Cheltenham Badlands

Caledon, Ontario

"Badlands" is a geologic term for an area of soft rock devoid of vegetation and soild 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.  It is the presence of iron oxide in the shale that accounts for the red colour.  The narrow greeinsh bands that can be seen throughout the shale are due to the change of red iron oxide to green iron oxide brought on by circulating groundwater.  The relatively soft shale is essentially clay and easily eroded by water.  This site was acquired by The Ontario Heritage Foundation in 2000 and is under the care of the Bruce Trail Association. 

Directions:  Highway 401 to Mississauga Road.  Follow to Olde Base Line Road, and turn east.  Roadside parking is available on Olde Base Line Road just east of Creditview Road.