Drumheller Trip Diary

Picture Pages: Star Mine Bridge | Hoodoos | Horseshoe Canyon | Map

South of Edmonton and just north of Calgary is the Badlands of Alberta. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site that we found by visiting one of the many official visitor's centers. Drumheller is the central town to visit the badlands. While driving across the prairie, we noticed many golf courses in the middle of nowhere. Just a few small towns, vast farmland and nothing else.

Then all of a sudden you come upon a deep canyon cut in the prairie by the Red Deer River. The area is famous for the largest finds of dinosaur bones in the world. The first settlers arrived in 1902 and the first coal mine opened in 1911. At its peak in the 1950s, 124 coal mines were operating in the area. They are all now closed with oil and gas along with agriculture and tourism in its place. We traveled the Dinosaur Trail to visit the Star Mine Bridge and the Hoodoos.

Close by is Horseshoe Canyon.

We then drove to Calgary to stay our last two nights in Alberta.

The next day we were off to Fort Macleod.