Cheltenham Badlands — Attraction in Caledon

This year alone I’ve driven over 5500 miles (Kawartha-Fort Myers Beach & Kawartha-Cape Breton Island) and I’ve never seen a paid parking set up as ridiculous as this place. Drove over 2 hours from Kawarthas to get here, I knew it was paid parking, and was fine with the price (20$ on weekends) which was pretty steep but I figuired it would be worth it. The first red flag I had was the long line waiting to get in, which extended into the road and was blocking traffic from getting it. Prior to turning around and getting in the line myself, I assumed it was dumb people who weren’t used to paid parking set ups (putting your card or cash in the machine, or hitting a button for a ticket, and paying while leaving) was I ever naive and stupid. Turns out you have to reserve your parking in advance, which would’ve been fine, only issue is if you pull into the parking lot, and you didn’t reserve a spot you have NO WAY to get out and turn around, without having all the cars behind you back up INTO TRAFFIC!!! This is an incredibly dangerous set up and should be addressed immediately, or atleast have some signage before you get into a sticky situation. I did brief research on the place before leaving (enough to learn the cost to park, and where parking was) no where was this clearly stated, which I think is incredibly dangerous and negligent on the owners part. For anyone considering going, save yourself the 20$ and head down the road 2 minutes to 15452 Chinguacousy Road, there’s the exact same badland terrain here, it’s free, and you can actually stand on it for a picture. 0/10 would not recommend, totally wasted my time driving down. Atleast I saved some money and still got too see the badlands. Fix your parking lot and maybe...

The Cheltenham Badlands are located on the south east side of Olde Base Line Road, between Creditview and Chinguacousy Roads. The "Badlands" is a geologic term for an area of soft rock devoid of vegetation and soil cover that has become molded into a rolling landscape of rounded hills. This red colour land like mars definitely makes this a popular tourist site!

Unfortunately, physical access to walk on the badlands feature is no longer available due to erosion. The Badlands are only available for viewing along the accessible boardwalk. There is an accessible parking space adjacent to the boardwalk and a sidewalk that leads you directly to the parking lot (see map for details).

You would have to do an online reservation (cvc.ca) but that is only for parking space per vehicle. Make sure to bring water as there is nothing else nearby except for washrooms.

I would suggest going on days where it has not rained for awhile since you would have access to the trails. If the trails are closed, you may go to the Terra Cotta Conservation Area as they offer a discount as part of your parking ticket.

The best time to visit the Cheltenham Badlands would be during the fall season where the leaves are changing colours. The view is spectacular and the red hills matches the colours very well with the red and...

Unique view. It's like you are in another world. But make sure to book your parking in advance. It is about 22 dolars per vehicle for two hours, I believe. There are no street parking nearby that I know of or seen. A wheelchair access from the street directly onto the board walk overlooking the Badlands is available and the parking lot is just a few meters away. So you can go straight to the Badlands from that point, take a short hiking trail from the parking lot to that same spot or use the street from the parking lot back to the wheelchair accessible entry.

A small part of the Bruce Trail is there which is about 1.2 km for an easy hike. I have seen people biking on the roads but it is not allowed in this trail.

There are no shops or vending machines in the spot so bring your drinks with you. Please bring your trash back with you as some people who visited before left their's. There were a few porta toilets to use but I do not know how often they are maintained.

Not too far away, there is another conservation park called Belfountain that you can drive to. This is about 10 minutes from the Badlands. The Albion Provincial Park is only about 30 to 40 minutes away.

This is a great triple visit day trip that you can plan for your family...