Touring Avonlea Badlands like walking a Martian landscape

Thousands of years of erosion have formed incredible depressions called badlands in semi-arid plains stretching from southern Canada to Mexico.

Saskatchewan is lucky to have a collection of scenic badlands, with this site located about 50 minutes southeast of Moose Jaw just outside the Village of Avonlea.

For several years, the Avonlea Heritage Museum has conducted tours of this natural phenomenon. These badlands are small, just over a square mile, and contain some fascinating views of cathedral-like formations called hoodoos. Visitors to the Avonlea badlands have said these hoodoos are just as beautiful as the famous Drumheller badlands in Alberta. The Avonlea Badlands are truly a remarkable and unique environment. It is interesting to see how the seasons, weather, and time of day change this unique habitat. Visitors are treated to a variety of bird songs early in the morning. Meanwhile, the shadows of the evenings are a photographer’s dream. The stifling heat of the high noon is astounding on a hot day as you drop into a desert-like bottom. June is a great time to tour, as plant and bird life abound, but anytime is great. The museum offers walking tours that cross Prairie pastures to the white clay-bottom land containing bits of vegetation scattered throughout the area. Visitors can climb a hoodoo with a hole in it, which eerily looks like an eye. Guides lead you through hoodoos and points of interest in what some describe as a Martian landscape. Below the badlands’ rim, the tour passes castle-style pillars and formations that look similar to giant organ pipes carved into the wall by eons of erosion. Tours of the site are offered by the museum only on weekends and only if weather permits. A small amount of rain turns the clay-bottom land into a slippery, soupy, greasy surface. The Avonlea Badlands are a wonderful place to explore, and many hikers, photographers, naturalists, geologists and paleontologists enjoy the beauty of the diverse ecosystems that make up the area. Besides the badlands, self-guided tours are also available of the rolling Dirt Hills. Learn about the history of this area as you travel from place to place. Experience the sights, sounds and smells of the prairies at the Ridgeway Man Effigy. The Avonlea Heritage Museum is in the former 1912 CN Rail Station. It is open from mid-May to September and daily from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. It displays artifacts of pioneers who homesteaded in the area in the early 1900s. It also depicts a history of the area, its occupations and archaeological findings. For more information call 306-868-2101.

621 Main St N • 306-693-0673

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