapes.  She was rewarded with a close-up picture of one of the culprits.

Further down is a small cable ferry (the Bleriot Ferry) that will take you across the Red Deer River in just under 6 minutes.  We never pass up a chance to go on a ferry.  Of course in this case we were driving a loop and the only alternative to the ferry was to backtrack (which we avoid whenever possible).

Our next stop was in Cochrane – just west of Calgary.  Cochrane is booming with lots of commercial and residential development.  The park was on the Bow River and very convenient.

We headed out to meet Audra and Ryan (a couple we met last year when we did Tidal Bore Rafting in Nova Scotia) for dinner.  Since Calgary is known for steaks, they picked a steakhouse.  Excellent.  Audra gets our most dedicated friend award.  She had almost ripped the toenail off her big toe but came to dinner with us under some heavy painkillers before heading to the emergency room!  She told us the next day that they were able to save the toenail, and she is on the mend getting ready for their trip to France!

The next day we explored Calgary.  Since we had missed the Stampede, which is usually in early July, we decided to do the next best thing and go to the Sam Center Stampede Museum.  It is a small museum that tells the story of the Stampede, how it started in 1912 and how it has continued as a cherished tradition.  A few things that we found very interesting are: 1) Indigenous people have been included in all the Stampedes even in the beginning when they had to have special permission to leave their reservations. 2) There are two events that are not normal rodeo events.  One is a relay race done on bareback and the other is a chuck wagon race. 

After that we went downtown to the Peace bridge, a pedestrian bridge that was completed in 2012 with a very unique design.  It is in Prince Island Park, and we walked along the park and then stopped at the Local Public Eatery and shared an excellent hamburger.

On the way back to the RV, we took a short walk around the historic part of Cochrane.  There was an interesting bookstore and a very popular, and busy ice cream store that we decided not to stand in line for! 

Tomorrow we head for the mountains and start our Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper week.  We’ve been really looking forward to this.  So come along and share our excitement!