Adventures of Shannon & Anne

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Cameron Lake

Cameron Lake is a short drive from Waterton town (still in the national park). At the lake we decided to paddle. And we decided to paddle to the end of the lake. Well.... we didn't make it. We paddled solidly for 40 minutes and we were not close. We didn't realise that at the end of the lake was Montana! ha! Anyway, Shannon was having "issues" and we had to paddle back anyway. Lets just say that the paddle back to the dock was not fun. For Shannon anyway :)

Lunch @ Waterton

Other random photos of Waterton

Waterton had deer walking down the main street!

Waterton Lakes National Park

On Sunday, we made it to Waterton Lakes. This place is also a UNESCO heritage site (as is Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump). The place was not as busy as expected - which was great. The national park goes across the US/Canada border into Montana, and the park on the US side is the Glacier Park. You are also able to take a ferry which takes you into Montana, but we didn't get a chance to do it. We did see our first grizzly cub here though! On the way back from driving Cameron Lake in the national park, there was a build up of cars - and we were lucky to see out of the corner of our eye a little cub. We weren't quick enough to take a photo but we definetly saw one! You'll have to take our word for it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterton_Lakes_National_Park

Pincher Creek

We spent our first night in Pincher Creek, where Shannon played some golf and was "attacked" by mosquitos. Shan did 9 holes in 70 minutes - he ran around the course!

Pincher Creek is known for being windy and hence there is a lot of wind farms in this area. The winds off the mountains are called "chinook winds" and is translated to mean snow eater winds. Basically the winds of the moutains are warm and melts the snow. The term is often used in Calgary - but to be honest Shan and I - think it is just wind, rather than "chinook winds". But hey what would the foreigners know?!? :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pincher_Creek

Ft MacLeod

On the way to Pincher Creek, after Head Smashed in Buffalo, we drove through Fort McLeod. The place has an old town feel to it and Brokeback Mountain was partially filmed here.

We decided not to go to the Fort... Shannon was too much of a tight@ss. Just joking. We didn't really want to "C Da Goats"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Macleod,_Alberta

Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump

On the first day of the long weekend (August civic holida), we ventured to Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump, which is a UNESCO world heritage site (a list of American sites are here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_the_Americas ) We have been to 3 out of the 15 in Canada, so far.

The buffalo jump was used for 5,500 years by the Blackfoot tribe to kil buffalo, by driving them off the 10 metre high cliff. The Blackfoor drove the buffalo from a grazing area in the Porcupine Hills about 3 kilometres west of the site to the "drive lanes," lined by hundreds of cairns then at full gallop over a cliff, breaking their legs, rendering them immobile. The cliff itself is about 300 metres long, and at its highest point drops 10 metres into the valley below. The site was in use at least 6,000 years ago, and the bone deposits are 10 metres deep. The first photo with Shannon is where the jump is.

Very interesting place and it shows how smart the Blackfoot tribe was so long ago.

http://www.head-smashed-in.com/