Yesterday Kerri and I decided that it was too nice a day to hang around Calgary. Now that we have wheels, we have so much freedom and we were able to just jump in the car and go.
The destination of choice this time was Dinosaur Provincial Park about 2-1/2 hours drive East of Calgary. You basically head out across the prairies along Hwy 1 for a couple of hours then turn left at Brooks. Suddenly (like Drumhellar) the featureless prairie gives way to the canyon pictured. This one is way bigger than Drumhellar, but most of it is closed to the public so that people don't go stealing fossils.
Dinosaur Provincial Park is one of the richest fossil beds in the world. The evidence is in the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumhellar. It's also known as the Badlands.
We headed straight to the Dinosaur Provincial Park visitor centre expecting to grab some maps for all the walking trails in the park. We turned into the car park and were pleasantly surprised to find a family of mule deer. I'm fairly sure they're the smallest type of deer in this part of the world. They weren't at all worried about our presence.
Another tick for the wildlife spotting list.
Drumhellar and Dinosaur Provincial Park are not as spectacular as the Rockies, but are very interesting all the same. The rocks are very soft and susceptible to erosion. Between the rain, the winter snow and the wind, the effect on the landscape is quite dramatic. This photo is somewhat typical for a particular layer of sediment in the Badlands and is a bit like the moon.
This is a fairly typical formation in the Badlands. You can see how the layers of sediment have been laid down over millions of years, only to be washed away in a relatively short time. You can see a couple of red layers. Apparently those are as a result of volcano activity at one point.
After the dreadful disappointment of "Piss Weak World" at Drumhellar, we found some proper Hoodoos in the Badlands. Not only were they not trampled by tourists, but they were bigger and dotted around the park.
The Badlands aren't just about the rock formations and dinosaur bones. The Red Deer River runs right through the middle and is actually responsible for cutting the canyon. As for everywhere around the world, water means life and this river is no exception. These trees grow very slowly and with the cold and windy winter on the prairies, they end up all twisted and creepy looking.
This cottonwood was the most normal looking one in the park. The rest of them weren't as straight as this one. Most of the trees around Calgary are yellow like this one, or have already dropped their leaves.
It was a belter of a day and the sky was as blue as I've seen in the 4 months we've been here. It makes for a really nice contrast against the yellow leaves, don't you think?
This tree is more typical of the weather beaten cottonwood trees in the valley. The winds in winter rip through the valley and with no protection from mountains or forests, the cottonwoods end up all mangled and broken. They survive but end up looking like the one pictured. This one is alive, but has lost all its leaves in preparation for winter.
Pictured above is the Red Deer river that runs through the Badlands. The photo tells this story. It was a surprisingly pretty place in an otherwise harsh landscape.
After the visit to the Badlands, we took a detour to the south of the Trans-Canada. The route took us past a huge reservoir/lake near brooks that I assume has something to do with irrigation. After that we headed West across seemingly never ending wheat fields. We crossed and followed the Bow river briefly, then more wheat fields.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pair of lakes appeared in the middle of the featureless prairie. Lake McGregor (above) and Little Bow Lake (below) are apparently quite popular with the water skiing fraternity around here.
