Day 9 July 8, 2014

Day 9  July 8, 2014

The morning dawned clear and sunny but quite cold and I could see my breath as I awoke.  I needed to bundle up in layers of fleece and long underwear as I fired up the small but mighty Sterno powered stove for a breakfast of orange tea, oatmeal, and a particularly tasty freeze-dried pouch of blueberries, milk, and granola.  Yum!

Finally, the sun arose over the mountains to the east and began to dry out the tent fly, vestibule, and assorted clothes from yesterday’s laundry/partial drying adventure that were hung over the impromptu bungee cord line between two friendly saplings.  Due to all of these gyrations, I did not finally leave my campsite at Glacier National Park until 10:30 A.M. this morning- shameful, but necessary.

After the short, but scenic ride to the Montana/Alberta border, I crossed the international border into Canada, smuggling my forbidden canister of bear spray into the foreign land- a criminal already! 

I continued on Alberta Route 2 north to the town of Macleod, Alberta where I stopped for a burger and slice of heated up blueberry you-know-what before continuing west for my long awaited visit to the Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump UNESCO World Heritage Site Visitor Center (HSIBJUWHSVC).  I could not have been more impressed with the orientation movie on floor 2 of the 7 floors of the Visitor Center.  It described in fascinating detail how the Blackfoot Indians conducted buffalo hunts 1,000 years ago on foot, before the advent of firearms or horses to help them.  They became expert in the ways of the buffalo, knowing the best times of the year to hunt, devising elaborate funneling boundaries to channel the stampeding herd towards the 35-foot “buffalo jump” cliff, judging when the wind direction was favorable, and disguising themselves as buffalo calves to lure the herd and as wolves to frighten the herd forward into stampede mode.  The millions upon millions of buffalo that roamed the plains were nearly wiped out to the point of extinction by the arrival in the late 1800’s by the arrival of the white men and the railroads on the plains, a truly shameful and mindless slaughter of a seemingly endless resource. 

Calgary's well-run Wicked Hostel, located directly across the street from the Stampede light-rail stop and entrance to the Stampede grounds......

After many pictures taken and some serious reflection, I took off for Calgary, The Wicked Hostel, and The Calgary Stampede, arriving around 6 P.M.  Friendly manager, Paula and hostel owner, Gary checked me in and gave me keys and a tour of the place, explaining about the included breakfast, group showers, free laundry service, group common area, house rules, and right-in-front parking for my motorcycle.  The place is clean and bright and filled with young people from across the globe.  I quickly met Jim, a young and handsome facilities manager from London who occupied one of the 8 bunk beds in my room.  He mentioned to me that our room number 7 was a co-ed room, with the remaining 6 occupants girls from Germany and New Zealand.  This was a surprise to me, but hey, girls are people too, right?  After getting settled I returned to the room and had an extended conversation with Steffi Sausele from Germany (who was in the upper bunk above my lower bunk bed) about the German economy, world politics, and her present job with the German government in their quest to lure engineers, doctors, scientists, truck drivers, and nurses to Germany to fill job positions with small to medium sized companies.  Her dream was to land a position as a blog-based journalist in her favorite city, Vancouver, British Columbia.  A lovely, conversant, and educated young lady, we spoke at length as I downed my dinner of bagels, swiss cheese, water, and apple.  Bed.