We headed out for “Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump” just outside of Ft. Macleod. It is a been used for 6000 years by the native Indians. It was very precise how the Indians knew the habits of the buffalo and were able to heard them in “alley” toward the cliff. Oh, and by the way “head smashed-in” does not refer to the buffalo at the bottom of the cliff; the legend has it that an Indian brave wished to watch the buffalo tumble off of the cliff from behind, as in standing behind a water fall. When the rest of the Indians were butchering the buffalo, they found the brave with his head smashed in…hence the name. It was a very interesting place. It had some of those ceremonial colored rags tied in trees by the Indians, like we saw last summer Devil’s Tower. The winds blow quite a bit at area around “Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump”; turns out that this is the windiest place in general in all of Canada d/t the Chinook winds. That’s probably why there is a huge wind generating “farm” for miles in this area. Quite an ecologically good thing to do.
It was 48 degrees this morning and about the same now; a bit nippy. My “view from the road’ feature, once again proved that the side-roads are best. We saw Fence posts with hats on them; several miles of it. Nobody could just dream that up… Then we saw a sign along the road that said ”If you pack it in, pack it out. Your Mother Nature doesn’t work here.”
We can see the mountains of Banff. Awesome! I had some shots out of the window; so they weren’t the best. But it was raining outside. We are camped at Three Sisters Campground….just across the trail from the river. The ranger just came and told us there is a flash flood watch. We are welcome to move, but they are watching it and will come around and tell us if we have to move. Chris just checked the river and it has 3 ft. to go. Wow….intrigue. We just brought the generator inside in case we have to scoot in a hurry…but the ranger personally doesn’t think it will overflow.
We traveled 234 miles today and have traveled 2291 miles thus far since June 1. It is raining as it has been since about noon. I think it has rained almost every day and night since we have been on our trip. It’s definitely jeans, sweat shirt and jacket weather…..plus rain coats and hiking boots. Very stylish. It’s very hard to get a good picture with blue sky because it has been so very overcast the whole time.
For those of you geologically inclined our coordinates are: -115 degrees 00’13” by 51 degrees 03’13 “.
So, I’m putting my socks on and jumping into bed to snuggle and keep warm under our beautiful and warm comforter.
June 11; am
left Three Sisters Campground; river actually went down 6 inches over night....although I slept with one eye on the river all night and we were prepared to boogie at a moment's notice.
This Bow river originates in the Bow Glacier about 60 mi. north.
It rained hard all night and is just now (10:30 am) misting outside. We are in the town of Banff right now.
We're heading to Lake Louise after this with some sights on the way.
Later: 3:20 p.m.
Well.....I'm now sitting in the lobby of the Chateau at Lake Louise! Can ya believe!
It is every bit as gorgeous as the pictures. The lake is right outside. I took lots" of pictures, but you will have to wait for tomorrow for them. I joined the "president's club" so that I could get complimentary WiFi here for today. Would ya believe that in most places in Banff Park it can cost up to $10 per half hour???? :-( The receptionist here told me that the room here would cost $545 for one night and sadly....they didn't have one.....oh, wow is me! I just had to see what it would costso
Took some awesome pictures of the lobby, lady playing the harp, chandeliers, etc. Also awesome pics of the lake....just like I saw on the internet. Will post them the next time I have internet. Didn't bring the connection cord to put pics on the computer.
We had lunch about 5 miles before we got to Lake Louise. It was only the second time that we have been able to sit at a table and have lunch....the rest of the time it has been raining! The first time we were crossing out of Iowa! This time it was misting....but not a down-pour.... so that for me. We're going to walk around the Lake.....not ALL THE WAY AROUND! and then come some where in the park. Tomorrow we head for Jasper Nat'l Park.
Don't know when we'll get internet again....so until then.
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