Left: buffalo skulls.
Right: Winter Count Robe (compare to the Lakota ones)

Leaving Lethbridge we headed west towards BC. We decided to take a short detour from Fort Macleod to a place where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains meet the great plains, one of the world’s oldest, largest and best preserved buffalo jumps known to exist –Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump*. Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, Head-Smashed-In has been used continuously by aboriginal peoples of the plains for more than 5,500 years.

We had long heard about it and now was our opportunity to see this architecturally interesting interpretive centre built into the cliff side in staggered levels, along with an outdoor viewing area overlooking the jump. It’s a beautifully designed and organized museum depicting the ecology, mythology, lifestyle and technology of Blackfoot peoples within the context of available archaeological evidence. Interpretation of these themes presents the viewpoints of both aboriginal peoples and European archaeological science.

We noticed First Nations staff here including a guide taking a group around, telling the stories and demonstrating tool-making for example. I always thought the “smashed head” referred to the buffalo, but according to the myth of the place, it was that of a young curious lad who went under the cliff to watch the buffalo come down in the hunt. So many heavy beasts came down that he was crushed by the pileup. Another fact that I found extremely disturbing was how quickly the buffalo was decimated by white hunters (in about 2 years, though I can’t remember exactly and I forgot to take a pen in with me!) and how this destroyed the lives of the Blackfoot people.

This place is well worth a visit if you’re in the area. In the meantime, have a look at their site*.

As we continued west, the glorious views of the mountains were different again. Soon we approached a huge area of boulders spread out from the mountains on our left and across the other side of the highway on upwards. This is the Frank Slide that happened 4:10 a.m. on April 29th, 1903. A 90 million ton mass of rock fell from the summit of Turtle Mountain onto the coal mining town of Frank, Alberta. Within 90 seconds, at least 70 people were dead – most still in their beds. We’ve driven through here before many years ago (and a few days ago) but now there is the The Frank Slide Interpretive Centre high up above the slide area. Have a look at another virtual tour. We didn’t have enough time to go through the Centre, but another time! It was impossible to capture the entire devastation in one photo, the one below shows only part of it, looking west.

Our destination for the evening was the Bavarian style town of Kimberley, BC. We chose this because we’d never been here before. We stayed in a really lovely and friendly bed & breakfast in a beautifully built house with European styling and quality in the growing new area near the ski hill. In the evening we sauntered around the Platz in the centre of Kimberley, looking at the decorated shops and restaurants.

Here we were approached by a charming older gentleman who lived here and who turned out to be a healer with an interesting life. We ended up having an immensely fascinating and enlightening conversation over dinner. Amazing how one can sometimes connect with a stranger and in short time become friends, something that does not happen to us often. What a wonderful feeling, and we do hope to meet again. (Sorry no photos of Kimberley, we were too busy talking!)

The next day, we decided to head north along Hwy.95 instead of going back the way we came along the Crowsnest, again to see some areas new to us. It’s a lovely valley, especially between Fairmont Hot Springs and Radium and it was an easy drive to Golden on the Hwy.1 or the Trans-Canada. From here it’s a scenic and easy through the Rockies then down the Coquihalla to Hope, and then home. It was a great road trip seeing new parts of some corners of BC and southern Alberta!

(In case you missed the earlier postings about our Alberta Trip, here are Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4.)

* March 27, 2014: Links updated due to changes since original posting.

(photo – Galt Museum)

Husband had a work meeting on this day, so I had a lazy start then went out walking about Lethbridge. It was spitting rain now and then so my normal Vancouver garb was useful. I felt somewhat like an oddity when I noticed that people don’t walk here much, just a few down-and-out looking guys in a park. It’s a safe and clean city but everyone drives. I did a bit of shopping, something I rarely do at home, and visited the museum and the art gallery.

Galt Museum is located next to the coulee with a panoramic view from the huge windows of the new addition, built out behind the original brick building. I enjoyed the two exhibits. Exploring Southwestern Alberta (view the picture gallery) was most interesting especially the history of the First Nations people and the Japanese who were interred here from the West Coast during the Second World War. Fifties Forever was a light-hearted look at that decade – geesh, things were pretty tacky back then! I was a little disappointed that there was only this one large room to see with all the new space here, but it looks like they are still working on that.

I like looking around the gift shops in the art galleries and museums in places I visit for an interesting souvenir, or maybe a birthday gift for a friend or something for our “kids”. Certainly there were lovely pottery pieces, jewelry and children’s toys, but this time I found the perfect little book for me: Stone by Stone, Exploring Ancient Sites on the Canadian Plains by Liz Bryan (2005, Heritage House, BC). It even has a few pages on Writing-in-Stone.

Southern Alberta Art Gallery also had two exhibitions (click on ‘past exhibitions’). Art’s Alive and Well in the Schools made me happy because I believe all children are creative and that schools must nurture and develop that creativity and this exhibition of children’s art is evidence of that. The other exhibition Jeff Thomas – A Study of Indian-ness was a photography exhibition with a very unique and thought-provoking approach that stimulated one to think about the lives of contemporary First Nations people and some of their thoughts about their place in today’s society.

In the evening, we met friends who kindly drove in all the way from their farm near Pincher Creek to share a lovely dinner in a Greek restaurant. (We had dinner with another friend last night too.) So our stay in Lethbridge was short (three nights), very exciting (Writing on Stone) and sweet (a great time with friends). The next morning we headed back west.

Related:
Alberta Trip Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Days 5 & 6

Leaving Christina Lake, our journey continued eastward through the beautiful Rocky mountains straddling both BC and Alberta. Once over the other side, the first thing we noticed was the wideness of the rolling almost treeless hills and the wideness of the huge sky above. The expression “big sky country” came to mind, and memories of growing up on the prairies rushed in.

When we first saw a windmill, we were struck by its beauty, and again memories arose, this time of the windmills we saw in Denmark some years ago. When we came upon some gentle hills that had a row of dozens of these tall graceful modernist looking structures, we could not help but stop and drive along the gravel road to get closer to this “farm” – yes, they are called windmill farms!

Alberta, an oil rich but hydroelectric-poor province has led Canada in increasingly investing in this clean and efficient renewable resource. At home we learned that this “farm”, which had a sign “Cowley North” is part of the Cowley Ridge Windplant, the first commercial windplant in Canada. It was completed in two phases in 1993 and 1994. Fascinating! Why isn’t BC investing in these on our windy westcoast? So much better than nuclear energy anywhere!

Our destination, Lethbridge sits on the edge of a coulee overlooking the Oldman River. Our hotel was next to this, so we enjoyed an evening walk along the lovely nature trail here as we watched the sun lowering in the sky behind the High Level Bridge. Across on the other side, straddling the slopes of the coulee, is the unique University of Lethbridge building designed by Arthur Erickson.

The next day would be the highlight of the whole trip….

UPDATE June 15th: Don’t miss Roger’s comments on a historical site in Lethbridge (which we visited long ago) – Fort Whoop-up.

UPDATE 2, June 15th: Exciting news – BC is developing a windfarm! My husband has been doing a lot of research on wind energy for personal interest as well as a potential project at work, all inspired by this trip. Tonight he came across the Nai Kun Project. The proposed Nai Kun wind farm is to be situated in Hecate Strait between Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) and Prince Rupert off the coast of BC. The wind farm will be built during the calm periods of the year, over a three or four-year period. Construction is expected to be complete by 2010. It’s a very interesting and informative website with some videos to view, including this project.

(Read more at Alberta Trip Day 1, Day 3, Day 4 and Days 5 & 6)

As I mentioned a few days ago, we took a little driving holiday last week. We enjoy car trips which allow us the flexibility to stop and enjoy whatever catches our interest (within some time limits of course) and have a picnic lunch somewhere along the way. We have lived in BC for a lot of years and still haven’t seen all of this province, nor that of Alberta, our destination. It has been a couple of decades since we drove the scenic Crowsnest Highway from Hope (east of Vancouver) all the way to Lethbridge, Alberta. British Columbia has several mountain ranges running north south with valleys in between, so the road does wind up and down until we cross the Rockies into Alberta.

Whenever we travel in BC, we take along our now dog-eared copy of the Beautiful British Columbia Travel Guide (1994) which was published by a magazine of that name (now called British Columbia magazine). While my husband drives, I read out loud the interesting history and facts about the communities along our route. The Crowsnest website is as interesting as the book, with much more detailed histories. I’ll just mention a few highlights of the day’s journey.

I was thrilled to see the wild rhododendrons in bloom in Manning Provincial Park, three hours east of Vancouver. This species of rhododendron is similar to the Himalayan ones, and is found in just a few locations in North America. (I wish I’d written down the information from the park.) This was the first time we were there in June to see them in bloom. We have fond memories of several cross-country skiing holidays in Manning Park when our family was younger.

Osoyoos is located on Canada’s only desert – the northern most tip of the Sonora Desert. Situated in the heart of the South Okanagan, and boasting the lowest annual rainfall and the highest average temperatures, this is appropriately called BC’s Desert Wine Country! It’s too hot for me, Spanish/Mexican looking, and popular with families and retirees. Some cool day I would like to visit the Desert Centre here.

We stopped for the night at Christina Lake, a pretty little town with cottages rimming the lake. It will be very busy in July and August but now it was still quiet, without fast food joints, hotels or fancy restaurants. These tired travellers found a lovely spot to unwind on the public beach by the quiet waters surrounded by mountains before retiring to a motel.

(Read more about the trip: Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Days 5 & 6)