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DRUMHELLER |
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Whatever way you travel, you'll pass through DRUMHELLER , a downbeat
town in an extraordinary setting roughly ninety-minutes' drive northeast
of Calgary. As you approach it from the west, the town is hidden until
you come to a virulent-red water tower and the road suddenly drops into
a dark, hidden canyon. The otherworldliness of the gloomy, blasted
landscape is spookily heightened by its contrast to the vivid colours of
the earlier wheat and grasslands.
Drumheller sits at the base of the canyon, surrounded by the detritus
and spoil heaps of its mining past - the Red Deer River having exposed
not only dinosaur fossils but also (now exhausted) coal seams. The coal
attracted the likes of Samuel Drumheller, an early mining pioneer after
whom the town is named. The first mine opened in 1911, production
reaching a peak after the opening of a rail link to Calgary two years
later. In less than fifty years it was all over, coal's declining
importance in the face of gas and oil sounding the industry's death
knell. These days Drumheller is sustained by agriculture, oil - there
are some 3000 wells dotted around the surrounding farmland - and tourism,
the Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology ranking as one of Alberta's biggest
draws.
The town is best reached by taking Hwy 2 north towards Edmonton and
branching east on Hwy 72 and Hwy 9. It's an easy day-trip with your own
transport, and most people make straight for the Tyrrell Museum,
signposted from Drumheller on Hwy 838 (or "North Dinosaur Trail"). Using
one of the two Greyhound buses daily from Calgary to Drumheller (figure
on around $20 one-way) makes a day-trip more of a squeeze. The depot (tel
823-7566) is some way out of the town centre at the Suncity Mall on Hwy
9. It's definitely too far to walk from here or the town centre to the
museum, particularly on a hot day, but Badlands Taxis (tel 823-6552) or
Jack's Taxi (tel 823-2220) will run you there from the bus depot for
about $10. Failing that you could rent a car: National (tel 823-3371 or
1-800/387-4747) is the only agency in town.
There's not much to do in the town itself, despite the best efforts of
its infocentre at the corner of Riverside Drive and 2nd Street West (June-Aug
daily 9am-9pm; Sept-May Mon-Fri 8.30am-4.30pm ; tel 823-1331). For all
its half million visitors a year, Drumheller has just 350 or so beds,
and, if truth be told, you don't really want to spend a night here. If
you have no choice, be sure to book well in advance: virtually
everything's gone by mid-afternoon in high season. A limited selection
of accommodation lies a block from the bus terminal, the best of the
downtown hotels being the slightly overpriced Lodge at Drumheller (tel
823-3322; $60-80) opposite the hostel at 48 Centre St and Railway Avenue.
Other central options include the Rockhound Motor Inn , South Railway
Drive (tel 823-5302; $80-100); the top-of-the-pile Inn & Spa at
Heartwood Manor , 320 Railway Drive (tel 823-6495 or 1-888/823-6495;
$100-125); Drumheller Inn (tel 823-8400; $100-125), a modern motel on a
bluff at 100 S Railway Ave (Hwy 9) off the Hwy 56 approach from the west;
and the tasteful log cabins of the pleasanter Badlands Motel (tel
823-5155; $100-125), 1km out of town on Hwy 838. The local hostel is the
rather tatty Alexander International Hostel , 30 Railway Ave (tel
823-6337, up to $40), and rents bikes and offers beds in eight-person
dorms from $20.
Of the town's well-situated campsites , the better option is the
Dinosaur Trailer Park (tel 823-3291; $15; April-Oct), across the river
north of downtown at the junction of Hwy 56 and Hwy 838. The visitor
infocentre has lists of the many other private and provincial campsites
( Little Fish Lake Provincial Park , 50km southeast of Drumheller on Hwy
573, being the best) up and down the valley.
The tucked-away All West supermarket on 1st Street behind the main drag
stocks picnic supplies. For cheap eating, the Diana on Main Street is
half-diner, half-Chinese restaurant, and the Bridge Greek Restaurant ,
71 Bridge St N, has a relaxed ambience and good food. Better-quality
restaurants have a reputation of going broke once the tourists have gone
home, but currently the two best places to eat are Jack's Bistro , 70
Railway Ave (tel 823-8422), serving hearty Canadian fare, and the
reasonably priced and little-known Sizzling House , 160 Centre St (tel
823-8098), reckoned to be one of Alberta's best Chinese restaurants. The
cafeteria at the museum also makes a reasonable eating option.
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