Horseshoe Canyon

Horseshoe Canyon is located a short drive southwest of Drumheller, Alberta, along Highway 9, and is easily accessible from the roadside with a dedicated parking area and viewing platform. The canyon is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the Red Deer River badlands region, which is also home to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller.

The badlands around Horseshoe Canyon expose rocks from the Late Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation, which has produced dinosaur fossils including Albertosaurus, hadrosaurs like Edmontosaurus, and various other species. The Royal Tyrrell Museum in nearby Drumheller houses many of the most significant specimens recovered from this formation.

Yes, there are trails that allow visitors to hike down into Horseshoe Canyon itself, offering close-up views of the eroded sedimentary layers and badlands topography. The site includes interpretive signage explaining the geology, and the hike is a popular stop for visitors combining it with a trip to the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

The distinctive badlands topography was carved by millions of years of water erosion acting on soft sedimentary rocks deposited during the Late Cretaceous period, when the region was a coastal plain near a vast inland sea. Glacial meltwater at the end of the last ice age dramatically accelerated the erosion that sculpted the deep gullies and exposed slopes visible today.