Tag 17: Dinosaur Provincial Park

The sun wakes us up and almost all of the floods have disappeared. We catch up on the hikes that were not possible yesterday. Our tour starts through the badlands. We are the first ones on the trail today and see the tracks of a coyote in the mud. The different layers of rocks formed by the rain are beautiful to look at. Due to yesterday's storm, the path is not always visible. The sun is shining and making the hike more challenging. But nature compensates us for our efforts.
Then we see dinosaur fossils again, which are protected by a small building. The last part of the tour leads through a riverbank landscape, which is home to a large collection of animals and plants from the prairie region. Warning signs are posted for rattlesnakes, scorpions, and black widows. Fortunately, we don't encounter any of these species. We finish our hike after almost 6 kilometers. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its unique nature. Now we continue driving south. The drive is monotonous. Long stretches without any variation make us tired. It takes us almost 3 hours to cover the 264 kilometers. René bravely drives the car despite the strong crosswinds. We reach Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump around 3 pm, a rocky cliff edge in the hilly grasslands of the Porcupine Hills. As archaeological research has shown, the prairie residents used this cliff 6000 years ago for bison hunting. The museum is built directly into the cliff. The exhibition is very interesting, with a film showing how the hunting was done. The Napis, indigenous residents, dressed up as predators, panicked the bison herd, and drove them over the cliffs to their death. It wasn't until the native people acquired horses and weapons that they abandoned this method. We learn that 50 to 200 animals died per hunt and that the different tribes from the region would meet for the hunt and then share the spoils. Everything from the buffalo was used, from the meat, bones, fur, hide, tendons, etc. We spend 2 hours in the museum, visit the cliff edge, and get back in the car. Now we just have to complete the last hour. Our campsite is only a few kilometers from Waterton National Park. We are warned about bears in the area. We grill for dinner and make a campfire.