Cheltenham Badlands - Caledon, ON

Cheltenham Badlands

                                                                  Cheltenham Badlands - located near Caledon, Ontario, Canada

 
“Badlands” is a geologic term for an area of soft rock devoid of vegetation and soil cover that has become molded into a rolling landscape of rounded hills and gullies. Such areas are rare in Ontario and this is one of the best examples. They exhibit the reddish hue of the Queenston Shale that forms them; the iron oxide in the shale produces this colour. The narrow greenish bands that can be seen throughout the shale are due to the change of red iron oxide to green iron oxide brought on by the circulating groundwater. The relatively soft shale is essentially clay and is easily eroded by water.

Cheltenham Badlands are a bizarre geographical spectacle that lies hidden in the Caledon Hills. This area consists of bare, windswept red hills and gullies that are very similar to that of the Alberta badlands. What makes them so bizarre is that they are found in Ontario. Ontario Heritage Trust owns the property and it is maintained by the Bruce Trail Conservancy.

The reddish hue of the Queenston Shale is caused by iron oxide, while narrow greenish bands show where groundwater has transformed the rock from red to green iron oxide. The cause of this phenomenon was poor farming practices in the 1930’s which caused overgrazing of this land and the resultant exposure of the Queenston shale that supports little or no vegetation.

You cannot gain access to the 'badlands' from the Bruce Trail,
nor can you see the 'badlands' from the trail. The field is located beside the road for easy viewing. There are no hiking trails connected to the Badlands viewing area. Access to the Bruce Trail can be found to the east and to the west of the Badlands off Old Base Line Road. 
There is a viewing area with limited parking on the south side of Olde Baseline Road, between Creditview and Chinguacousy Roads, west of Hwy 10 in Caledon.

Visitors are asked to stay at the top of the Badlands and keep off the humps sloping into the valley.  This will help to preserve the site. 

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