Day 18: June 2, 2013. Great Falls, Montana, USA, to Ft MacLeod, Alberta, Canada. 216 miles traveled. Over 3000 miles traveled since leaving Georgia through 12 states and 1 province, camping in 10 states and 1 province.

A pleasant surprise when we arrived at our campsite – good internet!

“North to Alaska” was playing on the radio as we departed Great Falls – a good omen! As we traveled 122 miles through the plains of northern Montana from Great Falls to the Canadian border the interstate was bordered by ranches and farms as far as the eye could see. A few oil pumps and huge grain storage silos dotted the landscape. Horses, cattle and the occasional pronghorn antelope stood in some of the fields. Far off in the distance we could see the mountains.

The border crossing was not busy this Sunday morning. There was only one RV ahead of us in line before we stopped to have our passports checked and answer the usual questions. The agent was very nice and after a few minutes we were in Alberta traveling on Alberta 4 to our destination of Ft. MacLeod about 100 more miles away.

Our first stop was at the Alberta Visitor’s Center for lunch. I picked up more travel brochures to add to our collection and we were off again. Canada uses the metric system so all the signs are in kilometers, not miles. Trying to figure out how many miles are in 100 kilometers isn’t easy so out came my phone to use the handy metric-to-US conversions.

The US to Canadian Dollar is a one-to-one exchange now so American dollars are accepted everywhere. The change comes back in Canadian dollars so I now have a separate wallet for Canadian money. Canada no longer use pennies and instead of one dollar bills there is a dollar coin called a loonie and a two dollar coin called a toonie.

We got set up at our campground and drove a few miles to the Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site. The Interpretive Site is very interesting and informative with an excellent film which reenacts a hunt and many exhibits. For thousands of years, natives of the North American plains depended on buffalo as their main source of food. Nothing went to waste. After butchering the buffalo, the hides were used for the skins of their tipis, the bones used for tools, and even the horns were used to carry coals from fires when they moved to a new location.

Before horses and guns were introduced, hunting buffalo was done on foot. The people observed the buffalo and learned ways to get them to stampede toward a cliff. The herd would be running so fast that the animals in the lead wouldn’t see the edge of the cliff until it was too late. They would all tumble to the bottom of the cliff to their death for the tribe to butcher.

This buffalo jump was named Head Smashed-In because according to Blackfoot legend, a young boy hid under a ledge in order to watch the buffalo plunge by. As the boy watched the bodies pile up, he became trapped between the animals and the cliff. His body was found with a crushed skull.

Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump from the field below

Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump from the field below

A very interesting and informative museum

The cliffs at the kill site where the buffalo jumped to their death

From the top of the cliffs overlooking the plains

The plains seem to stretch forever

Bushes were in bloom

Yellow wildflowers were growing in the fields and on top of the cliff

Buffalo watching over one of the exhibition rooms at Interpretive Center

Up close and personal with a buffalo

Back at the campground, Blondie and I walked along the Oldman River. A very good Day!