From Mountains to Hoodoos

Hoodoos near Drumheller, Alberta

The drive from Banff to Calgary is remarkable.  Within twenty to thirty minutes, the Rocky Mountains are visible only in the rear-view mirror.  By Calgary, the Great Plains surround us, with the Rocky Mountains barely visible. 

On the advice of a visitor center attendant, we decided to make a stop in Drumheller.  The town has notoriety for its Hoodoos and dinosaurs.  It is tagged as being in the center of Canada’s Badlands.  Within several miles of Drumheller, the Great Plains opened up and we dropped into canyons similar to Palo Duro near Amarillo, Texas. 

We stopped by the visitor center for camping information and discovered the world’s largest dinosaur right in front.  The community had built this enormous thing as an attraction.  For a fee, you can climb to the top and look out T-Rex’s mouth.  We opted for photos at ground level.

The lady who helped us at the visitor center was most kind and obviously proud of her town.  When we told her we weren’t much for tourist attractions, she showed us where we might find a beaver and a moose.  She circled the Hoodoos as a “must see” and suggested we visit two restored churches in Dorothy.  She cautioned us about driving in several areas because of clay roads being washed out or slick from the extensive rain they had been receiving.

Our campsite was quiet… in fact, we appeared to be the only ones there.  Our campsite overlooked a lovely sandstone painted skirt.

The next morning we drove out the famous Drumheller Hoodoo Park.  While small in stature, the community has certainly made the most of their Hoodoos, including elaborate stairs all around the sandstone structures.  The information plaques were very informative, and the hoodoos interesting.

We continued our drive up to Dorothy to visit their restored churches.  We decided to pass on the coal mining tour and dinosaur museum.

 It was late morning, so we continued driving, ending up in at Danielson Provincial Park near Gardner Dam.  While strolling, we spoke with one of the two other camping couples in the park.  They suggested a visit to Lost Mountain Lake to view migratory waterfowl and even let us borrow a book they had that included information about the lake.

The next morning, we stopped by Lost Mountain to take their driving tour.  The information center had warnings posted that the tour loop had several areas washed out due to the 2011 flood.  We took part of the tour, not finding many birds at all… most likely because we were in the middle of the day when most of these birds are out gleaning other fields.  We took a short hike up their grassland trail, but the wind was fierce and cold, sending us back to the truck early. 

Campgrounds in the area were few and far between, so we decided to travel onto the Quill Lakes, known for their abundant migratory waterfowl and the main reason we had taken this path through Saskatchewan.  Unfortunately, we chose to travel Highway 15 which was under major construction to make it into a heavy haul road.  The continued rain had turned an eight-mile section into the worst mud course we have run into… EVER!  The mud was easily up to the running boards in several places.  Thank heavens for four-wheel drive or we never would have made it through.  What a mess!  It took another trip to the car wash to clean the mud off the truck and camper so that we could remain fairly clean when getting in and out.

We drove into Wynnard and headed straight to their Waterfowl Interpretive Center.  While I hate to leave our dear friends hanging, what we learned there is worthy of a post all its own.  So we leave you in suspense…