For a taste of everything Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park offers, hike the Matapiiski (Hoodoo) Trail. It takes you through sandstone columns and hoodoos, across grasslands, offering sweeping vistas of the Milk River Valley, coulees and the Sweet Grass Hills (Katoyiss) behind it.
It also showcases a few Indigenous rock markings, including the epic Battle Scene. These are the only rock markings you can see without taking a guided tour of the Park’s Archaeological Preserve.
Matapiiksi (Hoodoo) Trail at a Glance
Hike Information
- Distance: 5 km return
- Difficulty: Moderate. The trail has stairs, uneven terrain, and steep sections.
- Trailhead: The trail starts near the Group A Campsite, just past the playground
Trail Rules
Rule #1: Do not touch, mark or deface the sandstone. Altering, marking or damaging the rock formations, including rock art, is illegal. Cameras monitor the area, and graffiti, vandalism, or defacement can lead to fines up to $50,000 and a one-year jail term. If you see anyone doing so, please report it to the visitor centre staff.
Other rules:
- Leave all rocks, bones, fossils and artifacts undisturbed.
- Bikes are not permitted on this trail.
- Do not smoke, as a spark can quickly start a grass fire.
- Stick to the trails. The rock formations and vegetation are delicate.
- View rock art from the trail only. Do not approach the cliffs.
- Dogs must be kept on a leash under 2 metres long, at all times.
Safety Tip: The trail can be very hot in the summer. Temperatures often exceed 40°C here. The stones absorb and reflect heat from the already glaring prairie sun. Wear a hat, sunscreen, and carry plenty of water.
Why hike the Matapiiksi (Hoodoo) Trail
Discover Stories in the Stone
The Blackfoot call this place Áísínai’pi, which translates to “it is pictured” or “it is written.”
The name accurately describes the thousands of ancient petroglyphs (carvings) and pictographs (paintings) marked on the south-facing sandstone cliffs along the Milk River Valley. Most were etched by the Blackfoot people (Siksikáíítsitapi), but some were created by other Indigenous peoples.
Because of this, Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It contains the largest concentration of Indigenous rock art in the Great Plains. The rock markings range in age from several thousand years to just over 100 years old.
For the Blackfoot, this area is sacred. They believe the rock formations and hoodoos have spirits, like other earth beings. The Blackfoot call these rock formations matapiiksi, meaning “the people.” Both the stunning and sacred landscape and the rock markings reflect tangible, permanent links to this belief and tradition.
Only those with the right to record here could do so. Those deemed qualified to carve the stone did so to share their visions, stories of their people and messages from the spirit world.
You’ll get a chance to see a few of these rock markings, which we’ll talk about later in this guide.
Remarkable Landscape
The landscape in Writing-on-Stone is unique and stunningly beautiful. You’ll want to take a photo around every bend on this trail. It features a concentration of hoodoos, rock formations and tall sandstone walls. You can take in several viewpoints of the winding Milk River Valley, the deep coulees that stretch from it, and the towering Sweet Grass Hills behind it all.
Fun Fact: The Sweet Grass Hills are a prominent landmark in Southern Alberta. The name comes from a mistranslated Blackfoot word kátoyissiksi, which actually means Sweet Pine Hills. There is no sweetgrass on these peaks. This isolated group of buttes rises nearly a thousand metres above the surrounding prairie.
Even the grasslands within and above the valley are something to behold. The natural grasses dance in the wind and sunshine, and from the top of the valley you can let your eyes stretch out to what seems like endless prairie. The grasslands are Canada’s most endangered ecosystem (thanks to agriculture), and it is special to see this section protected.
A Chance to Learn
With the Matapiikski Interpretive Trail Guide in hand, you’ll be guided to various stopping points to learn more about this special place’s natural, cultural, and spiritual history. The map marks the stopping points, and you’ll find non-intrusive numbers along the way, usually beside a bench. Stop at each one, take in the sights, and learn about the land and its people. Understanding the ecosystem, geology, and cultural history really brings Writing-on-Stone to life.
You can pick up a paper copy of the Matapiikski Interpretive Trail Guide from the Visitor Centre.
Hiking the Matapiikski Trail
The trail starts with a climb up a set of stairs into the hoodoos. You’ll meander through these rock formations, sculpted by wind, rain and frost, getting views of the Milk River below. It feels otherworldly and is probably our favourite part of the trail.
The first stops share geological information about how the valley was created after the last ice age. You’ll also learn about Naapi, the Blackfoot responsible for creating the world, including this place.
When the hoodoos thin out, you’re greeted with wide-open views of the Sweet Pines Hills (Sweet Grass Hills). The Blackfoot used the tops of these buttes to look for bison herds, since they could see much of their territory from the summit. Young men also climbed the hills to undertake a vision quest, an important ritual in Blackfoot culture.
At stop 4, you can see smaller hoodoos stretching along the side of the valley wall. They almost look like little bedrock villages on the hill. The Blackfoot often camped in the river valley, but avoided areas like this out of respect for the spirits in the rock. From here, you can see the Milk River start to bend, and a couple of coulees on its north side.
Fun Fact: The Milk River is part of the Missouri drainage system that leads all the way to the Gulf of Mexico! The river is also the only river in Canada that starts and ends back in the U.S.A.
As you drop closer to the valley floor, you’ll enter a dense thicket of willow and birch. Chokecherries, golden currants, saskatoon berries, and thorny buffaloberry plants grow here naturally and were a key gathering place for these fruits. It’s also fluttering with small birds, as they’re attracted to the berries.
Rock Markings on the Trail
At stop 7, you can see the first rock marking! This carving was done in the “En Toto tradition” and is one of the oldest in the park. The carver created it up to 2,000 years ago by chiselling the sandstone with a hard tool. Blackfoot Elders have interpreted this panel as representing a group of men and women participating in ceremony.
The rock art at Stop 8 is a little harder to see, depending on the lighting and time of day. If you look closely, you can make out several bear claws and two bison. The bear claw on the top right is the most prominent. Both the bear and the bison are sacred to the Blackfoot, and these petroglyphs may have been carved as part of a ceremony.
As you make your way down the valley, you can see Davis Coulee snake away from the Milk River valley. In the badlands, coulees generally refer to narrow, steep-walled ravines that meet a river valley. They usually have water in spring but are mostly dry year-round. Indigenous hunters and war parties used coulees as travel routes because they could stay concealed (rather than in plain sight on the prairie). They also used the mouths of coulees as camping sites because they usually provided shelter, wood, and water.
Fun Fact: In the fall of 1866, according to a Piikani story, “all the coulees between the Sweetgrass Hills and the Milk River were full of lodges. Wherever there was a spring, there was a camp of lodges.”
When you get to Stop 12, you can look for a number of faint pictographs, or rock paintings, on the cliff face in front of you. We found these really hard to see, but visibility varies a lot depending on the lighting, weather, and time of day. The paint was made from crushed iron ore mixed with animal fat and water. If you look closely, you can make out a hunting scene, featuring horses, bison and people. Horses didn’t arrive in Southern Alberta until the 1730s, so we know this pictograph was created after that time.
The Battle Scene – Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park
After this stop, veer left to go see the Battle Scene petroglyph. The Battle Scene is one of the largest and most detailed carvings in Writing-in-Stone Provincial Park, and one of the few you can clearly see without booking a tour into the preserve. Protected by a steel fence, this panel shows large forces of warriors attacking a tipi encampment, defended by a line of firing guns. Because the scene shows horses and guns, we know it is less than 300 years old. Read more about the Battle Scene.
Fun Fact: An Amskapi Piikani (Blackfeet) Elder named Bird Rattle visited Áísínai'pi in 1924. He described the “Retreat up the Hill” battle, which was fought somewhere along the Milk River in 1866. It was one of the most famous Amskapi Piikani victories over a combined war party of Gros Ventre, Crow and Plains Cree who lost more than 300 warriors. This petroglyph may represent this battle.
At the end of the trail, you can climb up the gentle slope of the Police Coulee Lookout. Across the river, you will see the impressive Police Coulee, which is 70 metres deep in some places. Across the valley, you’ll see the white buildings of the North West Mounted Police Outpost. The government established it in 1887 to stop whisky smugglers using the route to carry product over the border. It also helped establish Canadian sovereignty in the West. A few interpretive signs here tell that story.
Now you can turn around and enjoy all those views in reverse! You’ll see that you’ve only traversed a short 2.5 km as you approach the oasis of trees in the campground. Take your time, take more photos, and reflect on the cultural and natural heritage of Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi.
Read our Guide to Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi Provincial Park.
Getting There
Writing-on-Stone is in deep southeastern Alberta, about 42 km east of the Town of Milk River. The main access roads via Highway 501 from Milk River or Foremost are paved and well-signed, leading to the park.
