Hoodoo Adventure

January 14, 2012

It was a beautiful (for January) +11 day in Lethbridge with a bit of a breeze, when three of my friends and I set out for our adventure. I had suggested Saturday afternoon that since school was starting on Monday, that we go to Writing on Stone Provincial park which is located about 100km SE of Lethbridge. So just after 8am, my friends Eric, Sean, Sam, and I all headed out.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=Lethbridge,+AB&daddr=Writing-On-Stone+Provincial+Park,+HIGHWAY+501+%26+HIGHWAY+500,+Milk+River,+Alberta&hl=en&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=25.669235,66.708984&geocode=FTJD9gIdkCtG-SkjzVrxSoZuUzGuvpVi43hcHA%3BFVGd7AIdqYZY-SHDdPS54IlPhQ&oq=writing&vpsrc=6&mra=ls&t=m&z=9

Or first stop was at the visitor centre for Milk River. It was there we saw a dinosaur, now I am no Palaeontologist, but to me the thing looked like a T-Rex. Anyways we took a few pictures and also climbed on the concrete hoodoos that they have at the vaster centre just like little kids.

It's not Jurassic Park, but I'll take it.

Sean...as a hobbit?

"Eric you shouldn't kick the Dino..he'll eat you"

Not sure what Sam is doing..I think sitting on the rock

From there we headed off to the actually hoodoos at Writing on Stone. It was about a 20 minute drive, but when we got there, I was in awe! We first stopped just above the hoodoos and from there we could see how far they go, and on both sides of the Milk River. It was amazing. I believe this was the NW rim of the hoodoos.

I thought this was amazing, and we hadn't even seen the real deal yet.

We then drove down to the parking lot, grabbed our bags and headed off. We stuck to the trail for less than 5 minutes before deciding to climb on the hoodoos.

We're off to the top of that

"Sean...why are you hiding in the bushes?"

See, told ya.

Peek-a-boo

"I Spy with my little eye..."

So a little about Writing on Stone Provincial Park, for those of you like myself who had never been there before. If you’re a history geek like myself, this place has a lot of it. Writing-on-Stone Park contains the greatest concentration of rock art on the North American Great Plains. There are over 50 petroglyph sites and thousands of works. Now for the record we didn’t get to see these works because of taking a wrong turn. But that doesn’t mean it still wasn’t fun.

Now the park itself comprises 17.80 square kilometers (4400 acres) of coulee and prairie habitat, and boasts a diverse variety of birds and animals. We got to see a deer, and even a hare running around.

The location where the park now sits was, 85 million years ago, the coastal shelf of a large inland sea. Sand deposited in the Late Cretaceous Period compacted over time and became sandstone. With the melting of the ice sheets at the end of the last Ice Age, water, ice and wind eroded the sandstone to produce the hoodoos and cliffs that are part of the park today. And because of this people of all ages get to enjoy the adventure of climbing around and running around.

"Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't." ~Pete Seeger

But people should also be warned that the some rocks are loose, and the possibility of falling to your death, or even into the river may happen.

Free climbing probably isn't the best idea

Playing around the edges could also result in death

It is a long way down if you are climbing around the edges

Also, climbing inbetwen the hoodoos into small spaces could result
in getting stuck. Which therefore may later result in death if not rescued.

There is evidence that the Milk River Valley was inhabited by native people as long ago as 9000 years. Native tribes such as the Blackfoot probably created much of the rock carvings (petroglyphs) and paintings (pictographs). These carvings and paintings tell not only of the lives and journeys of those who created them, but also of the spirits they found here. The towering cliffs and hoodoos had a powerful impact on the native visitors, who believed these were the homes of powerful spirits. The shelter of the coulees and the abundance of game and berries made the area that is now the park an excellent location for these nomadic people to stop on their seasonal migrations. While the greatest use of the area was made by those in transit, there is some evidence, including tipi rings and a medicine wheel, that there was some permanent settlement here.

Riding the Camel. Getting up was easier than getting down.

Animal remains..not human. We think.

"The world is your school." ~Martin H. Fischer

The park was created in 1957 and was designated an archaeological preserve in 1977. In 1981, a portion of the park was named a Provincial Historic Resource to protect this rock art from increasing impact from vandalism and graffiti. The most sensitive areas are now set aside in areas designated for guided tours only.