Day 7 - Thursday (7/28)

On Thursday we packed up and headed north to Banff National Park. We decided to stop and visit the Canadian National Historic Site ‘Smashed In Head’ Buffalo Jump. We always like to visit historic sites. In Canada, this site would be about the native or ‘aboriginal’ people of this area. The term ‘Indian’ would not be used. Like the diorama at the Milwaukee Public Museum on the second floor, this site is museum built into the side of a hill and canyon used as an actual buffalo jump. The museum and exhibits were very well done. The site is in the middle of the lower Alberta plains; which are a mix of agricultural and oil fields. This particular area is sparsely populated, so you really get the feel for how the plain and cliff was used. We left the site around mid-day to continue up to Banff. We drove through Calgary, seeing some of the site used by the Olympics. We reached our site at Johnston Canyon Campground in Banff National Park. We did not have reservations but had no issues getting a site. The Canadian National Park campgrounds are very nice. I was looking forward to getting into Canada. They have nice facilities, well spaced sites and they are cared for well. We set up camp and did a hike near our campground; the lower and upper falls of Johnston Canyon that evening. This was a very nice hike up a canyon with many bridges, catwalks, etc…. Just as at Glacier, the area is absolutely beautiful. There are towering snow capped peaks in all directions. In this area, there is a large valley that centers the park and travel is primarily up and down that. It is much easier to get around to the various sites in the area as opposed to Glacier.