Geological siteCaledon, ON
LocalInstitution
Cheltenham Badlands
Caledon, ON
Open dawn to dusk in season, from May into the fall; per-vehicle parking is booked and paid ahead through ParkPass, and visitors stay on the accessible viewing platform because walking on the badlands is prohibited.
Red Queenston shale ridges in Caledon, viewed from an accessible platform by parking reservation
Why go to Cheltenham Badlands
The Cheltenham Badlands is a 36-hectare site in Caledon whose landscape formed at the base of an ancient sea about 450 million years ago. Early farming and tree clearing stripped away the topsoil and exposed the Queenston shale underneath, and rain, snowmelt and freeze-thaw cycles have kept carving it since. Destination Ontario lists it as a provincially significant Area of Natural and Scientific Interest.
The Ontario Heritage Trust owns the property, which it acquired in 2002 with the Bruce Trail Conservancy and the Ministry of Natural Resources of the day. The site closed in June 2015 after growing crowds sped up erosion and reopened in 2018. Today visitors take in the ridges from an accessible viewing platform, since walking on the badlands is prohibited. Parking is reserved ahead through ParkPass, and the site opens each May for a season that runs into the fall.
Did you know?
- The exposed rock is Queenston shale, laid down at the base of an ancient sea about 450 million years ago and first exposed in the early 1900s after farming and tree clearing stripped the topsoil.source ↗
- The site closed to the public in June 2015 because growing visitor numbers were accelerating erosion, and the Ontario Heritage Trust, Credit Valley Conservation and the Bruce Trail Conservancy reopened it in 2018.source ↗
- Only about 20 per cent of the 36-hectare property is badlands terrain; the rest is forest, wetland and regenerating woodland.source ↗
In the press
Where
1739 Olde Base Line Road, Caledon, ON L7C 0K7
Eat & drink nearby
Prime Seafood PalaceSteakhouse · Queen West, Toronto45 km100 Best #41Best New #1Website preview: primeseafoodpalace.ca
Linny'sSteakhouse · Ossington, Toronto44 km100 Best #14Best New #3Website preview: linnysrestaurant.com
Stay nearby
Outdoors nearby
Things to do nearby
Boulderz Climbing, The Big GymClimbing gym · Etobicoke, Toronto36 kmWebsite preview: boulderzclimbing.com
More in More of Ontario
Fathom Five National Marine ParkNational marine park · Tobermory, ON214 kmPhoto: Borbrav · Public domain
Blue Heron Co.Boat tour · Tobermory, ON214 kmPhoto: Robert Taylor from Stirling, ON, Canada · CC BY 2.0