The Cheltenham Badlands in Caledon, Ontario

Badlands?! In Ontario? Yes!

The Cheltenham Badlands have been on my bucket list to see for quite some time. I didn’t think I was going to be making a blog post about my visit there, but we had quite the adventure there so it is worth sharing!

Since I’ve been keeping my eye on this place for quite some time, I know to make a reservation before going. However, I have made reservations for trails in advance when I didn’t need to before- so if I can go somewhere without paying, I will. Before leaving to pick up my friend, I checked the website and saw that this trail was “not busy” so I figured I would just pay when we arrived – WRONG.

I drove an hour to get to this trail. The drive through the Brampton area was so busy, but when you reach Caledon, the world just slows down. Caledon is one of the most beautiful places in Ontario, particularly in Fall since there are trees everywhere!

When we got to the trailhead, we were pretty bummed to see that it was full for the day. There were security guards everywhere denying people entry. But only an hour before it was marked as “not busy” on the website! Well, thankfully I drove around a little bit and found the hidden Bruce Trail entry.

So the trail itself is pretty hard to see unless you’re right in front of it, but it also has fences that look closed off – but it isn’t!

And it is entirely legal and free to use!

The coordinates to this entry are 43.76800° N, 79.94296° W .

So obviously the town knows that there is an entry to the trail there, so they have no parking signs for miles all around it. So you’re going to walk about an extra 10 minutes, but it’s so worth it. You can park along Boston Mills Road. It’s the closest road with none of the No Parking signs. We parked at a cidery there and asked if they would let us go for a hike and come back and be customers there, they agreed!

So once you get to the trail, it’s only a 1.3km hike and it is quite easy, there are a lot of small boardwalks to walk on. It is a very beautiful area. You’ll walk along the Bruce Trail until you see the sign for the Badlands Side Trail. It takes you to the exact spot (minus the bigger boardwalk) where people pay $25 to see the badlands.

I actually had a security guard come talk to us when we reached the badlands because she thought we jumped the fence. When I told her how we found the trail, she was impressed with us. She said she doesn’t see many people find it and she said everyone is allowed to use it.

This trail is short, sweet, and very worthwhile. But while you’re in Caledon, I recommend exploring what else it has to offer! Plus, the cider from the Cidery we parked at was so yummy. Grab some!

The badlands are thought to be the bottom of an ancient sea. Then, it was turned into farmland by European settlers. After farmlands were cleared, the freeze-thaw conditions are what caused the shape of the badlands to be what they are today. Make sure you stay on the trail when hiking, but specifically when you are aware of lands that are being preserved. Don’t leave any trace.

I hope our pursuit of the Cheltenham Badlands helps some of you adventurers get to this geological gem!

If you end up going to the badlands, tag me in your photos! @yourmatiekatie #katieoutdoors

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Keep on trekking,

Kate