I woke up at 4:0am because my body thought it was 6:00am. Much too early to get up so it was back to sleep for a few more hours. I headed downstairs and got us some breakfast before we hit the road at around 9:30am. We are staying in Canmore but we thought to take a detour to the Canadian Badlands which is about one and a half hours east of Calgary. The Badlands was where the dinosaurs roamed millions of years ago.
Our first stop was Horsethief Canyon which is sixteen kilometres northwest of Drumheller on the Dinosaur Trail. Before getting to the edge to get a look at the canyon, we encountered prairie dogs. There was a man with his two daughters feeding the prairie dogs Hickory Sticks. He told us that they are usually pretty tame but they can also turn on you and bite. The view of the canyon was awe inspiring. The canyon got it’s name after the outlaws that hid stolen livestock in the valley. I never knew there was this kind of scenery in Alberta.
We left the canyon and got back on the Dinosaur Trail to the town of Drumheller. There are dinosaurs everywhere in town including the World’s Largest Dinosaur … a Tyrannosaurus Rex that stands eighty-six feet tall.
After exploring Drumheller, we headed south on the Hoodoo Trail. Because it was late afternoon, we decided to just stop at one of the lookout points. This stop had metal staircases where you could climb up to get an up close look at the hoodoos which are sandstone pillars with rock caps. If you are feeling energetic, you can hike the area surrounding the hoodoos. We left that for another time.
We went back to Drumheller to gas up the car for the two and a half hour drive to Canmore. The scenery on the drive to Calgary was flat farm land but once we got on the other side of Calgary, the scenery changed.
We arrived at the Lodges of Canmore just before 8:00pm. We took some of our stuff up to the condo (Unit 120, $1834.76 CAD total) before heading over to Safeway to stock up. The rest of the night was spent relaxing in front of the TV.
It looks amazing!