DRØMMESPOR

Dotted across our road map are these small green areas – “Indian Reservation” the text reads, as it did on the US maps as well.

Long before the white man entered the scene these endless mountains and prairies were inhabited by others. Indigenous Peoples as they officially say in Canada, First Nations as the ancient peoples call themselves. They lived in tribes and the many tribes have names – names that some will remember from their childhood books – The Blackfoot, The Cree, The Mohawk. Once they roamed these plains hunting for food and creating their lives and culture according to the landscape and natural habitat. The change of this way of life is history now, but Canada as a nation has taken great pains to try to reconcile their past with their present and giving equal opportunities to all its citizens.

We visited two different historic sites connected with the First nation peoples. There seems to be a marked difference between the “reservations” of the US and those of Canada. In Canada the First Nations are protected in the sense that the government subsidizes the preservation of their different cultures, which means that the areas in which they live are not as stricken with poverty and poor education and their lands seem well kept – at least the ones we have driven through. This is, of course, a much more complicated matter than I have any understanding of – I know that Indigenous Peoples have taken their causes to court here in Canada and have in many cases won their land claims based on old treaties and contracts from the 1800´s – something I could not imagine happening in the US – or many other countries for that matter.

In this blog it will suffice to take you through the pictures of a beautiful new visitors center on the lands of the Blackfoot Nation, which is a confederacy of several nations and to a Heritage Site called Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump – plus a mention of the Badlands of Alberta.

The Blackfoot Crossing National Park

We were alas not allowed to take pictures of the very well constructed exhibitions inside the building, so you will have to make do with the pictures of the beautiful architecture of this fairly new National Heritage Site called The Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park.

In this case the tribe in question is called the Siksika – who are a part of the Blackfoot Nation. It is their history, artifacts and stories which are on display in the museum – as well as the history of the First Nations and the meeting of cultures when the Europeans first entered these lands.

The building in all its beauty on a cold day in October – the architecture is thought as a tipi…

….and the entrance as decorative feathers throwing its shadows on the ground –

Inside the great glass entrance hall from where you can see the whole valley below –

And a look at details…

The Center is also a site for research…the library in the background –

The valley below the Center where the Blackfoot lived for centuries – the Valley is now protected because it is the site of the signing of a peace treaty between the Blackfoot Chief Crowfoot and the Canadian government in 1877. A reservation was created and today about 4,000 people still live on this reservation –

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

Yes, it is a strange name is it not? Nevertheless, understanding the history behind a place like this is the key to the understanding of how ressourcefullness and ingenuity gave the First Nation peoples of this area in Alberta the means to survive for thousands of years – the protagonist of the story being the buffalo. The buffalo was not sacred in a religious sense, but it was revered and loved as a means for survival – it gave food, it gave skins for warmth and its bones were made into tools –

And for this purpose killing it was a necessity. With creativity and skill the men of the tribe lured the buffalos over the top of a cliff whereby hundreds of animals were killed at the same time – therefore the term Buffalo Jump.

Afterwards the buffalo were dragged out onto the plains where the women were waiting to do their part of the job – preparing the meat, drying the skins and so on – the tribes were now able to survive the winter.

The sad story is, that these millions of huge animals roaming the plains of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were soon to become almost extinct – when the white man needed the skins and to some extent the meat – and suddenly the buffalo jump was used for killing a lot more animals than necessary for survival. The skins were sent to the booming industries in eastern US to be used for manufacturing and industrial purposes.

Today, the buffalo is kept in national parks in the US and Canada and the population is said to be growing.

The jump as it looks today in the snow….

….and the museum built into the cliffs – with a last glimpse of the Rockies in the background –

Something that we did not know before visiting these two museums was, that before the Indigenous Peoples of these more southern parts of Canada were introduced to the horse, brought up from Mexico, they used dogs – much as in Greenland – the horse changed their whole way of life, as did the gun!

Ancient art –

Lastly a few pictures of the Albertan Badlands – dinosaur land one could also call it – numerous dinosaurs have been found here and are still being found – The Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller tells the story –

The Badlands and its dinosaurs

From the Tyrell Museum, where many of the exhibits and finds are original…from both land and sea –

The wayfarers

We had planned to go south after the Icefields but decided instead to go north for a couple of days. This proved to be a stroke of luck – southeren Alberta experienced an unusually early snowstorm in the days where we were heading north. The snow was still there as we drove south again through the vast plains of Alberta, but not in any way detrimental to our journey.

Alberta is a rich province. Rich in oil and gas, rich in farmlands and rich in natural beauty. The Rocky Mountains and its valleys to the west create a beautiful tourist and outdoor recreational environment as well as water supplies from the mountains. Driving down and further east we experienced what for us is something that we will drive a long way to see – the vast plains, the straight and long roads, an almost overpowering sense of the rounding of the earth making you feel that both the sky and the road in front of you are unending. The horizons of Alberta seem infinite.

I will take you through some of the landscapes driving through from Dawson Creek in the north and to Lethbridge in the south. But first a last look at the top end of the Rockies in British Columbia on our way to Prince George.

And would you believe it, we saw our first bear on this stretch. There it was, laying comfortably in a tree trying to sleep. It only lifted its head slightly as the tourists drove by with their camera –

The last part of the Rockies – or so we thought, we saw them later again in southeren Alberta –

Waterfall through the trees…

… …. …..bluejays against the sun….

…. before driving out into the open – the beginning of the plains where the sky slowly took over from the mountains as the predominant feature –

Oil pump jacks started popping up….

…as did the old grain elevators..

…and the newer ones –

We spotted a hawk – and also a wolf, but no picture of that. The wolf was standing on the road as we turned a corner, a young and strong one, but before we could stop the car and get the camera out, it was gone –

Canada geese resting on their way south –

The vast fields and their harvest…

…and domestic animals, all constantly eating – cows…

…sheep and goats…

…and even bison –

Then came the snow – some places the harvest was not even in yet, but these fields were lucky

Covered hills….

…and weather worn shacks…

….and in the middle of nowhere – once a welcome wash!

The wayfarers

Lake Louise was a bit of a disappointment! We had decided to take the Icefields Parkway north from Lake Louise to Jasper – the whole thing. So we drove from Golden to Lake Louise in the early morning – so as to see it before everyone else got the same good idea. But alas, several kilometers before the lake traffic controllers started showing up in their yellow vests, and soon we found ourselves in a long queue of busses, cars and motorcycles. I got out of the car to ask where the exit might be, we wanted to turn back, but was shouted back into the car – one would have thought we were in a dangerous place!

To cut a long story short, we did finally reach the exit – the carpark was completely filled up already and everything around the lake was chaos, or so it seemed to us – and that is exactly why we try to avoid the main tourist sites and go for the lonely roads! I am quite certain that the lake is exceptionally beautiful, or all those people would not have been there, but that must wait till another fine day.

Beautiful was also the Icefields Parkway stretching though the Rocky Mountains – even the clouds and the rain could not take that away from it. It is said the be the highest and most wondrous road in Canada – 240 kilometers of such imposing landscapes that it takes your breath away – and even becomes slightly trivial in all its beauty and majesty.

Let me take you through in pictures and maybe you will go yourself one day – who knows where life will take us. On this day it took us – and hundreds of others – through the most breathtaking of scenery – and thank you Canada for preserving it so well.

The water

The mountains

The glaciers

The Athabasca Falls

Note the brown trees in the background. Unfortunately many trees in the park have been infected with the pine beetle and are dying out. But that may just be a way with nature – new life will hopefully spring from the earth after these trees are gone.

Potholes suspended on the sides of the canyon. Small particles of sand have drilled these holes over thousands of years as with a fine diamond drill.

Alpine like growth on the walls of the canyon…

The others

Wild life

As always the guidebooks promise more than they can fulfill. The only wildlife we saw was this wildlife bridge and an elk cow posing for a photographer on a field outside Jasper.

The wayfarers