Hoodoos Information

Hoodoos Information

Located about 2 hours north west of Calgary is the small town of Drumheller with a population of around 8,000 people. It's in the Badlands all around Drumheller that you'll find the amazing Hoodoos - ancient sandstone formations that rise eerily from the landscape.

Although you'll see hoodoos in many parts of the countryside the best place to start your 'hoodoo-ing' is along the Hoodoo Trail - also known as Highway 10 South - that runs south from Drumheller. However the official Hoodoo site is about 16 km (10 miles) south east of Drumheller between Cambria and Lehigh where you'll be able to see some of the best examples of hoodoos anywhere. The Hoodoo RV and Campground is only about 1km north of the site.

The hoodoos are tall sandstone structures that have formed over millions of years due to erosion by wind and water. They generally stand at about 5m - 7m (16 - 23 feet) in height but can really be any height and width. Hoodoos almost always have a dense stone 'cap' on the top which mitigates the erosion process. If these caps are damaged or removed the hoodoo will rapidly disintegrate. It's for this reason that climbing of the hoodoos is discouraged. The indigenous Cree and Blackfoot believed the hoodoo were sleeping giants who woke in the evenings and chased off intruders by throwing boulders at them. The name 'hoodoo' is a variation on the word voodoo and was given to the structures by early European explorers.