Drumheller

The town of Drumheller is developed in the badlands which are about 1.5 hours east of Calgary. I had flown over the area many times, but had never visited the town before. It is a beautiful place with lots and lots to see and do. I could have stayed another day and still not have seen everything there was to see.

I of course had to go to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. The museum is a day trip in itself as there is so much to see and read about. The museum is named for Joseph Tyrrell, a geologist who first discovered dinosaur remains, an Albertosaurus skull, in the area. He also happened to be the one who discovered coal deposits in the area which eventually led to the area being known for its coal mines.

After spending a few hours in the museum I went on the interpretive walk which is just outside of the museum. I did it rather quickly as the mosquitos were bad. It was however very interesting.

From there I took a drive on highway 10 where I first stopped to check out an old suspension bridge that took workers to a coal mine.

I then continued on to the HooDoos. It is very cool, although I had expected to see a larger area of hoo doos, but there are only a few of them in that location. I guess hoo doo's got their name from the word voo doo. Early native Canadians believed that at night they would come alive and throw rocks at unwanted intruders!

The same highway eventually led to the Atlas Coal mine where you can actually take a tour inside the mine. I didn't take the tour as it was getting late in the day. Perhaps another time I will.

On the way back to Calgary I stopped just outside of Drumheller to take a look at the Horseshoe canyon where they do the helicopter sightseeing trips from. It was quite rainy by that time so there was noone around but me!

Anyway, it was a great day trip and I'd like to get back there one of these days and take my bike because near the Tyrrell museum there seems to be a lot of trails that would be fun on a bike!