Drumheller Hoodoos

The Red Deer River has cut through soft Cretaceous sandstone and shale, and where a harder ironstone cap sits on top of a softer column the rain wears the surroundings away and leaves a pillar standing with a mushroom head. The formal hoodoo site east of Drumheller protects a group of them with boardwalks and stairs. They erode at a measurable rate, a few centimetres a year, so the shapes visibly change over decades and climbing on them is prohibited. The Blackfoot and other nations regarded hoodoos as petrified giants. The same rock layers make this one of the richest dinosaur fossil regions on earth.

What you actually see

• The capped pillars - sandstone columns under harder ironstone heads.
• The boardwalks - raised walks and stairs among the formations.
• The badlands colour - banded grey, ochre and rust in the coulee walls.
• The erosion rate - shapes that measurably change within a lifetime.

When to go

May to September; the badlands are extremely hot in July and August with no shade, so early morning or evening is better. Winter access is possible but the ground is icy.

Honest expectations

The site is small and takes half an hour. Climbing the hoodoos is prohibited and enforced, since it accelerates their destruction. Summer heat in the coulee is severe.

Nearby

The Atlas Coal Mine lies east; the Royal Tyrrell Museum is west in Drumheller.