Alberta’s Head-smashed-in buffalo jump

I think this site, west of Fort MacLeod, sealed my fate. I was doomed to journey around southern Alberta alone because after this excursion, my daughter thought up some reason or other not to join me on my explorations of her province.

I’d read how First Nations people once hunted buffalo herds by leading them to a cliff where they tumbled over the edge to their death. I imagined a towering cliff, forgetting it was the prairies, and when we arrived at the location, felt a little cheated because it wasn’t much of a cliff. Silly me – if they had careered over a high ledge, their bodies would have been obliterated.

Head smashed in buffalo jump entrance, Southern Alberta