I pride myself on knowing how to get pretty much anywhere in Western Canada, and have been through almost every place in BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Up until this year though, that's all I could say about the places, that I'd been through them. Now since we have Andrew, we tend to, I am going to make up a new phrase now, "stop and smell the roses".
I know some people who have a motorbike, in their fifties, and are learning this new motto as well, and they would enjoy this part of the world, maybe more than any other tours they have been on. It is about 2 hours of steady travel to complete the Drumheller Valley tour, but you could take a couple of days just to see and explore this area.
Heck, probably every 5-10kms down the road there is something else to stop and see. And not just "Jack farnkenohillsmitt once watered his purple cow here", but real Alberta history, and real world history. Really, this area could be considered the first energy boom in Alberta, what with the coal history. The mine that was across the bridge in the following photo had 60,000 ton of coal mined each year in the 1910's with pick axes. Coal isn't that heavy, so that is a LOT! On top of that, they found some dinosaur bones here. Apparently this valley provides the most dinosaur skeletons for the worlds Museums than anywhere else in the world.
The HooDoo's are great. It's nice they are sort of interactive. Like if they were in a National Park, they would be roped off and off limits. Here they encourage you to touch and feel, sit and stand, climb and gawk. They look quite simple from the road, but up close they are fantastic. We will come back in a few years when we can spend some time hiking and exploring.
We saw and actual dinosaur. I looked it up and this one is called a wearthetruckerhatacrookedosauraus.
We have seen alot of incredible scenery in the past month or so, But down at the east end of the Drumheller valley, just beyond a little ghost of a town called Dorothy, I snapped this picture. I don't think I have seen a view quite as incredible as this one. And I am pretty sure no one ever goes this far down here. We saw maybe 2 vehicles on a Saturday afternoon on this stretch of road. This photo may get blown up and framed.
We came back to the campground and did some serious relaxing, and were able to squeeze some play time in this evening. Back to the ol' grindstone Monday. This may be the last camping trip of the season. I hope not, but the weather will choose for us. October is just around the corner. yikes.
How about that hairdo!?! freaky.
"BIFF"
