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Day 31: July 16, 2016 Back in the Lower 48 Comment via blog |
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Barring the driving around I did while I was there, my first pass through
Calgary was east to west on AB-1, the Trans Canada Highway. This pass was
essentially north to south on AB-2 which apparently has no other name.
Although no stops were planned, I would make two before reaching the
border.
Although I wasn't expecting this and would not have even had a wild guess as to where it was, I recognized the name immediately. Head-Smashed-In is certainly a catchy name for a buffalo jump and that catchiness is probably a big reason for me remembering it. The drill on entering the building is to move to the top where a paved path leads to the actual jump site. A buffalo jump is a place where Native Americans stampeded buffalo over the edge after slowly moving them toward it. The Head-Smashed-In jump is the exposed rock area in the third and fourth pictures. It has been used many time with the first being nearly six thousand years ago. In addition to providing a good view of the kill zone, the concrete deck is a good place to look over the area to the south. I saw no buffalo while I was there but did see several marmots and got a picture of one. |
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By re-entering the building at its top, the exhibits can be viewed in the
sequence intended during the descent. Displays describe the lives of area
natives and there is a movie depicting a buffalo jump. According to
legend, the name of the site does not come from the condition of the
stampeding animals after the jump but from a native boy who wanted to
watch a jump from below. He did but was unable to scurry away as planned.
He was found beneath the resulting pile of dead buffalo with his head
smashed in.
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My second unplanned stop came in Cardston, Alberta. Cardston is the
hometown of Fay Wray, the female lead in the original King Kong and
the actress idolized by Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture
Show.
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There was a long slow moving line at the border but once I got to the
front I was through in almost no time. Guess I'm getting better at this.
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My home for the night was at Swiftcurrent Motor
Inn at the end of Many Glacier Road inside Glacier National Park.
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I didn't know a whole lot about the park but I quickly learned that one of
its better known restaurants was just down the road and it was just now
starting to serve dinner. Maybe if I hurried I could get a front row seat
at the Many Glacier Hotel's Ptarmigan Dining Room. That didn't work out
but even my back row table provided a nice view of Lake Sherburne and
the trout was excellent.
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