Big Rock at Okotoks
Big Rock, located about 30 minutes south of Calgary in Okotoks, Alberta is the world's largest known glacial erratic. The town's name is derived from "ohkotok", the Blackfoot First Nation word for "rock", but is also often simply known as "Rock City". It measures 9 metres high, 41 metres long, and 18 metres wide. Big Rock, also known as the Okotoks Erratic, is the largest rock in the Foothills Erratics Train, a group of rocks that were carried by ice along the mountain front and dropped as the glacier melted some 10,000 years ago. The erratics lie in a narrow band extending from Jasper National Park to northern Montana. The Okotoks Erratic weighs 16,500 tons.
Mr Boyd visited Big Rock in June of 2010. That's right June!!!! And there was still lots of snow and VERY VERY cold. Big Rock was transported hundreds of kilometres from Jasper National park.
One interesting feature of Big Rock is the large split down the middle. A Blackfoot story describes how this may have happened:
One hot summer day, Napi, the supernatural trickster of the Blackfoot peoples, rested on the rock because the day was warm and he was tired. He spread his robe on the rock, telling the rock to keep the robe in return for letting Napi rest there. Suddenly, the weather changed and Napi became cold as the wind whistled and the rain fell. Napi asked the rock to return his robe, but the rock refused. Napi got mad and just took the clothing. As he strolled away, he heard a loud noise and turning, he saw the rock was rolling after him. Napi ran for his life. The deer, the bison and the pronghorn were Napi's friends, and they tried to stop the rock by running in front of it. The rock rolled over them. Napi's last chance was to call on the bats for help. Fortunately, they did better than their hoofed neighbours, and by diving at the rock and colliding with it, one of them finally hit the rock just right and it broke into two pieces.
Not only does this story explain why the rock is in two pieces, but also why bats have squashed-looking faces. The tale provides helpful caution against taking back what you have given away.
Mr Boyd attempts to break the rock further with his STRONG muscles.
One hot summer day, Napi, the supernatural trickster of the Blackfoot peoples, rested on the rock because the day was warm and he was tired. He spread his robe on the rock, telling the rock to keep the robe in return for letting Napi rest there. Suddenly, the weather changed and Napi became cold as the wind whistled and the rain fell. Napi asked the rock to return his robe, but the rock refused. Napi got mad and just took the clothing. As he strolled away, he heard a loud noise and turning, he saw the rock was rolling after him. Napi ran for his life. The deer, the bison and the pronghorn were Napi's friends, and they tried to stop the rock by running in front of it. The rock rolled over them. Napi's last chance was to call on the bats for help. Fortunately, they did better than their hoofed neighbours, and by diving at the rock and colliding with it, one of them finally hit the rock just right and it broke into two pieces.
Not only does this story explain why the rock is in two pieces, but also why bats have squashed-looking faces. The tale provides helpful caution against taking back what you have given away.
Mr Boyd attempts to break the rock further with his STRONG muscles.