The road tracklog 
from Calgary to Medicine Hat
from 2011/08/15 to 2011/08/21 

The Canadian Badlands are the result of the compression of the sediments deposited by the sea then dug by the glaciations and finally eroded giving a landscape very contrasted in the rolling plains of the east and the south of Alberta. The charming hostess of Calgary Tower Visitor Center gave me a documentation about Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump close to Fort MacLeod by specifying that the performance took place only on Wednesday. After discussion she suggested by going to Drumheller to see the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Indeed the Canadian Badlands conceal two jewels listed with the UNESCO World Inheritance, Dinosaur Provincial Park and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Lonely Planet besides mentions that a visit in Alberta could not miss these two sites. Visitor Centre in Drumheller accommodates the tourist with a huge sculpture of Tyrannosaurus-Rex, to see the Gallery. The Red Deer River is skirted to the north and the south by the Dinosaur Trail 48 km long with points of interest of which the world famous Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. It exhibits the evolution of the animal kingdom in a sumptuous scenography, forward a room is reserved at Darwin by specifying that for some people his theories are still discussed.

Centrosaurus 
Drumheller, Tyrrell Museum 
15/08/2011 

Chasmosaurus 
Tyrrell Museum 
15/08/2011 

Dimetrodon 
Tyrrell Museum 
15/08/2011 

Ammonite, fossil 
Tyrrell Museum 
15/08/2011 

In the late afternoon I visited in the rain the Hoodoos southwards Rosedale.

Landscape 
Drumheller 
15/08/2011 

 
The Hoodoos 
15/08/2011 

 
The Hoodoos 
15/08/2011 

The morning of the next day was still devoted to the Dinosaurs. But before I stopped at East Coulee for taking a picture of the historic site of the Atlas Coal Mine, indeed before being famous for its Dinosaurs Drumheller was it for its more than one hundred of coal mines.

Atlas Coal Mine 
East Coulee 
16/08/2011 

I was extracted from the canyon of Red Deer River with a beautiful sunrise and two mule deer on the slope.

Provincial Dinosaur Park, listed with the World Heritage, is also in the Canyon of Red Deer River. It is a place of excavation of several hundreds of dinosaur fossils. Visitor Center exhibits some specimen not seen at Tyrrell Museum of which a fossil of basilemys carapace ancestor of our current tortoises. The site is furrowed of walk with topics to impregnate paleontology and a campground for the rest of paleontology enthusiasts.

Dinosaur PP 
Red Deer River 
16/08/2011 

Canyon 
Red Deer River 
16/08/2011 

In the afternoon I visited Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park whose architecture is like a tipi shape. It exposes in four tipi rooms topics of the way of life of the Siksika people, alas No Photo. Two topics held my attention, Treaty 7 signed in 1877 and a panel devoted to Eurocentric Misconceptions.

 
Blackfoot Crossing, Historical Park 
16/08/2011 

The site of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump listed with the World Heritage is located on Hwy # 785 little before MacLeod. It was one of the places of Blackfoot hunting since millennia attested by excavations at the foot of cliff updating buffalo bones and artifacts. Interpretive Centre exhibits on several floors items with archeologist commentaries. It is an essential complement of Blackfoot Crossing.

 
Hwy #520 
17/08/2011 

The herds of Buffalo were put towards cliff where they precipitated in the empty space. At the foot they were cut up, skins were cut out then tanned, flesh were distinct then dried.

 
In situ 
17/08/2011 

In July and August two dancing performances are produced in front of the Centre. Finally two walks make it possible to approach the technique of hunting of the Plains Indians.

I give some comments read during my visit. Of course I lunched on the spot of a bison stew. Buffalo Plains RV is judiciously installed two km before the archeological site.

 
Head-Samashed-In Interpretive Centre 
17/08/2011 

 
Head-Smashed-In Interpretive Centre 
17/08/2011 

I left the area of MacLeod for Lethbridge where I made a photo stop for the bridge of railroad spanning the Oldman River.

Pont du chemin de fer 
Lethbridge 
18/08/2011 

On the way towards Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park I made a second stop in Warner where a small museum of the site is where eggs of dinosaur were discovered on May 24, 1987. For whatever purpose it may serve I point out that “saur” comes from Latin “saurus” scientific name for lizards. I show some pictures of this charming small museum with a welcomed young hostess.

Looking for a spot of bivouac I passed in front of an old barn on a peak in the meadow. I found the bivouac sought at the edge of the Crow Indian Lake.

Small barn in the prairie 
Hwy #501 
18/08/2011 

Writing-one-Stone located in wide, green valley with steep sandstone cliffs and the strange rock formations called hoodoos is a sacred place on Milk River which was under the rule of Blackfoot since more than 3500 years.

This place is charged with supernatural powers whose Petroglyphs and Pictographs are the expression. Unfortunately vandalism of uneducated people degraded this rock art since the end of the 19th century. Some representations became invisible or are overloaded with graffiti.

The scene the most extraordinary date back from 1800's and represents a battle carried out by the chief Bird Rattle, Blackfoot, agains a coalition of Gros Ventre, Crow and Plains Cree who lost more than 300 warriors. The battle is after 1730 because warriors use horses and rifles. Hoodoo Interpretive Trail makes it possible to see some scenes but the most interesting are in a restricted area, it is necessary to buy a guided tour. At the end of the afternoon after several search I fixed my bivouac on a track in wheat fields.

Seeing a fresh water space I stopped on the Michel Reservoir Recreational Area.

Predator
En route 
20/08/2011 

Landscape
En route 
20/08/2011 

In the early morning
Michel Reservoir 
21/08/2011 

The detour to Medicine Hat was justified by the presence of Walmart and the publication of the pages of my website. The Esplanade Arts & Heritage Center held my attention less than one half an hour. Art Gallery is dedicated to an exhibit of handmade art of glass. The Heritage Center is similar other museums, but open on Sundays

The next day I left Alberta to head eastwards, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario & Quebec. I would like to be in Montreal before end of September.