Thursday, November 7, 2013

Airdrie to Drumheller, 127km: To Dinosaur Valley We Go!




I am officially in the Prairies, with endless fields in every direction I turned. I was amazed by the amount of land that has been used for fields; it goes out as far as the eye can see and beyond. I found riding in the Prairies quite challenging. Although the terrain was quite easy to cycle, there was not much to see which made for a tiring day. As well, ones position on the bicycle does not change much because of the terrain; as such I became more aware of the aches and pains of my body. 



A neat sight today, however, was seeing an incredibly long train chugging along, disappearing in the canola fields.

I stopped in the town of Acme with other riders for a snack break. The name “Acme” is associated with the comic “Road Runner” and the cafe we stopped at was called “Road Runner,” which was cute :)

Reaching the town of Drumheller, which is situated in Dinosaur Valley, was incredible. It was such a drastic change from the landscape I cycled just moments before. I was cycling alongside fields and fields and then I passed a sign signifying a downhill and all of a sudden I found myself in the Red Deer River Valley. The valley was absolutely amazing; I had never seen anything like it before. There were mounds within the valley that were composed of layers of different coloured soil. The area has been coined the “Badlands” by First Nations in the region because the land quality is poor due to the soil’s high clay content. What also made this region unique was the large quantity of dinosaur bones which have been uncovered. Drumheller was essentially a dinosaur graveyard. 





I was happy to finally arrive at camp in the depths of the Red Deer River Valley. I was on galley duty that evening. We made chili and the result was a significant improvement from our first experience :)

Tomorrow was a rest day. I decided I would venture to the Royal Tyrrell Museum and learn about the history of the dinosaurs.

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