Writing-on-Stone

The road we took was from a turn off at Milk River, only a few hundred metres from the tourist centre and was again quite narrow all the way to Writing-on-Stone, but luckily had very little traffic.

It certainly is an unusual area with sandstone formations scattered over a kilometre or so. Walking tracks, or at least areas where people had trampled down any tundra surrounded these formations, so exploring was very easy.

The park was first created as a Provincial Park in 1957 and the archaeological preserve was established in 1977 to ensure the protection of the largest concentration of rock art on the North American Plains. There is evidence that people camped in this unique place for at least 3,500 years. The natural environment with the Milk River flowing through this area was able to sustain them physically with water, food and shelter.

The geology of how this area was formed is interesting. Millions of years ago, a large inland sea covered much of the interior of North America, including this area. Sand deposited in and along this ancient sea by rivers was buried and compressed over millions of years to become sandstone bedrock.

Approximately 12,000 years ago, the glaciers of the last ice age began receding. Great volumes of melted water flowing to the south and east carved through overlying rock, exposing the sandstone of these formations and creating the valley through which now flows the Milk River.

Upper cliff sections are primarily soft sandstone with some thinner, harder rocks layers which can form Hoodoos. A hoodoo is a mushroom shaped sandstone feature sculpted when the rock erodes because of frost and wind directed rain, leaving a thin cap like structure of harder rock layers on the top that act somewhat like an umbrella.

The brochure we received from the visitor’s centre had a little of the history, which reads:

“Writing-on-Stone is a sacred landscape; a landscape of special spiritual significance to the Blackfoot people who hunted and travelled these Great Plains since the beginning of time. All who visit this area feel inspired. For the Blackfoot there also is the traditional culture and religion based on a long and intimate relationship with the land.
Abundant First Nations carvings or petroglyphs and paintings or pictographs which cover the sheer sandstone cliffs are protected here as living legacy to this spiritual connection of a people with this place. The landscape is still part of the Blackfoot tradition.”

Unfortunately, many people before us had felt it necessary to gouge their names and comments into much of the sandstone, and that certainly diminished the feeling of natural beauty and the sacred area that was once traversed by the Blackfoot.

It almost certainly explains why there was no signage to show us where either the petroglyphs or pictographs could be found. Large sections of the park have either now, or originally been designated as restricted areas, so hopefully those areas have remained as they were.

Nevertheless, it was fun exploring these sandstone formations and once again, heaps of photos were taken. Caution also needed to be taken, not only due to the danger of slipping on some of the sandstone, but we were again in Rattlesnake country and there were plenty of signs to constantly remind us.

Time to head off to Lethbridge.