canadian badlands touring routes

Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
Bo o m t ow n s, Bu f falo & Badla n ds driving to u r
Coutts/Milk River • Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park • Dinosaur Provincial Park • Drumheller & North
Join a park interpreter to visit rock art sites in Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park
The Canadian Badlands is like no other place on earth. Home to the world’s most extensive dinosaur bonebeds, badlands and hoodoos
and a world-class dinosaur museum, our natural heritage is over 75 million years old. Our culture is literally layered in the land. National
historic sites and provincial parks reveal First Nations rock art, farming & ranching history and a rich industrial heritage. Our communities
large and small boast festivals, rodeos, live theatre, local art and tea houses. Whether you prospect for fossils, canoe a meandering river or
horseback ride in glacier-carved coulees, the Canadian Badlands experience is as vast and remarkable as the landscape.
The Canadian Badlands Touring Routes dig through the layers of our natural and cultural heritage. Regional driving tours are 3 to 4
days long and offer many ideas of what to see and do. You can customize your own 1or 2-day road trip or use Side Trips to create a
week-long vacation. The Touring Routes can be enjoyed in any season. While larger attractions are open year round, local attractions
often ope from mid-May to early-September. We wish you a memorable journey in the Canadian Badlands. Call 1-800-ALBERTA or visit
canadianbadlands.com for more Canadian Badlands Touring Routes.
Day 1. Coutts/Milk River to Writing-on-Stone
• Hike among hoodoos to view First Nations
rock art in Writing-on-Stone
• Explore the Milk River badlands by canoe
• Horseback ride in south Police Coulee
Day 2. Writing-on-Stone to Dinosaur
• Peek into a 70 million year old dinosaur
nursery at Devil’s Coulee
• Look up inside a grain elevator at Scandia
• Hike Canada’s most extensive badlands in
Dinosaur Provincial Park
Day 3. Dinosaur to Drumheller
• Climb Canada’s last wooden tipple at the
Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site
• Prospect for fossils with a Royal Tyrrell
Museum interpreter
Day 4. Drumheller and North
• Explore Boomtown communities west of
the Red Deer River
• Board a historic train along the
Trail of the Buffalo
This tour takes you across the Medicine
Line, the international border, into the
heart of the Canadian Badlands.
Follow in the footsteps of dinosaurs,
homesteaders and coal miners as you
travel through a land layered in
history. Your journey begins at
Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, a
sacred site for First Nations people and
home to rock art some 3500 years old.
En route to Dinosaur Provincial Park
World Heritage Site, keeper of some
of the world’s most significant dinosaur
finds, visit prairie towns founded on
hard work and sustained by irrigation.
The world-class Royal Tyrrell Museum
of Palaeontology in Drumheller shares
the dinosaur spotlight with the valley’s
coal mining past, as seen at the Atlas
Coal Mine National Historic Site, near
East Coulee. In Drumheller, the Red
Deer River creates a quandary – travel
west of the river to visit Dry Island
Buffalo Jump and Boomtown
communities; or travel on its east side
to explore the ghost town of Rowley
and to board a historic train from
Stettler to Big Valley.
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Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
Visitor Information Centres
Brooks - 6 km east of Brooks on Highway 1
403-362-6881, brookschamber.ab.ca
Milk River - 1 km south of Milk River
on Highway 4 1-800-ALBERTA,
travelalberta.com
Drumheller - 60 1Avenue West
1-866-823-8100, traveldrumheller.com
Stettler - 6606-50th Avenue
1-877-742-9499, stettler.net
Accommodations
Visit the Alberta Hotel & Lodging
Association online at explorealberta.com
for approved accommodation or contact
1-800-ALBERTA.
Camping: Writing-on-Stone, Dinosaur,
Kinbrook Island and Drumheller campgrounds
are often full by early afternoon.
Reservations highly recommended. Camping
at various municipal campgrounds on
the Boomtown Trail (Highway 21) and
Trail of the Buffalo (Highway 56) and at
Tolman Bridge east of Trochu and Bleriot
Ferry on the Red Deer River.
Bed & Breakfasts/Guest Ranches/Hotels:
Numerous in the Drumheller Valley,
Brooks and Red Deer area; limited tourist
accommodation in Milk River area.
Distances and Driving Times
Milk River to Writing-on-Stone,
45 km, 30 min
Writing-on-Stone to Dinosaur,
200 km, 2 hr
Brooks to Dinosaur, 48 km , 30 min
Brooks to Drumheller, 140 km, 1 hr 20 min
Brooks to East Coulee, 122 km , 1 hr 10 min
Drumheller to Big Valley, 70 km, 40 min
Drumheller to Stettler, 95 km, 55 min
This map is not intended for navigation.
Pick up an official Alberta Road Map at a
Visitor Information Centre or call
1-800-ALBERTA.
Events
April
Easter Farmer’s Market, Drumheller
Spring Festival, East Coulee
Rodeo, Stettler, Big Valley
County Music Jamboree, Stettler
June
Beethoven in the Badlands, Drumheller
Craze Daze, Stettler
Warner Days
Writing-on-Stone National Aboriginal Day
Rodeo, Brooks
July
Canada Day Celebrations, all communities
Motorcycle Rally, Wayne
Passion Play, Drumheller
Prairie Wind Sailing Regatta, Brooks
RCMP Musical Ride, Stettler
A Writing-on-Stone
403-647-2364, cd.gov.ab.ca
B Devil’s Coulee Museum
403-642-2118, devilscoulee.com
C Brooks Aqueduct
403-362-4451, cd.gov.ab.ca
D Dinosaur
403-378-4344, cd.gov.ab.ca
The Canadian Badlands Touring Routes aim to follow good secondary highways and, occasionally, offer gravel-road alternatives. While most attractions are accessible on hard-surfaced roads, some have
gravel-road access. Please drive carefully and respect private property. Every effort has been made to ensure accurate information at the time of publication. Attraction hours and seasons of operation vary.
You are advised to contact each attraction in advance. This publication is for information purposes only. We are unable to accept responsibility for any inconvenience, loss or injury sustained as a result of
anyone relying upon this information.
E
F
7
Attractions
East Coulee School Museum
403-822-3970, albertaheritage.net
Atlas Coal Mine
403-822-2220, atlascoalmine.ab.ca
Royal Tyrrell Museum
403-823-7707, tyrrellmuseum.com
H Morrin Sod House, 403-772-2180
I St. Ann Ranch
1-888-442-3924, stannranch.com
J Dry Island Buffalo Jump
403-378-4342, cd.gov.ab.ca
K Anthony Henday Museum
403-749-2711, albertaheritage.net
L Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions
1-800-282-3994, absteamtrain.com
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Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
1Day
One
Coutts/Milk River to Writing-on-Stone
Provincial Park
Journey from the US-Canada
border across a vast prairie
landscape to a sacred site of the
First Nations people, Writing-on-
Stone. Join a park interpreter to
see ancient writings on sandstone
cliffs and experience the spirited
Milk River Valley by canoe, foot or
on horseback.
Head north from Coutts on Highway 4 or
east from Milk River on Highway 501 to
begin this journey in the Canadian
Badlands. The prairie landscape that
stretches before you is home to the last of
Alberta’s huge ranches, relics of cattle
barons and English investors who came
West in the 1880s seeking freedom and
fortune. Few fences cross these rangelands
where native grasses must be managed
carefully in a land with little water. Yet 75
million years ago, you would have been
standing on the bottom of the warm and
shallow Bearpaw Sea, squeezing sand and
silt between your toes. Insects and frogs
darted among ferns and horsetails in a
swampy land, while birds and flying reptiles
chattered and swooped above forests of
conifers and other huge trees. Dinosaurs
shook the ground, as they stomped along
searching for an easy meal.
The Bearpaw Sea and rivers running into
it laid down layers of sand and silt. Over
time and under great weight and pressure,
beach sands turned into white and golden
sandstone while silty mud formed darker
bands of rock. A million or so years of
erosion by water and wind carved away
at these layers, sculpting unusual
geological formations found across the
Canadian Badlands – hoodoos, coulees,
cliffs, buttes and mesa.
You can check out replicas of one of these
geological curiosities – hoodoos – at the
Travel Alberta Visitor Information Centre,
just south of Milk River. For the real thing,
continue east on Highway 501 for 30 km
to Highway 500. Turn sourth and con-
tinue to Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park.
En route you will cross Verdigris Coulee,
a small gully that joins the Milk River
near the park. There are numerous coulees
across the Canadian Badlands, breaking
up the prairie landscape. Coulees, from
the French word couler meaning to flow,
are gullies and furrows in the hillsides
View First Nations rock art at Writing-on-Stone
:"
originally created by glacial metlwaters.
The largest are 13,000 years old, but the
process continues today.
Help preserve rock art and hoodoos for
future generations. Take only pictures and
leave only footprints – on the main trails.
Do not climb the hoodoos.
Writing-on-Stone is a magical place.
The prairie gives way to the Milk River
Valley abruptly, and a hauntingly beautiful
landscape of sandstone cliffs and
castellated hoodoos appears before you.
Spires of rock that appear to grow from
the valley bottom are the most exemplary
hoodoos in the Canadian Badlands.
A hard rock forms the cap of the hoodoo,
sheltering the softer rock beneath from the
chiseling action of rain and wind. At least
for a while. Hoodoos are the creations of
erosion. Once the cap rock falls, the pillar
shrinks rapidly.
This valley has long been considered
sacred to the First Nations people of the
plains. Dating back at least 3500 years,
the ancestors of the Shoshoni, Gros
Ventre, Blackfoot and other tribes
travelled here to conduct ceremonies
and rituals and to seek spiritual guidance.
In First Nations spirituality, all things
– from rock and water to beaver and bird
– possess a spirit, including this valley.
People came, and still come, to pray for
guidance in this sacred place.
Pictographs painted on the sandstone
cliffs and petroglyphs carved into the rock
are shrouded in mystery and spirituality.
The Blackfoot people believe that the
images were created by the spirits.
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Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
Archaeologists propose that some
images may have recorded the spirit
dreams of young warriors on vision
quests, and were carved with antler or
bone. While some images appear to tell
the story of a battle or hunt, others have
no obvious explanation. Humans and
animals are depicted in different styles,
likely from different time periods.
Most of the rock art is found in the
Archaeological Preserve. A park bus tour
to the petroglyphs and pictographs should
not be missed. You can find more rock
art along the self-guided Hoodoo
Interpretive Trail and in the Backcountry
Hiking Zone. The latter requires a fording
of the river – check with park staff for
water levels and safe crossing points.
Also across the river is the Writing-on-
Stone Police Outpost at the mouth of
Police Coulee in the park reserve.
The park occasionally offers guided
hikes to the outpost.
Writing-on-Stone and the surrounding
area has lots to offer: guided bus tours
Hike among hoodoos at Writing-on-Stone
:"
and hikes to rock art sites, self-guided trails
through the hoodoos, exhibits in the
Interpretive Centre, wildlife viewing and
birding in unique riparian habitat,
horseback riding in south Police Coulee,
and canoe and raft trips on the Milk River.
The Milk River Valley, with the large
coulees feeding into it from both the north
and south, was a First Nations highway for
thousands of years. Hunters and warriors
passed through as they searched for their
quarry; whisky traders and cattle
rustlers later adopted these well-worn
trails. Mounties charged with bringing
peace and sovereignty to the West
established their outpost at Police Coulee
in 1887. It was part of a chain of posts
along the Canada-US border.
Many outposts were only a tent but some
were more permanent and substantial.
The police officers had a list of duties:
control raiding of horses and cattle, collect
customs duties, stop any whisky smuggling,
and prevent American cattle from ranging
Explore Writing-on-Stone's unique landscape
into Canada. As well, they fought prairie
fires, checked in on settlers, and carried
the mail. Life was lonely at the outposts
and many men deserted. Some left
petroglyphs of their own. Contact the park
Visitor Centre for information on guided
hikes to the restored NWMP outpost.
In the evenings as the hoodoos glow pink
and the little brown bats and nighthawks
hunt overhead, it is easy to believe that
spirits still walk this valley. Camp in the
park or stay in one of the few guest ranches
or bed & breakfasts in the Milk River area.
Alternatively, Lethbridge offers a range of
tourist accommodation, 135 km northwest
on Highways 501 and 4.
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Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
2Day
Two
Writing-on-Stone to Dinosaur
Provincial Park
Dinosaurs play the starring role in
a visit to Devil’s Coulee and World
Heritage Site Dinosaur Provincial
Park. Breath-taking scenery,
unearthly rock formations and cool
cottonwoods promise a day or
more of discoveries for everyone.
Enjoy the park by foot or on an
interpretive bus tour.
Today’s journey begins by making your
way to the town of Warner, located at
the junction of Highways 4 and 36
(64 km from Writing-on Stone, 18 km
from Milk River and 67 km from
Lethbridge). Warner is a farming
community, known for the discovery
of the first dinosaur eggs in Alberta.
Visit the Devil’s Coulee Dinosaur
Museum to see a replica of the dinosaur
nursery discovered in a coulee not far
from town. For the real thing, join a
museum interpreter on a 2-hour tour of
the Hadrosaur (duckbill) nesting site.
From Warner, follow Highway 36 north.
Highway 36 crosses some of the most
productive farmland around. Watch for
fields of famous Taber sweet corn, as
well as potatoes, beans and sugar beets.
Alberta’s only sugar factory in Taber
depends upon the beets grown in the area
since 1900. Harvesting the riches of the
soil is ever challenging, and, in the early
years, was back-breaking work.
Imagine traveling by horse-drawn wagon
– struggling through steep-sided coulees,
repairing broken harness or worse, a
broken wheel – to arrive at your new
home. Nothing fancy, in fact, probably
nothing at all, just open prairie, 160 acres
(65 hectares) with your name on it.
Here, as in many places across the
Canadian Badlands, the faint of heart
lasted a year or less, beaten by the
relentless wind, harsh winters and
never-ending work. Those who stayed
built a sod house or shack to live in
then a proper wooden house when their
crops prospered.
Along with a house, settlers needed
water. Some settled near Taber and the
Oldman River, while others settled near
the Bow, establishing communities such
as Scandia, Rainier and Bow City.
Successful crops required successful
irrigation and water was transported
to farmland. Irrigation remains just as
important today. As you travel north on
Highway 36 to Brooks, look for signs of
irrigation: reservoirs and canals leading to
farmlands and their pivot sprinklers.
Visit prairie towns sustained by irrigation
You can learn more about the importance
of irrigation at a number of local
attractions: the Taber & District
Museum in Taber, Eastern Irrigation
District Historical Park in Scandia, and
Brook Aqueduct National Historic Site,
southeast of Brooks. You can also reap
the recreational benefits of irrigation at
the many reservoirs in the area: you can
birdwatch, sail, fish, or just enjoy the sun
and sand at Lake Newell and Kinbrook
Island Provincial Park, south of Brooks
on Highway 873.
Dinosaur Provincial Park is 48 km
northeast of Brooks accessed from
Highways 873 and 544. As you
approach the park, the prairie comes
to an abrupt end. Before descending
into the valley, take time to stop at the
lookout where a world truly like no other
stretches before you.
Dinosaur Provincial Park received its
United Nations World Heritage Site
designation for three reasons: the
abundance and diversity of fossils, the
largest and most spectacular badlands in
Canada, and to recognize the endangered
river edge habitat with its plains
cottonwood trees.
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Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
Farmers and ranchers who settled along
the Red Deer River long knew about
strange bones eroding from valley sides.
In 1884, Joseph Tyrell, visited the valley
and came across fossils of what was to
be called an Albertosaurus. This spurred
more exploration, and in 1888,
Thomas Weston of the Geological
Survey unearthed a treasure chest of
fossils at Dead Lodge Canyon, now in
Dinosaur Provincial Park. It wasn’t until
Barnum Brown, a scientist at the
American Museum of Natural History,
visited in 1909 that fossil fever hit. Over
the next five years, the Great Canadian
Dinosaur Rush resulted in the discovery
of more than 200 complete or nearly
complete skeletons.
3Day
Three
Dinosaur Provincial Park to Drumheller,
The Great Canadian Dinosaur Rush
extended from Dinosaur Provincial
Park through the Drumheller Valley
and up the Red Deer River. Close
on the heels of the dinosaur hunters
were coal miners, ranchers and
farmers, all seeking wealth in
prairie soils. Today ou can walk in
their footsteps by prospecting for
fossils and climbing to the top of
a coal mine tipple.
Dinosaur Provincial Park is a giant
laboratory of past life, grudgingly giving
up clues to the researchers who come
here from around the world. At least 35
species of dinosaurs have been found
here, including more than 500 complete
skeletons. Scientists have uncovered
several bonebeds. The climate of the
Bearpaw Sea 75 million years ago was as
explosive as a T. rex. Sudden storms and
flash floods panicked herds of dinosaurs,
drowning large numbers. Sand and mud
washed over the carcasses, burying them.
Over the next three million years, more
sediment poured in, finally covering the
dinosaur graveyards in a rock blanket
1.5 kilometres thick.
Spend the morning further exploring
Dinosaur Provincial Park. If you didn’t
have time yesterday, be sure to take the
2-hour Badlands Bus Tour into the
Natural Preserve. The park has so
much to offer, it’s difficult to leave:
interpretive trails, fossil exhibits, the
John Ware cabin, the exhibits in the
Field Station and birding along the creek
and river. As staff often say, a park that
took over 75 million years to create
deserves more than a day to visit!
Today’s journey begins by making your
way north along Highway 36, north of
Brooks. By the mid-1870s, the endless
grass of the West pulled at the pocket-
books of British and Ontario investors.
With land leased at 1¢ an acre per year,
the potential profits were inviting.
Dukes and princes, lawyers and wealthy
Every year, new discoveries are made.
These fossils are protected in the Natural
Reserve which covers 70% of the park.
You can enter this restricted area on a
guided hike or bus tour. Park interpretive
tours are very popular, so be sure to book
in advance. You can explore the rest of
the park on your own.
Camping at Dinosaur Provincial Park
as the sun paints the badlands in hues
of pink and purple is an experience not
to be missed. If you prefer other
accommodation, there is a variety of
hotels and bed & breakfasts in Brooks
and area.
Join a fossil safari in Dinosaur Provincial Park
landowners hired cowboys to trail cattle
from Texas and Mexico to this area. They
placed experienced ranch managers in
charge and waited for the cash to roll in.
Some made a tidy profit; others soon sold
out or abandoned their ranch to invest in
more reliable ventures.
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Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
Two British dukes owned large parcels of
land north of Brooks, although neither
ever lived here. Their four royal ladies
are remembered in the towns along
Highways 550 and 554. Rosemary was
the daughter of the Duke of Sutherland
and Millicent was his wife. Duchess
commemorates the wife of the Duke of
Connaught who also served as Canada’s
Governor General from 1911 to 1916.
Patricia was their daughter.
Turn north on Highway 36 just past
Duchess. The next 100 km run through
ranching country. Running cattle on the
open range made good business sense to
early ranchers: the grass was good, cattle
walked to rivers for water and cowboys
were needed only for the spring and fall
round ups and to occasionally check
on the cattle. Chinooks kept the snow
off the grass, at least until the winter of
1906/07. That winter the Chinook winds
stayed silent and thousands of cattle froze
or starved to death. It was a bitter lesson.
Ranchers took to fencing their land to
protect and feed their cattle year round,
and planted crops and stored wild hay in
preparation for each upcoming winter.
With the influx of homesteaders,
ranchers saw their open-range empire
shrink year by year. Homesteaders too
faced disappointment when their farming
practices – learned in areas of higher
rainfall – caused their topsoil to blow
away and their crops to wither. This land
filled with settlers, then emptied almost
as quickly in the first three decades of the
20th century. Unless irrigated, the land is
best suited for grazing cattle, at one
:"
animal for every 40 acres. Successful
irrigation has turned Brooks into a
regional centre for cattle feedlots
and processing.
Farms did thrive in river valleys and
hilly areas of the Canadian Badlands
where more rain fell or snow collected.
The upcoming Red Deer River Valley
was one such place.
Explore the badlands by canoe.
The Red Deer River offers a Class 1
(novice) river experience. Contact a
visitor information centre for information
on day and multi-day excursions on the
Red Deer River.
You are in cattle country!
About 80 km north of Brooks on
Highway 36, turn left on Highway 570
and continue 26 km to the descent into
the Red Deer River Valley. At the valley
bottom is the ghost town of Dorothy,
once a prosperous community that
served the needs of surrounding
farmers. Today only one of the original
three grain elevators, the Roman
Catholic and United churches, and a
scatter of boarded up homes and
businesses remain. From Dorothy,
Highway 570 becomes Highway 10,
marking the beginning of the Drumheller
Valley, home to the dinosaurs and a coal
mining legacy.
It was carbon – coal – that Joseph Tyrrell
was searching for when he came to the
valley in 1884. He knew that coal would
power the development of the West.
And for many years it did, as fuel for
steam trains and for home heating.
Today it is still used to produce most
of Alberta’s electricity. The Drumheller
Valley was Alberta’s hotbed for coal
mining from 1911 until the 1950s.
Coal remains visible in the valley.
In fact, every black line traced across
the badlands around you is a layer of
coal, marking a time when prehistoric
plants fell into swamps and, with time
and compression, left only their carbon
molecules behind.
Coal mining history comes to life at the
Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site,
13 km northwest of Dorothy on
Highway 10. Follow signs across the river
to the historic site. The Atlas was the last
mine in the Drumheller Valley to close,
in 1984. A large wooden tipple – the site
of size-sorting shakers and coal storage
bins – dominates the site. You can climb
to the top with a guide and peek into the
8-storey high bins while hearing stories of
underground work, accidents, unions and
Wildfire brand coal. Although there are
no underground tours, you can take
a mantrip ride—the old mode of
transporting miners to the coal face.
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Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
Explore the Atlas Coal Mine
Allow at least two hours to enjoy the
various interpretive programs, audiotours,
walking trails, and the Atlas’ award-
winning film.
The Atlas’ miners walked to work from
East Coulee, a mining town across the
valley that continues to thrive as a
village of commuters, artists and retirees.
Many old miners’ homes have been
restored as permanent or summer
residences. Retired miners still live
here – look for huge vegetable gardens
that in lean years kept the families fed.
With 3000 people in 1940, East Coulee
sprawled across the valley. The town
prospered with shops, churches and a
6-room school lining the main street.
Today the East Coulee School Museum
presents a fascinating glimpse of life
during the heyday of mining. Join a
museum interpreter to tour the restored
1930s schoolroom and, over tea or a
light lunch at the Willow Tea Room,
look through old mining photos or chat
with a local.
To reach East Coulee, from the access
road to the Atlas, continue 1.5 km on
Highway 10. After visiting the school
museum, continue 13 km, passing the
historic mining towns of Lehigh, Willow
Creek, and Cambria to reach Rosedale.
Rosedale is the last historic mining
town before Drumheller, a mining town
itself. Follow the signs to the Suspension
Bridge, a swaying cable bridge hanging
over the Red Deer River. Cross in the
footsteps of the miners as they walked
to work at the Star Mine on the far side.
After changing from street clothes to
mining clothes in the wash house, the
miners picked up their lamp, battery
and identification tag and headed into
the mine. A coal-dusted sandwich and a
flask of water or tea broke a day of heavy
work with pick and shovel or drill and
coal cutter. After a good 8-hour day, it
was back to the surface and a hot shower
before heading home.
There were always several mines near
each community, creating rivalry but
plenty of employment, especially during
the war years. Towns like Rosedale and
nearby Wayne regularly pitted their
Visit Wayne's famous Last Chance Saloon
SiDE TRiP
Take Highway 10X to Wayne, counting the
eleven bridges over the Rosebud River along
the way.Wayne was once home to 2,000
bachelors and families, miners and shopkeepers.
Hotels, restaurants, boarding houses and stores
thrived while the six mines operated. Once the
mines began to close, people moved to the
next mine that was hiring, often taking their
houses with them. Now only the Last Chance
Saloon in the Rosedeer Hotel remain.
Stop in for a buffalo burger and to see the
photographs and artifacts of a town that died
over 50 years ago. Motorcycle buffs shouldn’t
miss the annual Harley Davidson rally in
early July.
sports teams against each other. After
cheering on their players, they retired to
some friendly drinking and gambling in
the pool halls and bars. If you have time,
one such establishment is the famed Last
Chance Saloon in Wayne.
From Rosedale, continue 5 km to
Drumheller, the heart of Dinosaur
Country and the modern Dinosaur Rush.
Folk art dinosaurs are everywhere and
the big granddaddy stands guard over
the Visitor Information Centre.
Climb to the top of the World’s Largest
Dinosaur for a Tyrannosaurus-eye view of
the badlands and the cottonwood-lined
Red Deer River. Then join Alberta’s
dinosaur hunters at the Royal Tyrrell
Museum of Palaeontology.
The Royal Tyrrell is located in Midland
Provincial Park, 6 km northwest of
Drumheller on Highway 838.
The museum promises an educational
- 8 -

Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
SiDE TRiP
The Hoodoos Recreation Area is 6 km west
of East Coulee on Highway 10. Like stone
mushrooms that have popped out of the
valley floor, these hoodoos are just some of
the hundreds, large and small, that you can
see throughout the Canadian Badlands. A hard
rock forms the cap of the hoodoo, sheltering
the softer rock beneath from the chiseling
action of rain and wind. At least for a while.
Hoodoos are the creation of erosion. Once the
cap rock falls, the pillar shrinks rapidly. it is
important not to climb on the hoodoos, both
for your safety and theirs.
4Day
Four
Drumheller and North
To summon the words of David
Frost, two roads diverge and sorry,
you cannot travel both. From
Drumheller, you can chose either
to continue north on Highway
56 for a historic train ride from
Stettler to Big Valley, or set out for
the Boomtown communities along
Highway 21 and the remarkable
Dry Island Buffalo Jump.
Option 1: Trail of the Buffalo
This route begins on the North Dinosaur
Trail on the north side of the Red Deer
River in Drumheller. Turn west onto
Highway 838 which quickly leads you
out of town past the Homestead Antique
visit of two to three hours. The high-
light for many visitors is the Dinosaur
Gallery where reconstructed skeletons
tower over you, still threatening after
so many years. The museum’s guided
hikes and interpretive programs are
popular as well. Contact the Tyrrell
in advance to join an interpreter on a
realistic dinosaur dig and to cast your
own dinosaur fossils.
Museum and the Murray House. Stop in
for tea and a muffin, then stroll through
the museum for stories of farmers,
ranchers and miners who settled this
valley. Some of these stories depict
the life of the nearly 2000 miners who
worked at the Midland Mine, now a
provincial park, 2 km further up the road.
The Midland Coal Mining Company
owned 2 of the 140 coal mines that
operated in the valley until 1984.
Take a walk on the 1.1 km interpretive
trail to see some of the equipment used
underground. At the west end of Midland
Provincial Park is the Royal Tyrell
Museum. If you didn’t have time
yesterday to visit the museum, it’s well
worth the stop.
Continuing up river on Highway 838
you pass the Little Church and
attractions such as golf and go-carts.
The road climbs steeply out of the
valley to Horsethief Canyon Viewpoint.
SiDE TRiP
Drumheller can keep you busy for days!
Take time to visit the Homestead Antique
Museum, cuddle up with a boa constrictor at
Reptile World, squeeze into Alberta’s
smallest church, drive the Dinosaur Trail,
via Bleriot Ferry, and shop in historic
downtown Drumheller. Contact the Drumheller
Visitor information Centre for details on these
attractions, as well as where to golf, canoe,
hike and horseback ride in the valley.
Don’t forget to ask about scenic helicopter
rides over Horseshoe Canyon!
Marvel at dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrrell
It’s worth taking a few minutes to stop
and breathe in the striking panorama
before you. The canyons, cliffs and
channels carved by glacial rivers 13,000
years ago were the haunt of horse and
cattle thieves in Drumheller’s early
ranching days. These master thieves
rustled animals further north then hid
them in this rocky maze. Once any
pursuit ended, the thieves trailed the
animals to Montana, USA to
willing buyers.
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Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
From Horsethief Canyon Viewpoint,
continue north on the Dinosaur Trail.
Highway 838 crosses farmlands to the
junction with the hard-packed Township
Road 302. To the left is access to Bleriot
Ferry, once the only means of crossing
wagons, livestock, and people across the
Red Deer River without getting wet.
The ferry linked neighbours, preventing
the loneliness that often plagued the
isolated farmers. In operation since 1913,
the ferry is a real prairie workhorse.
One of the few left in the province, it
operates from spring break-up (about
May) to fall freeze-up (about October or
November). You can take the ferry and
continue this tour on Option 2,
just north of Orkney Hill Viewpoint.
To continue with Option 1, turn right
on Township Road 302 and drive east
8 km, past Munson to Highway 9. Turn
left and continue north 10 km to the
junction of Highways 9 and 56 where
you turn left to access the village of
Morrin where you can step into a
reconstructed “soddie”. The town is
5 km east of Highway 56, just north
off Highway 9.
Imagine that it’s 1910 and you have
arrived by wagon to homestead on the
prairie. Your first task: build a house
where wood is scarce and sawmills far
away. Like your neighbours, your first
home is a “soddie” built from fresh sod
turned by the plow. These sods were
cut into large, brick-like sections and
stacked. The roof was a series of angled
poplar poles covered with more sod.
As to the floor, it was simply dirt.
On hot days the house was cool, and on
cold days, warm. It remained dry during
a short rainstorm but could rain inside
for several days afterwards!
Homesteaders used this technique to
build barns for their animals and storage
sheds. The buildings lasted until they
could afford sawn lumber. After visiting
Morrin Sod House, return to
Highway 56 – part of the Alberta
Trail of the Buffalo – and continue
north towards Stettler.
Settlement in this vast land depended
on the ability of settlers to reach their
homesteads. Most arrived by rail in
Calgary and, eventually, Stettler. From
Calgary, homesteaders packed all their
belongings in a horse-drawn wagon and
followed rutted trails east. They had to
cross the Red Deer River, a feat in itself.
Once the first ferry was established east
of Trochu at Tolman in 1907, settlement
boomed. Villages like Morrin, Rowley
and Rumsey became the social and
commercial hearts of their districts.
Rowley was once a booming community;
now it is largely a ghost town with a
Imagine life as an early settler at Morrin Sod House
mixture of restored buildings and those
left to the whim of time. Rowley is 13 km
north of Morrin, accessed from Highway
56 on gravel Township Road 324.
Walk the main street past Sam’s Saloon,
the hardware store and the pool hall to
the train station. The tracks are now
gone but a gust of wind whistling around
the corner of the Yesteryear Artifacts
Museum suggests better days when the
train brought mail, freight and passengers
to the crowd of farmers and ranchers
waiting on the platform. Periodically,
movie producers discover Rowleywood’s
charm and film movies and commercials,
often using locals for extras. Rowley’s
businesses and museum open daily in the
summer months and the last Saturday
night of every month is pizza night.
As you travel north on the Trail of
the Buffalo notice how the land has
become hillier. Several ice ages have
sent their glacial tongues scouring this
landscape from north to south. As the
climate warmed, these ice sheets melted
and dropped their loads of boulders and
gravels. The knobs, or kames, left behind
are covered with grass while the hollows,
or kettles, often collect water, attracting
waterfowl and migrating birds.
This knob and kettle landscape is set in
the last remaining tract of aspen parkland
in Canada, and is part of the Rumsey
Provincial Ecological Reserve &
Natural Area. The land is managed in
conjunction with leaseholders, and it
is a courtesy to contact them if you are
interested in walking on the land.
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Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
Thirty kilometers north of Rowley, just
west of Highway 56, is Big Valley, a
town that managed not to drift away
with the prairie wind. Originally
established as a coal mining town, it was
the railway that attracted settlers and
businesspeople, alike. Railway workers
moved into town when it was named
a terminal and a roundhouse was built.
The boom didn’t last long – competing
railways merged under the Canadian
Northern Railway and traffic and railway
workers were diverted elsewhere. More
residents were lost when a branch from
Hanna to Mirror opened, by-passing
Big Valley. Yet it is the railway once
again that is bringing people to town.
Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions
offers scenic train rides to Big Valley.
Departing from Stettler, 32 km to the
north, this leisurely, rocking ride chugs
through vibrant parkland and farmland.
You may meet Gabriel Dumont, a leader
of the Riel Rebellion from Saskatchewan,
take part in a murder mystery, or be a
victim of an old-fashioned train robbery.
At the stop in Big Valley, you will have
time to walk the interpretive trail at the
roundhouse, visit the Canadian Railway
Hall of Fame in the restored train
station, climb to bright blue St. Edmund’s
Church and shop at Jimmy Jock
Boardwalk. The train tours last between
four and eight hours, with lunch or
dinner included. Be sure to book ahead.
If you would like to see history rather
than be part of it, Stettler’s Town and
Country Museum shows every aspect
of local history in 26 buildings. You can
browse through historic homes and
shops, learn a lesson at the schools, ride
a speeder at the CN station or check the
engines of restored tractors. One of the
museum guides might even tell you about
Stettler’s cigar factory! You can also head
to downtown Stettler; the main street is
lined with relics from its boomtown past.
Be sure to pick up a copy of the town’s
historic walking tour.
From Stettler you can continue west
to the City of Red Deer on Highways
12 and 11 or take Highway 12 east to
explore more Trail of the Buffalo
communities. The trail also extends
north on Highway 56; be sure to visit
Donalda, a small town set along the
rugged Meeting Creek Coulee.
The Donalda Gallery for the Arts,
located in the historic Imperial Bank
of Canada feature local artisans, and
the Donalda Museum is home to 850
different types of kerosene lamps.
Option 2: Boomtown Trail
This route begins on the South Dinosaur
Trail on the south side of the Red Deer
River in Drumheller, passing the old
mining towns of Kneehill and Nacmine.
Seven kilometers past Kirkpatrick,
turn right on Highway 837 to cross the
river and climb steeply out of the valley
to reach Orkney Hill Viewpoint.
The Viewpoint offers a spectacular
panorama of the Red Deer Valley
Badlands. Take time to breathe in
the view!
Enjoy the the historic train ride from Stettler
to Big Valley
Continue north on Highway 837 to
Highway 27. Turn left and follow the
road west for 18 km to Highway 21 and
the Boomtown Trail. Many of the towns
and villages on Highway 21 sprang up
quickly during the heyday of settlement
in the early 1900s. Today, towns like
Lousana, Elnora and Huxley have few
shops or services, but almost a hundred
years ago their business districts bustled!
Banks, stores, lumber yards and barber
shops vied for space and attention.
The owners faced their small and simple
wooden buildings with a grand, square-
topped front to appear larger and more
significant. This building style, common
to Western movies, has the descriptive
name of boomtown architecture. Stroll
down the main street of any Boomtown
community and you will see several
examples – some restored and some
leaning towards better days.
The first Boomtown community on this
route is Three Hills, 7 km north from the
junction of Highways 27 and 21. As in
many prairie towns, grain elevators line
the railway in Three Hills. Many of these
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Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
prairie sentinels were built in the wheat
boom of the 1920s, perched next to the
rail line that would link small towns to
far-flung markets. By the mid-1930s,
Alberta boasted over 1,700 elevators.
Now there are a mere few hundred left.
Many elevators have been torn down
as rail lines closed and grain companies
built concrete and metal silos in larger,
regional centres. You can view the new
and the old in grain elevator architecture
in Three Hills. Over tea in the restored
train station at the Kneehill Historical
Museum, look through photos of early
days in Three Hills.
From Three Hills, return to Highway 21
and continue north 13 km to Trochu.
Trochu’s main street reflects the booms
and busts of prairie towns. Some classic
boomtown relics remain: squared-topped
front stores and a stately brick building
line the wide street, and the grain
elevators frame the view down main
street and out of town. At the turn of
the century, promises of easy wealth and
freedom attracted settlers from eastern
Canada, England, America, Denmark,
Germany and many other countries.
Trochu, however, has roots in the
Brittany area of France.
In 1905, Armand Trochu and two
partners set out to develop the St. Ann
Ranch and Trading Company.
Their enterprise was successful and
rapidly attracted other families.
A school and hospital followed, run
by the French Sisters of Charity of our
Lady of Evron.
:"
By 1911 and the arrival of the railway,
Trochu was thriving with businesses
where French was as likely to be spoken
as English. When the First World War
broke out, most of the settlers returned
to France to fight – few ever saw Canada
again. Stop in for tea at St. Ann Ranch,
a provincial historic site, and stroll
among the post office, school and chapel.
As you return to Highway 21 and
continue north, you will pass the
community of Huxley. It was the people
of Huxley and area who valued a stretch
of the Red Deer River enough to lobby
the Province for its protection as a park.
As a result, you can enjoy the remarkable
Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park.
Breathe in the view at Dry Island Buffalo Jump
Explore the Red Deer River Valley on
horseback. Contact 1-800-ALBERTA for
details on working and guest ranches
near Dry Island Provincial Park and in the
Drumheller Valley.
Two kilometers north of Huxley, turn
east on Township Road 344 and
continue 20 km east on a good gravel
road to reach the edge of the Red Deer
River Valley. At the park entrance is Dry
Island Viewpoint; below lies a stunning
landscape of hoodoos, gray hillsides
scored by rainwater, sandstone cliffs and
the silty Red Deer River. Walk to the
interpretive panels at the edge of the
grassy bench. To your left is the “dry
island”, a mesa separated from the valley
edge; look right and you will see the
grassy cliff-top of a buffalo jump.
Bison herds once travelled these plains,
finding abundant grasses, water and
shelter in the coulees. These immense
animals were a grocery store on the hoof
for the Cree people, and it was here that
the Cree hunted by stampeding bison
over the steep cliffs. Unlike other buffalo
jumps in Alberta, the steep cliffs at
Dry Island assured that the bison died
on impact. A successful hunt secured
meat for pemmican, hides for tipis and
horns for cups. Archaeologists and local
ranchers and farmers have unearthed
stone tools, fire pits, pottery shards and
bone fragments.
From the Dry Island Viewpoint, you can
descend on the park road to the picnic
area near the river. Unofficial trails lead
in several directions; look for wildflowers
and fossils, leaving them untouched for
future visitors.
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:"
Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
See a Fossil? Let it Be!
Fossils uncover stories of past times when
left on the ground with other fossils and
rocks. Mark the spot and report it to the
Tyrrell Museum so a palaeontologist can
check it out. Collecting fossils in Alberta is
illegal without a permit.
As you continue north on Highway 21,
you enter aspen parkland country, a
natural mosaic of aspen forest and
grassland. In southern parts of the
Canadian Badlands, early setttlers could
begin to break the land immediately; in
the parkland, trees had to be cut down
and the roots removed first. Farmers first
settled any open grassland, their efforts
From dinosaurs to coal mining and the lazy Red Deer River to Boomtown communities, this touring route has
given you a taste of the Canadian Badlands. More discoveries await. In the Canadian Badlands, you can search
for orchids in the Cypress Hills, watch rare birds at Pakowki Lake, paddle a voyageur canoe in Medicine Hat or
enjoy afternoon tea at a number of tea houses, and take in local rodeos, farmers’ markets and festivals in
communities across the region. To plan your next Canadian Badlands experience, go to canadianbadlands.com
or contact Travel Alberta at 1-800-ALBERTA.
ending at the edge of the forest. Slowly,
with horse teams, chains, dynamite and
axes, they ate into the forest edges.
Not until tractors became affordable
after the Second World War did much
of the parkland come under
cultivation. To imagine life as a settler,
step into a replica homesteader’s shack
at the Anthony Henday Museum in
Delburne. An extensive collection of
pioneering artefacts is housed in the old
train station and water tank tower.
After your visit to Delburne, continue
north on Highway 21, reaching
Highway 12 in about 20 km.
From Delburne, you can follow
Highway 11 west to the City of
Red Deer or continue north on the
Boomtown Trail to Camrose. If you are
heading north, you can camp, swim,
canoe and fish at Rochon Sands
Provincial Park, a Watchable Wildlife
site. Keep an eye out for pelicans flying
overhead as they leave their summer
haunts on the water and islands of
Buffalo Lake to fish and loaf on the
Red Deer River.
Visit the Hoodoos, near Drumheller Roar from the mouth of the world's largest Dinosaur Canoe the calm Red Deer River
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Boomtowns, Buffalo,
and Badlands
Take a thrilling train ride, pretend you’re a
cowboy, dig in dirt like a paleontologist, and
travel the trail of the buffalo on this exciting
tour.
Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park:Take an
interpretive tour to see ancient Aboriginal rock art
of people, animals, and the stories of Aboriginal
culture. Cool down in the park with some swimming,
fishing, canoeing, and kayaking.
Warner:At the Devils Coulee Dinosaur Heritage
Museum, peek at fossilized baby dinosaurs and the
eggs of the Hadrosaur Dinosaur. Stick your fingers
in cool plaster and make a cast of a dinosaur
footprint! Be an official Dino-digger and scoop
up dirt to reveal a dinosaur bone bed. On the
Devils Coulee Guided Tour step into the heart of
the Dinosaur world to see fossils still in the earth.
BROOKS AND AREA:
Lake Newell/Kinbrook Island Provincial Park:
Build a sandcastle, jump into one of Alberta’s
warmest lakes for a swim, or try your luck at
Need a Break?
fishing! Visit the Brooks Lakeside Leisure Centre
where you can zip down a waterslide or cannon ball
into the pool.
DRUMHELLER AND AREA:
World’s Largest Dinosaur and Spray Park: Look
up…way up to the World’s Largest Dinosaur-climb
151 feet to the top and get a T-rex eye view. On a
hot summer day, splash around the spray park but
beware of the T-rex’s clutches!
The Royal Tyrrell Museum:
Offers programs just for kids
from 45 minutes to 3 hours.
Explore a dinosaur quarry and
play dinosaur games with the
Jr. Dinosaur Explorers, or
discover ancient fossils and
make crafts at the Dino
Adventure Hour.
Reptile World: Squeeze your way into a picture
with Brittany the Boa Constrictor then snap up
some courage to visit Fred the 600 pound alligator!
Reptile World is Canada’s largest reptile exhibit,
located in downtown Drumheller.

Drumheller pools and waterslides: Dash
down a slippery waterslide, or cannonball
into a pool at the Drumheller Aquaplex
next to the World’s Largest Dinosaur.
Don’t forget to see if your hotel has a
swimming pool or a waterslide!
Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site:
Have you ever wondered what a real mine
looks like? Take a teeth-chattering coal
car ride, climb the wooden tipple and learn
how coal was taken from the ground, sorted,
and shipped off to market.
Three Hills
Zip on down to the Three
Hills Aquatic Centre for
some waterslide and swimming
fun. Then travel just
outside of Three Hills to
the Guzoo Animal Farm
(located just off secondary
highway 583) and meet
over 400 animals! You can
pet a real lion cub and watch the
feeding time with all the animals.
Big Valley
The old west is right around the corner at
the Jimmy Jock Boardwalk. Creak along
the western style boardwalk and visit an
old barbershop. Stop your tummy from
rumbling at the fudge factory or have one
of Vivian’s famous sticky cinnamon buns at
Hulley’s Hideway Café.
Stettler
Jump aboard a real steam or diesel train
with Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions.
Take part in one of the family tours and
have fun with clowns and a sing along!
Watch out for the dreaded Bolton Gangthis
gang of dressed up actors like to rob
trains and take your money! Luckily, you’ll
have the famous buffalo hunter Gabriel
Dumont on the train who will help save you
from the robbers! Once your train ride
has ended, zip down a waterslide at the
Stettler Recreation Centre.
Fill in the answers on the blanks and
then put the letters together to spell
a secret word!
1. The Royal Tyrrell _______
2. The _____ Jock Boardwalk
3. Jump aboard a steam or diesel _____
in Stettler
4. Be a Dino- ______ in Warner
5. Get a ____ eye view at the World’s
Largest Dinosaur and Spray Park
A _______ is a worker who finds coal and other elements deep underground and takes them out of
Earth. Many fossils were discovered when looking for coal in the hills of the badlands. You can imagine
what it was like to be a miner at the Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site.
Secret Word is MINER

Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
To u r i n g ro u T e s Feedback Fo rm
We hope you enjoyed your driving tour of the Canadian Badlands. To help us improve the self-guided tour experience, please
take time to complete and return this form. To thank you for your time, we would like to send you a complimentary poster
of Dinosaur Provincial Park.
1. Please indicate the driving tour you participated in:
O Prairie Winds & Badlands (Lethbridge, Cypress Hills and Medicine Hat)
O Red Coats & Coulees (Medicine Hat/Walsh, Cypress Hills and Dinosaur Provincial Park)
O Train Tales & Dinosaur Trails (Oyen, Hanna, Drumheller and Dinosaur Provincial Park)
O Homesteads, Bonebeds & Coalbeds (Calgary, Drumheller and Dinosaur Provincial Park)
O Boomtowns, Buffalo & Badlands (Milk River/Coutts, Writing-on-Stone and Dinosaur Provincial Park and Drumheller)
O Coal Trails & Prairie Rails (Red Deer, Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park and Drumheller)
2. Please describe your travel party:
Number of adults
Number of children (under 18 years of age)
3. How did you learn about the driving tour?
O Internet (please specify website)
O Travel Alberta Visitor Information Centre (please provide name)
O Community Visitor Information Centre (please provide name)
O Friend or family member
O Other (please specify)
4. Did you participate in the full length of the driving tour as outlined in the self-guided driving tour description?
O Yes
O No If no, indicate which day(s) you participated in: (e.g., day 2)
Why did you choose not to participate in the full driving tour?
5. Check the statements that are most accurate:
O I used the driving tour to plan a trip to the Canadian Badlands.
O I was already planning to visit the Canadian Badlands and used the driving tour as a resource.
O I was already visiting the Canadian Badlands and used the driving tour to enhance my trip.
O I stayed longer in the Canadian Badlands as a result of the driving tour.
O I am planning another trip to the Canadian Badlands as a result of the driving tour.
O Other (please specify)

Canadian Badlan d s To u r i n g ro u T e s
6. After participating in this driving tour, would you consider participating in another Canadian Badlands driving tour?
O Yes
O No. If no, why not?
7. After participating in this driving tour, would you consider participating in a similar self-guided driving tour elsewhere
in the Province of Alberta?
O Yes. If yes, what part of Alberta interests you?
O No
For each of the following questions, please indicate your answer on the scale provided,
where 1 represents very unsatisfied and 5 represents very satisfied.
1. How satisfied were you with the level of information 1 2 3 4 5
in the self-guided driving tour description?
2. How satisfied were you with the accuracy of the 1 2 3 4 5
information in the self-guided driving tour description?
3. How satisfied were you with the number of 1 2 3 4 5
attractions and activities in the driving tour?
4. How satisfied were you with the length of the driving tour? 1 2 3 4 5
Additional Comments
To receive your complimentary poster, please provide the following information (optional). Personal information
collected in this survey is done so in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection Act (FOIP).
Last Name: First Name:
Address : City:
Province/State: Country: Postal Code/Zip Code:
Mail: Tourism Development Branch,
Alberta Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture,
6th Floor, Commerce Place, 10155 – 102 St.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5J 4L6
Fax: (780) 427-0778