Day Trip to Saskatchewan Badlands near Avonlea

These amazing badlands are only a 15 minute drive from the brick plant I wrote about previously. However, they are on private land and so well hidden that you would never guess their presence by driving past on the highway.

We stopped in at the museum in Avonlea, a village in the midst of fertile grain fields. Access to the badlands is by guide only. I felt it was a tad brazen but I wondered if perhaps someone could take us within the hour. Lucky us. Marilyn, a lovely senior and previous church minister was our guide. While we enjoyed a deliciously cold ice cream later, she admitted we were her first solo guide trip. She did an amazing job.

Wild animal tracks. Know what they are?     Deer.

We walked around the perimeter of the badlands area in about an hour and a half. Around every turn was a new formation that was even more amazing than the last. This landscape was laid down 35,000,000 years ago, long before the ice age. Erosion is constant. One of the more recent events was an earthquake in 1909. I inwardly marvelled at the lack of human footsteps and then Marilyn told us that with each rain they are washed away.

This feels like a temple you might find in Greece or Egypt. Without any special historical or designation of national importance, we are free to wander around this site as we please. It is quite amazing. We are so fortunate to have a landowner who respects this special place enough to forbid entry without a guide. It only cost $10 each.

Verdella took a little break. Without any shelter from the sun and with complete shelter from the wind, it was desert-like.

This area was a very special place for the plains Indians. There were seasonal creeks in the valley and good shelter. They created caches for storage and tipi depressions were plentiful on the prairie above the valley.

Plants are survivors. This aster is growing in bentonite clay that is volcanic in origin. It absorbs water easily in spite of its seemingly rocklike characteristics. It is a very marketable commodity. Ground bentonite is used in cleansing clays at spas. There area a number of marketable uses and I am so happy this area has not become a quarry.