Back to the USA!

Heading back to the USA… to Glacier National Park

We left Calgary this morning at 8am, heading south towards Glacier National Park in Montana. Our first stop, before leaving Canada, was Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo-Jump, a Unesco Heritage Site. 

The Blackfoot National in Canada goes back thousands of years. They hunted buffalo (bison) as a way to sustain them through the long harsh winters. One of the most popular ways to kill the bison was driving them over a cliff to their death. Although this sounds horrible, it was their way of life and they only took what they needed for their sustenance. This site is one of the best preserved areas and a museum was built. Our young guide was a very proud member of the Blackfoot Nation, having been raised by his grandmother and taught the old ways including the language.

The method of the buffalo jump only happened once a year, in the fall. The indigeneous people would study the buffalo and their habits, where they found food, what drove them as a herd, what food they ate, etc. Using this knowledge they would work to have the buffalo exactly where they needed them to be and when the time came, members of the tribes worked together to funnel the herd into a stampede which eventually led them over the edge of the cliff. This involved one of the members wearing a buffalo skin on their back as he led the herd, acting like a lost calf. Others wore wolf skin as they herded the buffalo from the back. I may not be explaining it well, but what a fascinating and efficient way to hunt. And in 48 hours time the tribe members would have skinned, butchered, and saved every part of the buffalo that they needed to sustain them through the cold winter. 

What’s with the name?  The legend says that once a young Blackfoot warrior decided to stand below the cliff to watch the buffalo come over; however, when the hunt was over, they found this warrior dead, and, of course, his head had been smashed in - hence the name.

From there we continued on to Waterton National Park, the Canadian side of Glacier, to enjoy lunch at the Prince of Wales hotel. What a spot. Beautiful old hotel where we enjoyed what was called a ‘tea lunch’ - gosh we are eating way too much food. We started with two types of scones complete with clotted cream and jam. We picked two different types of tea to try. And then were served a tower of food (one tower for every two people) consisting of typical tea sandwiches - egg salad, chicken salad, salmon, cucumber - and then all the sweets; mini cheesecake, shortbread, tarts, just too too much food - BUT if you couldn’t finish, you could box it up and take it with you. We left with a box.

We had time to enjoy the beautiful view of Waterton Lake before climbing back on the bus to cross the border into the United States. The border crossing was easy - as our passports were collected by the border guard - and then returned quickly and we were on our way.

We arrived at Glacier National Park - the east side - at Many Glacier Hotel - late afternoon. This hotel had been built back in the 1911 by the Great Northern Railroad. Their aim was to bring the wealthy people from the east coast to this area, advertising it as the Alps of the USA. 

Our room contained a king side bed, small bathroom and shower, and a deck overlooking Swiftcurrent Lake. Certainly this was not a 5-star hotel, but it was so very comfortable and roomy and all we needed. As our leader Tanya puts it - we had a view with a room.

Enjoyed a Waygu Steak for dinner; such good beef in this area of the country. And we watched the sun set behind the mountains. There were several visitors doing some fly-fishing in the lake. Time for bed.

NOTE: don’t know why some of the print is in black. It’s difficult to do the editing on this small iPad. Perhaps my daughter will log in and fix it - but either way, hopefully you can read it.  More to come soon.

Betsy