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Somebody watch. All righty. Good morning, friends. Morning. Another day, another road trip. The crew. Today we've got Sam in the back with the baby. My dad in the front driving. Hello people. And today we are taking you on a little adventure here in southern Alberta. We are going to be visiting Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump. By the name, you can probably imagine what this is all about because it paints a very, very vivid picture. But to share a bit of a brief history, this used to be an area where the Blackfoot would hunt the buffalo.
Well, we call it buffalo, but actually it's the bison, right? Yes. So they used everything, not only the meat to feed themselves, but most important the skin. Yes. You know, to build the famous uh teepee. Yes. And to cover themselves and to protect themselves. Let's not forget that uh we're talking about maybe 5,000 years ago around here. If right now the winters are hard, imagine what would have been like back then. There were no supermarkets, no road, no car, no nothing. These people had to survive with whatever they could gather. So this area is where they uh hunted the uh the buffalo or the bison, you know.
Uh back then, you know, 5,000 years ago in America, we didn't have any horses. The horses came from Europe. So the European had not arrived yet. So these people did not have any horses. So basically what they had was this uh it was like a corridor marked by uh this uh stone that are called what was it? Kairens cars the piles of stones. Yeah. And then what they do what they did was the uh the younger men they got dressed with the skins of the wolf and on the you know the coyote coyotes that they were you know the buffalo were fearful of these animals. So what they did was start pushing them to create sort of a stampede.
Yes. And follow that corridor that was marked with the rocks and the stones. And uh eventually they reached this cliff that has about uh 13 14 m in height. And when the buffalo arrived there, the first ones, they could not stop because the one coming behind they were pushing. Yeah. So they would go over fall down the uh the cliff and once they were down there they would be butchered and everything that will be used from these animals. Yeah. The meat, the skin, the bones, nothing went to waste. Apparently they found that there is a depth of about 15 m of bones that they accumulated through the ages from the hunting. So there is also a center where you can go and they're going to
explain and uh all these things. So yeah, basically this is it and the name head smash. What was it that head smashed in buffalo jump? Yeah, it seems that a young uh Blackfoot uh man wanted to see what he looked like when the buffalo came over the uh went over the cliff and he stayed at the bottom, but he miscalculated and the buffalo fell on top of him. Yes. So, when they were able to remove all these animals that were on top of him and rescue him, his head was smashed. The babies. Wait for them to drop. Oh,
that's awesome. That's mama. Now, let's talk about how to reach this attraction. Head smashed in Buffalo Jump is located 18 km west of Fort Mloud. We were coming from a different direction, so we opted for a backcountry road, and I've got to say, the landscapes were nice. We traveled past the old man river, planted fields and wind farms as far as the eye could see. I
[bell] Casting in the flags today. We have all our flag bears leading the way. We have the secret incarnation flag. Further on the black nation. All righty. So, I want to show you guys the museum or the interpretation center because there's this really cool replica, shall we call it? We've got this cliff with three buffaloos up top so that you can get a better idea of how they used to hunt them. Obviously, we're going to see the real thing outside, but this is a pretty cool recreation. Let me see if I can show you over my shoulder so you get a good look there.
Yeah. One thing to keep in mind, if you visit during the summer months, July or August, every Wednesday at 11:00 and 1:30 p.m., they have a little pow-wow, so you can actually hear the music and see the dances of the Blackfoot. So, it's really cool. We were just out there. There was a nice big crowd. Our girl loved it. She was clapping and laughing and singing the whole time. So, it's really nice if you can come on a Wednesday to take that in and enjoy that aspect as well. But anyways, now we're inside the interpretation center. So, we're going to tour that and then head out on the trail. So, something interesting here [screaming and crying] for people who have kids. Come take a look at this.
They have coloring section. So, they're celebrating 50 years of World Heritage in Canada. And you can color your head smashed in buffalo jump. Nice. That's fun. That's really cool. My little one's a little too young for this. Yeah, not quite. Maybe in the next year or two. But uh yeah, I thought that's neat. It's very family friendly. Head smashed in Buffalo Jump is a national historic site, provincial heritage site, and world heritage site. It is considered a testimony of prehistoric life. Evidence of human activity in this region dates back for at least 11,000 years and buffalo
jumping is a custom that was practiced by the people of the Great Plains for nearly 6,000 years. The interpretive center takes you on a journey looking at the geography of the planes, the lifestyle of the people who call this place home, the use of the jump sites, the arrival of the horse and gun with the European man, and there's even a film that reenacts the buffalo hunts before you eventually exit on the upper trail and viewpoint. A little caution sign over here. On the drive over, we were wondering, I wonder if the bears make it this far out into the plains. Apparently, yes, occasional sightings of cougars and bears. It says, "Hike only in groups, make noise. Watch
over children." So, good to know. The upper trail is 200 m and it's a very easy walk on a paved path. And then below the cliffs, you have a 1.2 km trail where you can see where the buffalo would have met their end. I would recommend at least 2 hours to see and do it all. All right, friends. So, we showed you the short hike on the upper level, and there's also an interpretive hike here at ground level. So, basically what I'm doing now is the 1.2 km hike. It's as easy as can be. And Aurelia, Daniel, and Audrey are
cooling off with the air conditioning in the interpretive center. But I think along the way, I'm going to get some nice views of the cliffs, and I should also be able to see some of the teepee up close. So, this is going to be an interesting walk, I think. All righty, here we are. We are now heading home. We actually stopped off for lunch on the banks of the Old Man River. They have a few different day use areas with picnic tables, boat launches, pretty decent washrooms as well. So, we did that. We had packed a picnic with sandwiches and also while we were at Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump, um they were giving away free buffalo stew.
Yeah, I got the very last one. Yes, you did. So lucky. I just went up and asked them like didn't look like they were serving anymore. They're like, "We have one left." One left. So, we got to try that. Delicious. It's a very lean beef. Very little fat. It doesn't have a strong gy taste like I was expecting. And the recipe they made, it had like barley, corn, carrot. So, it was very tasty. We really enjoyed that. We've tried the buffalo meat burgers recently, and if you get an opportunity to do that, you absolutely have to. It's like next level burgers.
They retain their thickness on the grill. Anyways, yeah, just um a really fun family outing today, wasn't it? Yes, it sure was. And we are planning to do a lot of little day trips around southern Alberta. Like a lot of the places we want to visit are probably going to be half day trips because we have so much all around us and we've kind of been lazy about exploring, but that's going to change. I found the place to be extremely interesting. Yeah. to see that uh that animal, let's call it buffalo because everyone's going to call the buffalo, the American buffalo that provided so much for the blackfoot.
Uh it was the reason that it got almost exterminated and extinct. Yeah. Because it was a source of food. It was a source of clothing. It was used to build their teepeees, you know, to have a roof over their heads. It provided almost everything they needed from the uh wild herds of uh 30 40 million individuals. They reduce them to almost a couple of hundred survive. So it was almost extinct to be able to control. They began to colonize and they wanted these lands. The solution they found was to exterminate the uh buffalo, the bison. Mhm. and uh create a total need and dependence on the white man for food and clothing and everything else and like that they were able to dominate.
Yeah. Uh because of the radication of this uh beautiful animal that had provided uh everything these people needed for thousands and thousands of years. Yeah. There are some historical photos that maybe I'll overlay here because it's unbelievable like how many bison or buffalo what happened is just a total uh total destination. They didn't leave anything. There were just a a few hundred individuals that survive and out of that they're trying to rebuild and recuperate the herds today because they've noticed that the areas where these animals used to roam uh no other certification happened and it is because of the you know the way
the hoof and the way they roll uh on the ground and they make like uh you know when it rains the water stays, it doesn't go. So now they are trying to reintroduce them all over Canada and the United States. A beautiful animal, this bison, you know, beautiful animal. So yeah, we really enjoyed it. It's a lot of history. It's a lot to learn and if you're uh around this area, uh do not miss it because it's uh it's a history. It is. It's a cool spot. And we'll be back soon with more mini road trips and little adventures here in southern Alberta. So, if you enjoyed this video, stick around.
There are more adventures coming very soon. Click like and subscribe. Thank you. Bye.
