Number 11 in our Erratic Behaviour series. Despite the name, this is not related to the excellent Earthcache by Niko&Hiiri just East of here. We started this series a while back, and happened to pick the same name (Erratic Behaviour) for our series. It's a pretty common expression, and great minds think alike!
This is another glacial erratic we spotted as we were driving. Look West from the cache site to see it, and enjoy the magnificent backdrop as well! The cache is meant to be an easy find: we just like bringing people to lesser known erratics in Alberta.
There are literally thousands of these rocks all over the Alberta landscape, in a distinctive line known as the "Foothills Erratics Train." These rocks are "erratic" in that they are not native to this spot, but have been transported on glaciers/ice sheets thousands of years ago from their original location up near Jasper, Alberta. When the ice melted, during the end of the last glaciation of Alberta, it deposited these distinctive boulders on the landscape, sometimes hundreds of kilometres away, just like this one. They are composed of quartzite and have a very unique and recognizable appearance. Many erratics of the Foothills Train lie in a slight depression in the ground, for 2 reasons: 1) they are heavy and have been compressing the ground underneath for thousands of years and 2) bison would often move around them and rub against them to aid in shedding their coats, which is why these rocks are sometimes known in Alberta as "buffalo rubbing stones."
We hope you enjoy these unique Alberta geological wonders as much as we do!