Cheltenham Badlands

The Cheltenham Badlands are a reddish geographical curiosity located in the Caledon Hills that gives you the impression of being on Mars. The best location to view the Cheltenham Badlands is along Old Base Line Road, just east of Creditview Road.

“Badlands” is a geologic term for an area of soft rock devoid of vegetation and soil 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; the iron oxide in the shale produces this colour. The narrow greenish bands that can be seen throughout the shale are due to the change of red iron oxide to green iron oxide brought on by the circulating groundwater. The relatively soft shale is essentially clay and is 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.
Courtesy of: http://www.ontariotrails.on.ca/trails-a-z/cheltenham-hills/