So we got to Drumheller and walked up inside the huge dinosaur... this is Chris with the foot.... or claw... do dinosaurs have feet?
and Christopher... with foot.
and we looked out of dino's mouth over the town...
and yes, I made Christopher have his photo taken in dino's mouth...
Then we pootled down the road to hunt for hoodoos and found this suspension bridge that the miners used to get to the coal mine...
Christopher and Chris on the suspension bridge
and those are my feet... to show how awful it was to walk across it!! I don't mind bridges if I can't see thru' them!!
Then we found the hoodoos!! Oh my, they are fabulous... Where do hoodoos get their name? The name hoodoo comes from the word voodoo and was given to these formations by the Europeans. In the Blackfoot and Cree traditions the hoodoos are believed to be petrified giants who come alive at night to hurl rocks at intruders.
A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, and earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos consist of relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements. They typically form within sedimentary rock and volcanic rock formations. Hoodoo shapes are affected by the erosional patterns of alternating hard and softer rock layers. Minerals deposited within different rock types cause hoodoos to have different colours throughout their height.
More hoodoos....
This one at the front is beginning to crack.... I guess at some point this sleeping giant will fall over...
and Christopher decided to go climbing...
and more climbing...
I can see why they call these the badlands... farmers wouldn't be very impressed with all that rock!!
Christopher with a batch of hoodoo to be.... it was a fabulous day out and we finished it off with a trip to the Dinosaur Museum back in Drumheller before heading home again.
Wow, when I saw Drumheller in my Google Reader I zoomed over. My Mom was born and raised there. Lovely photos. I hope you are coming back from the UK. If not I hope we can still blog with you.
ReplyDeleteBon Voyage, Chris
I sure learned a LOT today. I'd never heard of Drumheller, or hoodoos before, but they fit in perfectly with your Voodoo Vixen image.
ReplyDeleteActually, these are even more "bad" than the Badlands of North and South Dakota and northern Nebraska. I've seen all those places, with the Badlands National Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota being the most famous in the US, but I'd say the ones near Alberta are the most unique.
Love your photos and those dino feet are a HOOT! However, you would NEVER get me on that suspension bridge. I got queasy just looking at the photos and your feet.
Those rock formations are amazing - oh the wonders of nature.
ReplyDeleteThat landscape certainly looks like Dinos or giants should be roaming it.
Toni xx
Fabulous photos - love the Hoodoos but I am not sure about that bridge - I'm with you on having something solid under my feet, lol!
ReplyDeleteOh my word! thank you so much for posting this. I have never heard of Hoodoos before so this is going straight into my "Learn Something New Every Day" Journal absolutely fascinating and so clearly explained too.
ReplyDeletewell that certainly looks to be a magical place
ReplyDeleteand how fitting that a voodoo vixen would visit the hoodoos ;)
FUN!
oxo