Okotoks' namesake is looking good after a cleanup this week.
Volunteers from the Western Alberta Bouldering Association and Calgary Mountain Club came to the Okotoks Erratic for the 34th annual Big Rock cleanup on May 8.
"Big Rock is really special because it's this giant hunk of quartzite that came from the mountains west of Edmonton," says Alessandro Roome-Sandrin, treasurer of the Western Alberta Bouldering Association.
"That feeling of being out here on the Prairie with the mountains in the distance, on this big piece of rock... there's not a lot of places where you can get something like that."
This year's cleanup unearthed the usual cigarette butts, glass shards and firecrackers, along with more unusual items such as two small paintings and a ceramic dragon sculpture that Roome-Sandrin said looks like it may have been stolen from a Vietnamese restaurant and then discarded at the Big Rock.
Roome-Sandrin hopes to see Big Rock visitors take better care of the historical landmark and clean up after themselves after any rowdy events.
"I was 18 once too, I understand," he said. "There's a time in your life where you don't really think about anything but yourself, and hopefully those people grow up and take better care of things in the future."
Click the links to learn more about the Western Alberta Bouldering Association, which hosted this year's cleanup, and the Calgary Mountain Club, which has hosted the majority of past cleanups, on their websites.
