Writing On Stone

Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park boasts another remarkable piece of the western canadian landscape. We were driving along the highway, noting the miles and miles of flat expanse, when suddenly, there it was below us: a huge gorge, flowing river, and hoodoos as far as the eye can see. It was like walking into a scene from The Flintstones, and I couldn't wait to get in among the houses of Bedrock. As my cohort (who I only just then learned hadn't been here before either, though he was born and raised in southern Alberta) ventured into the interpretive centre for maps and points of interest, I practically ran over the cliff and into... this:

Those mountains in the distance are Montana, again, less than 20km as the crow flies.

For some perspective on how huge everything was, that's an adult man standing way up there!

The sun was an incredible 29C, and we hadn't planned on the intense heat. So with only a small supply of water, we marked this bench as our end point, and turned around.

We walked along the path at the base of the hoodoos for a different view on the way back.

Back to the parking lot at the top of the ravine...

We consulted the map and decided there was one more thing that couldn't be missed, known simply as "The Battle Scene".

"The Battle Scene is one of the most elaborate rock art carvings found on the North American great plains. It depicts a large force of warriors attacking an encampment of tipis, defended by a line of guns. Most the attacking figures are on foot, but eleven horses are also shown, some dragging travois. On the left, a circle of tipis surrounds several groups of human figures. Note the small figures found inside the central tipi and the two figures in the centre of the carving, one striking the other with a hatchet." 

~from Writing-On-Stone Park Brochure

Down into the ravine we go again.

But it wasn't far until we found what we were looking for.

Unfortunately, people are lame, and over the years have chosen to vandalize the site by carving their name or profanity into the rock directly surrounding the scene. The area is now fenced off to prevent further damage, with spaces provided in the fencing to allow for clear photography. The minimal options for angles and the direct afternoon sunlight prevented much in the way of creative license for photos, but I did manage to capture the above shot for posterity and if you look close, you can definitely see some of the details of the carving. It was pretty mind-blowing to think that we were standing on the very place that the Blackfoot natives documented their lives on the rock somewhere around 150 years ago.