April 17th-19th Big Hill Creek and Cochrane to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump

After a lot of considering, we had decided the perishing cold weather was not going to improve any if we fled south into Montana, so we should stick around for a little longer to spend Easter with the youngest.

So, Easter Sunday, faced with some pretty poor weather predictions, we opted for a fairly close to home hike in Big Hill Creek.

It was a fairly straightforward hike up the gorge from Cochrane…and excuse to get outside and a little bit of extracise….It turned out to be nicer than expected……and a great excuse to spend some time with the kid…!!

It started out as a pleasant day…plus 10 celsius in fact….

…and then in true Alberta style….it started to snow……at plus 10 celsius…!!!

Scott caught some geese in flight….!!!…spot the goose….!!

It was warmer than it looked , if a little on the windy side..!! Another enjoyable day out with Bronagh.

Now it was time to leave Calgary and finally head south. Our new friends from Spring Hill, Vladimir and Irina recommended Covered Wagon RV park in Magrath. It’s less than an hour from the border…so it seemed to be sensible as a stop….less than 2 hours from Shelby ( our next stop) just in case we get caught up crossing the border…..not anticipating problems but it never hurts to be prepared.

The weather forecast changed dramatically in the last few days…Tuesday went from predicting a lovely warm spring day to threatening 20cm accumulations of snow.

We pulled out fairly early to beat the snow…and took the route Vladimir recommended…skipping the city of Calgary by taking the road slightly to the west…no views as we drove through driving snow…but no accumulations yet…and negligible traffic.

But the time we got south enough…about level with high river…the sky turned blue…and the day looked lovely for about 50 km…then the wind started.

Gusts of up to 100kmph said Environment Canada…the rest of the journey became a bit of a slog….the crosswinds…even with the airstream…were diabolical….

We drove past signs pointing us to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump…so had to stop.

Its an amazing site. 6,000 year old buffalo jump. Wowser.

It was a battle just getting from the trailer to the visitor centre…!!! But a great place to stop and learn if you are ever in the vicinity. ( especially if it’s a little less windy..!!)

Once we had battled our way to the centre….we did the full tour….fascinating….

The outdoor part was a little more challenging…..!!!

It was a most worthwhile stop on the way to Magrath and Covered Wagon RV.

EXTRA PIX