June 21, 2009

June 21, 2009

From Shelby, MT we crossed the border into Canada and drove straight north thru flat-as-a-pancake farmland that would rival Kansas for how far you can see. We are headed for Canada’s Badlands but I can’t believe they can be around here. After a couple hours we pull into or rather descend into Dinosaur Provincial Park. There they are. The Badlands. The colorful eroded cliffs occur where the Red Deer River has cut a deep channel thru the prairie.

In the Visitor Center we learn that this area has been the richest source of Cretaceous fossils in the world. We sign up for a Lab Talk where we learn to identify many kinds of fossils. It doesn’t help. We take a couple hikes off the auto loop and all we collect is mud. The slippery version. The Badlands mostly consist of sand and clay. Apparently some kind of volcanic clay that when wet (it rained all the way here) becomes as slippery as ball bearings. In fact they sell it as an oil drilling lubricant. I did find what I thought was a claw until I washed away the mud. We spend the night at the campground in the park.