Day 4: Moose Jaw, SK to Drumheller, AB
We set out from Moose Jaw nice and early this morning and started our journey westward, passing through more tiny towns. As we were making our way down the 1 toward Swift Current, we noticed what almost looks like snow on either side of the road. It turns out these are actually large sodium sulphate deposits from Chaplin Lake, Canada’s second largest inland saline water body. The salt from the lake seems to make up the predominant industry in the postage stamp of a town, as well as making it an excellent place to spot shorebirds (and grow sea monkeys, another export). Googling small towns has become a favorite road trip diversion, so there may be more of these off-topic asides coming up.
On the road to the Great Sandhills in Sasketchewan
Our next stop was the Great Sandhills, one of the largest set of active sand dunes in Canada. Once you hit the town of Sceptre (home of the Great Sandhills Museum and Interpretive Center, which sadly closed at noon), you head south on a pretty unmarked route on a gravel road, surrounded by a whole lot of nothing. Thankfully, between the map posted here and the directions posted here, we were able to find the right spot. We spent a couple of hours meandering around the "trails" and climbing up dunes—overall it was definitely worth the stop.
After dumping about a pound of sand out of our shoes, we got back in the car and headed to Dinosaur Provincial Park—named for the forty different dinosaur species (and countless specimens) been discovered there. There's nothing quite like going from the sandy dunes to wide open expanses to what almost looks like the surface of the moon. Driving through the badlands feels very epic. It was getting a bit late by then, so we drove a loop through the park and got out to see some of the amazing landscapes and fossil displays around the park.
We decided we would spend the night in Drumheller, stopping in Wayne first at the Last Chance Saloon to pick up some dinner (delicious food, very friendly service). You'll notice in the video below several bridges near the end—the road into Wayne weaves along the Rosebud River with the help of eleven bridges. Between that and the rugged badlands on either side of you, it's a hell of a place to go for a drive.