Travel: badlands - caledon, ontario, canada

There are many "badlands" or area of soft rock devoid of vegetation and soil cover that has become molded into rolling landscape of rounded hills and gullies. The husband and I took a trip to from Buffalo-Toronto-Montreal-Quebec city and back thanks to my wonderfully accommodating cousin and her family. They thought we would love to see this interesting formation in the middle of nowhere and yes we were! 

The site has been recently closed off so we could not walk around the "badlands". A lot of kids were crawling under the fence and trespassing but we refrained from that since we were attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes and it was getting dark. Canadians love this place so much that there are couples who take their wedding photos here! Incredible idea!

"Badlands" are rare in Ontario but this was formed because of poor farming practices in the 30's that led to soil erosion and exposed the underlying shale. The reddish hue comes from the iron oxide in the shale or underlying rock. The groundwater that is circulating underneath brings the other hues surrounding the red. 

The entire site made me feel that it was an enormous creature that is sleeping and we can see the creases and curves of it's rough body. We can only find out when the creature stirs. Just a thought! 

 My nephew who is three thought it looked like camel's hump and he is right!

They have named this place the Cheltenham Badlands Trail since there are trails that link directly to this place but access is limited right now. They are probably trying to figure out a better way to experiencing this thing and making it an official visiting quarry. 

We had no idea about this place before we went. The additional information I have is found at these links -
http://www.ontariotrails.on.ca/trails/view/cheltenham-hills
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheltenham_Badlands