FOCAL POINT
Are We There Yet? Road Tripping Through Alberta’s Badlands
BY CORINNE LUTTER Member & Internal Communications Coordinator
DINOSAUR PROVINCIAL PARK –photo courtesy Travel Alberta
concentration of attractions in a small area by travelling along the well-marked Dinosaur and Hoodoo Trails. If you’ve got more time, the Badlands cut a path hundreds of kilometres across Central Alberta, starting southeast of Red Deer, through to Drumheller and Dinosaur Provincial Park, and extending as far east as Saskatche- wan, and south to the United States. You could easily spend a week or more and not run of sights to see. Also emerging as a Badlands hot spot is the area around Grande Prairie. Badlands in northern Alberta, you say? Yes, it’s true. You might not know it, but the area is home to the province’s most northern badlands, including a renowned mass dinosaur grave and, opening this fall, a stunning new dinosaur museum. Over the next few pages, we’ve highlighted some of the top at- tractions found in Alberta’s Badlands. All you have to do is pack the car, gas the tank, and hit the highway.
Nothing says summer like a road trip, and Albertans don’t have to venture far from home to start exploring. With 31,000 kilometres of provincial highways, picking a destination is sometimes the hard- est part. If you’re looking for nature, scenery, culture, history, and world-class attractions, a good place to start is Alberta’s Badlands. Some 15,000 years ago, melting glaciers carved dramatic canyons, coulees, and other striking geological formations into the landscape. Erosion has revealed colourful layers of ancient sand- stone, mudstone, shale, coal, and other treasures — like fossilized dinosaur bones. Early French explorers described the area’s rugged cliffs and valleys as les mauvaises terres à traverser : bad lands to cross. Today, it’s a whole lot easier to get around. If you’ve only got a day or two, head to the Drumheller Valley in the province’s southeast. This is the heart of the Badlands, famous for its fossil finds and unique topography. Here, you’ll find a large
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