The Cheltenham Badlands

 There’s a place in Southern Ontario, less than an hour’s drive from Toronto, where you can feel like you’ve suddenly landed somewhere else. The landscape is so unusual that it’s hard to believe you’re still in Ontario, let alone Canada.

The Cheltenham Badlands are a series of rolling red hills and deep gullies surrounded by the green countryside of Caledon. We have visited many times over the years, and even though we know what we’re going to see, I still find myself stopping to take it all in.

We’ve visited by car, but we’ve also arrived by bicycle a couple of times while riding the Caledon Trailway, and taking a short detour off the trail. I really like approaching the Badlands that way. You’re cycling through the quiet countryside, and then suddenly this strange red landscape appears.

It’s quite a contrast.

What Exactly Are the Cheltenham Badlands?

The story of the Badlands goes back a very long way. More than 450 million years ago, this area was covered by an ancient sea, and layers of sediment accumulated on the sea floor. Over millions of years, those sediments became the Queenston Shale that lies beneath this part of Southern Ontario.

The landscape we see today, however, was shaped much more recently.

When the land was cleared for farming and livestock grazing, primarily between 1850 and 1950, much of the vegetation that had protected the soil was removed. The shallow soil became vulnerable to erosion, and rain and water runoff gradually wore it away, exposing the soft, iron-rich shale underneath.

Over time, that erosion created the unusual hills and gullies that make the Badlands look so different from the surrounding countryside. The reddish colour comes from the iron in the shale, giving the landscape its barren, desert-like appearance.

When we first started visiting the Cheltenham Badlands, there were no boardwalks or designated viewing areas. The Badlands were open, and visitors were able to walk right across them.

As the Badlands became more popular, the number of visitors walking across the fragile shale increased. The same erosion that had created the landscape was being accelerated by all that human activity, and eventually the damage became too significant to ignore.

In 2015, the Badlands were closed to the public, while a plan was developed to protect the area, and reopened in 2018 with a viewing boardwalk, designated trails and visitor parking. The idea was to allow people to enjoy this unusual landscape while keeping their feet off the fragile formations.

Today, you can walk along the boardwalk and get a wonderful view of the Badlands. There are also trails through the surrounding area, including access to the Bruce Trail, so a visit doesn't have to be limited to standing at the viewing area and heading home.

A Few Things to Know Before You Go

The Cheltenham Badlands are located at 1739 Olde Base Line Road in Caledon, and if you're driving, you'll want to plan ahead. There is a designated parking lot, but parking must be reserved in advance, and parking along the road isn't permitted.

The current parking fee is $10 plus HST for a 90-minute reservation on weekdays and $20 plus HST on weekends and holidays. There are also limited three-hour parking reservations available.

There is another option, and one we've used ourselves. If you arrive on foot or by bicycle, there is no parking or admission fee. We've stopped at the Badlands a couple of times while cycling the nearby Caledon Trailway, which makes a visit here an easy addition to a bike ride through the area.

The viewing boardwalk is accessible for wheelchairs and strollers, and dogs are welcome as long as they are kept on a leash. Because the area is protected and the shale is fragile, visitors are asked to stay on the boardwalk and designated trails.

That last part is important. Those red hills may look like they're just waiting to be climbed, but the Badlands themselves are no longer open for people to walk across.

Go in the Fall

If I were recommending the best time to visit, I'd choose the fall, especially when the leaves are close to their peak.

The red shale is striking on its own, but put it against the brilliant reds, oranges and yellows of an Ontario autumn and the whole landscape becomes even more dramatic. The colours of the trees seem to complement the rusty tones of the Badlands, while the surrounding green countryside adds another layer of contrast.

We've visited at different times of the year, and each season has its own appeal, but fall is my favourite. If you're going to make the drive, I'd try to time it for when the leaves are at their best.

So, if you've never been, put the Cheltenham Badlands on your list for a fall day trip. Take the drive, walk along the boardwalk, and take some time to explore the surrounding trails.

We've been coming back for years, and I'm sure we'll be back again.