Part 3 June 13th

June 13th:

 A cross-sectional view of how glacial water from the receding ice sheet carved out the softer soil above creating the area within Alberta called the Badlands.

About one third of the way down, you can see a black line.  It is about four (4) to twelve (12) inches high, but has been compressed over the millennia.  Above that carbon rich line you will never find remains of the dinosaurs; below that line there are remains aplenty.
It is a distinct line showing a time in our plant's history where some cataclysmic event took place, wiping out much of  the earth's plant and animal life.

Today's scientist are still at crossroads, no fully convinced of one theory or another.  Yet, whatever happened, is clearly visible as a black line across the open strata one can see everywhere you look as you drive through this incredible place.

We leave Drumheller and head up into a canyon crossing eleven (11) bridges to arrive at a Ghost Town within the badlands.

No time to show you all eleven bridges as there is just too much to see to keep the camera in front of me all of the time.

 Cruising through the Badlands, we arrive at our destination.
A big hotel, a shop or two, and a bar that is thankfully open.  If you can find shade, the temperature is in the mid thirties.  In the hot 'desert' sun, a star which relentlessly bakes the unwary tourist with its scorching rays, the temperature is touching 40 Celsius.

No time to seek other shelter.

"It.s your last chance!" a ghostly voice echoes off the sourounding hills.

We ask no questions and comply.

Not a single horse or dinosaur in sight, yet it's a sight to behold when you are parched.

 "Mighty fine looking wide-mouthed mason jar they pour that ice cold beer in." muses Larry before taking a sip.

 "Seems like lots of folks have been here over the years and left a few things behind.  Looks like a museum and not a ghost town like a few others I've seen." Larry states as he takes a look around.

Trevor finds a guitar standing in a corner.
"Seems like it's still in tune," Trevor says and strums a few chords. 

Yes, the Last Chance Saloon is worth the drive.  There are many things to see, and it's as good a place in the Badlands as you're likely to find.

...and they've even got a roster of rules by which every visitor and resident it to live.  Anyone caught not 'Drinking a cold one' would likely be arrested, but they don't have the law and they don't even have a jail left to put that kind of a law-breaker away.  Instead, they are hauled into the saloon and forced to drink a cold one, no exceptions.

Yip!  Mighty fine saloon they've go up in that canyon.

 We arrive at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, home of one of the world's largest collection of dinosaur remains. 

Once you enter through the doors of the museum, you step back into time...

...a time tunnel if you will wich takes you back, way back into a time when there were other animals roaming this good Earth.

We pass from one geological period to the next.  It seems to take only a few minutes, but it quite an experience.











"Come through here," Trevor calls, "if you want to see dinosaurs," and we step into the main part of the Tyrrell Museum

As we enter the Mesozic Period of earth's time, we come to a part known as the Jurassic.

 This is where the big beasts are assembled.

Without a doubt.  Within the Royal Tyrrell Museum you will find bones and reconstructed versions of what these extinct creatures looked like.

Wow. at his age and he still has all of his teeth!

There is really no competition on who has the bigger mouth.

 The bones as reconstructed.

A rare find shown much as it was found, almost intact within the receding swamp which, some 66 million years ago, once was located at the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains.  Think mankind has much to do with how high the water rises or falls, drive up to Drumheller and go through the Royal Tyrrell Museum.  Over the millennia, the water has risen or fallen hundreds of thousands of times.  In fact, we would have no 'fossil' fuels to burn if the earth had not had massive changes over its long existence.


Humans will never really have the power to alter the changes our planet passes through.  In geological time, humans have only been on the Earth for a micro-second.  Without humans, it has evolved for several billion years.
The Tyrrell is well worth a visit. Plan at least a full day or longer.

 Let you imagination go wild.  These animals all once existed

Colourful and beautiful bygone creatures of the sea.














Here's looking at you, kid.

Until Larry, Trevor, Betty and I entered, there were 130,000 fossils in the museum...never mind.  It's worth the visit.  Click on: The Royal Tyrrell Museum for a direct link.