Hikes

Cheltenham Badlands

Just the Facts about Cheltenham Badlands:

main hike website
google maps location
Distance to Toronto64 KM / 54 min

Special:

The word “badlands” reminds me so strongly of a novel that my class had to read in grade nine called The Chrysalids. There were vivid descriptions of the vast landscape, rolling dry hills, the barren-nature of the land.  This is very similar to the feeling that I had as I peered out over the red rippled earth known as the Cheltenham Badlands.  Rob and I took a moment to just stand and stare at this very unique formation.  Then, Rob proceeded to launch into a photographic frenzy and I took to my usual exploring here-and-there technique in search of interesting bugs or secret areas.  There were many families visiting on the same afternoon as us and the children were beyond giddy, hopping a jumping down and across the rock formation.

As you are driving along Olde Baseline Road , you’ll suffer from side whiplash once you see how profoundly different the view is from your car’s window—from green and woodsy to bright red and wavy!  There is a little parking lot (when we were there about five cars had to park on the road’s shoulder) and it’s a quick hop up a little path to the interpretive plaque that explains why there are badlands in the middle of the forest.  To make a very long story shorter, many hundreds of millions of years ago, the area was a shallow sea.  The sea was surrounded by a forming mountain range and the waters were becoming deeper, causing the red mud to form Queenston shale (very soft rock in comparison to limestone, for example).  Over time, the sea gradually disappears, the sedimentary base of the sea was exposed. Fast forward to the 1900s… the area is cleared for a cattle field and farming. By the 1930s, there was no vegetation left and farming ceased. With no vegetation to protect the shale, erosion has been running its course from the 1930s to present day.

The Cheltenham Badlands have been named an Earth Science Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI) by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.  They are also part of the Niagara Escarpment which makes them a key feature of this UNESCO-designated World Biosphere Reserve.

IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT HIKING IN THE AREA:

Though there are a few little trails radiating from the badlands, the main trail (Russell Cooper Side Trail) that loops around the badlands is closed for regeneration.  You can still visit the badlands but if you are looking for a hike too then you’ll need to take a walk down Olde Baseline Road and hop on the Credit Stone Side Trail (the trail marker is visible from the road).
For more information about Cheltenham Badlands:

Ontario Heritage Trust—Visiting the Cheltenham Badlands

http://www.heritagefdn.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_9062_1.html
Just so people don't think the area is totally barren of life, we hiked to the bottom of the badlands, and walked at bit into the forest, and this is what greeted us... beautiful lush green vegetation.

There had to be hundreds of tiny grasshoppers around. They even stood still long enough to take a nice picture!
Why not try Geocaching at Cheltenham Badlands?

Official Geocaching Website

What's geocaching?