Road map of Drumheller area surrounding area (Alberta, Canada)

Drumheller Area      

East of the Rocky Mountains, Alberta's Red Deer Badlands holds  its own for amazing natural attractions. Millions of years of erosion  have carved the unusual, almost lunar landscape of the badlands,  exposing layer after layer of sedimentary rock and revealing vast,  ancient fossil beds. The coal industry once fueled this region; more  than 100 coal mines operated here between 1910 and the late 1950s.  Today, 3,000 oil and gas wells replace the mines, and dinosaurs remain  the area's top tourist attraction.      

Drumheller [C5]      

Named after Dr. J. B.Tyrrell (1858-1957), who unearthed the  first of hundreds of complete dinosaur skeletons here in 1884, the Royal  Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology has become one of Canada's most popular  attractions. Families can spend the entire day here, learning about the  earth's evolution and the dinosaurs in an array of captivating  displays, interactive exhibits, summer sleep-overs, and digs. Outside,  trails and guided jeep tours lead into bone beds in the badlands. The  museum has 40 complete reconstructed dinosaur skeletons, from  Edmon-tosaurs to Xiphactinus. ® Just outside town is the Homestead  Antique Museum, with restored farm tractors, a barbershop, and toys from  the 1890s. Drumheller also hosts an exhibition and stampede in July.      

East Coulee [C6] East Coulee's School Museum and Cultural  Centre, a provincial historic site, is located in the center of this old  mining town, where coal was first mined in 1924. A restored school room  contains books, maps, desks, and old report cards while another room  exhibits antique coalmining equipment, clothing, and photographs. The  museum offers half-day badlands hikes and fossil labs. The historic  Atlas Coal Mine also has a full slate of interpretive programs and  demonstrations among original mine buildings and residences. Besides  machines and artifacts, including records from 140 different coal mines,  the Atlas Mine has the only wooden ore-sorting tipple left in Canada,  and visitors can stand at the top of the eight-story-high device.      

Hanna [B7] Famous for goose hunting, Hanna also is home to the  Doll Palace, which features more than 2,600 dolls. After viewing the  dolls, visitors can stop for tea in the tea room and gift shop. Hanna  Pioneer Museum and village recreates a 19th-century pioneer village with  boardwalks, eight restored buildings including a blacksmith shop and  telephone office. A wildlife sanctuary is located in Prairie Oasis Park.

Horseshoe Canyon Provincial Recreation Area [C4] Seventeen  kilometers west of Drumheller off Hwy 9 is a lookout over Horseshoe  Canyon. Canada's mini-Grand Canyon, Horseshoe is a 200-hectare expanse  of badlands amid the prairies spanning more than 1.5 km at its widest.  An interpretive center displays panels of canyon geology, and outlines  trails into and along the edge of the canyon. Hike down into the canyon  to see a dinosaur fossil replica, petrified wood, ancient arrowheads as  well as hoodoos, sinkholes, piping, slumps, rills, and popcorn soil  texture, all natural features of the badlands. Visitors can also rent  golf carts with a self-guided audio tour along the Terra Trail.      

Three Hills [B3]      

Kneehill Historical Museum comes complete with a set of  railway tracks and two CNR cars at the station. A diverse display of  RCMP and army uniforms, old mining equipment, and early surgical tools  tell of pioneer careers in the region.      

SPECIAL INTEREST      

The Dinosaur Trail      

This popular 48 km driving trail starts north of Drumheller,  and heads west along the Red Deer River valley on Hwy 838. This "Valley  of the Dinosaurs" is a vast prehistoric graveyard where whole skeletons  of dinosaurs have been found. Climbing from the valley to the prairie  benehland, the trail takes in Horse Thief Canyon lookout and, most  exciting for kids, the Bleriot cable ferry across the river to Hwy 837  leading back to Drumheller. Near the end of the trail is Prehistoric  Park, where life-size dinosaur models are displayed. Along the route is  "The Biggest Little Church in the World," which seats 20,000 people a  year-six at a time.      

The Hoodoo Trail      

Eerie, vertical sandstone rock formations jutting out of the  Red Deer River valley, their odd shapes sculpted by millennia of wind  and water erosion, hoodoos are a popular attraction in the badlands. The  Hoodoo Trail follows Hwy 10 from Nacmine through Drumheller, Rosedale,  Wayne, and East Coulee, with spectacular examples of hoodoos along the  way, their hues ranging from subtle pinks to earthy browns.