Years ago, we adopted an interesting approach to RV touring from a fellow traveller – “If there’s a back road, why take the highway?” Ever since that day, we have been fascinated by finding out-of-the-way places.
 One of our favourite out-of-the-way camping excursions takes us into the Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, in southern Alberta. There in the middle of the prairies, just north of the Montana border, is the Milk River. It carves a path coming up from Montana, meanders along for a few miles, and then wanders back into Montana. The river offers a fascinating canoeing pathway or an inviting swimming hole! The banks are steep cliffs and eons of climatic changes and erosion have sculpted a landscape unique to the valley.
As you follow Hwy 501 east from the Town of Milk River on Hwy 4, the main highway that goes from the Canadian/USA border crossing at Coutts to Lethbridge, you find yourself travelling along a flat, straight road through farm fields and grazing cattle. About 30 km down the road, a rather innocuous Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park sign directs you off to your right and into a field of wild prairie grass.
At the top of an incline, there is a fork in the road. One road leads down into the Milk River Valley and an eclectic campground that offers everything from primitive, dry camping to fully serviced sites. It lies in and amongst the trees along the Milk River. The second road goes further up the hill to an impressive new Interpretation Centre that overlooks the valley, the river, and the unique rock formations. From there you can see the Sweet Grass Hills that are in Montana on the other side of the river. The entire park covers over 4000 acres and the river forms the boundary between Alberta and Montana.
 Our first venture was just after a May 24th long weekend and a BIG snow storm. We shared the park with a group of tittering Birders who were there for their annual bird count. The valley is a resting place for birds on their migration north and a perfect place to spot and count the incoming birds. That year there were a lot of unusual birds (like the Swainson's thrush and Albert's Towhee) that the birders thought must have come down for shelter from the storm.
There is a wonderful array of wildlife that seeks out the shelter and food of this protected area. Enticed by the new grasses after a long, cold winter, the usual residents of the park – the deer, rabbits and such – hardly acknowledged our presence and were content to share their feeding grounds with us.
  There is so much to do and so much to see throughout the park. As you wander along one of the foot worn paths through the rocks, you appreciate that this area was a traditional native camping spot with the abundance of water and food but most of all the protection it offered.
 To the Blackfoot people, Writing-on-Stone has long been a sacred place. Oddly shaped rock formations (Hoodoos) erupt out of a sandstone foundation. Millions and millions of years of flooding, winds, freezing and thawing has worked its magic to create a ghostly atmosphere where these tall narrow constructs reach majestically to the sky. There they stand – a hard layered caprock that protects the softer stem with holes where the harder ironstone has fallen out.
 
I can just visualize the hunters etching "messages" – in the form of carvings (petroglyphs) and painting (pictographs) – to those who followed after them about their successful hunt or where others could find game.
Today, this delicate rock art is carefully preserved and protected. Visitors must be accompanied by a guide. Our guide was quick to point out how until it became a protected area in the 1970's people would leave graffiti on the rocks! To me, this begs the question - what was the Natives rock art if not the graffiti of their day?
 It wasn’t all natives and wildlife! In the 1880’s the North West Mounted Police established a presence in the Valley. Their job was to be a resource for the incoming settlers and keep out the whisky runners but it was a lonely, debilitation experience for them and many deserted or were dispersed to other assignments. At its height the Post housed 12 horses, 5 Mounties and 2 hired range riders but it burned down shortly after it was closed down in 1918. After an archaeological excavation (in 1975) the buildings were rebuilt and then refurnished to recreate the year 1897.
A big part of the enjoying out-of-the-way treasures is finding them. I wish you the pleasure of finding your own Treasures.
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