An Out-of-the-Box Road Trip in Southern Alberta

As my car inched along the dusty road, my cellphone service dwindled. It felt spooky, especially because I was told to be on the lookout for apparitions. No spirits were in sight, but neither were humans. If I got lost or had car trouble en route to the ghost town I hadn’t known existed until a few minutes earlier, I was going to have more adventure than planned.

With my suitcase still lost after a flight three weeks earlier, I was seeking summer excitement without going through an airport. A road trip seemed practical but how to get away from that same old, same old feeling of exploring close to home?

I had signed up for Guess Where Trips and its new way to road trip. The company mails you a box with four clues in advance of your tour and then you open one clue at a time for a day-long adventure. With a recent Global News survey showing 60% of Canadians are avoiding air travel because of the recent aviation issues, this road trip felt right on trend.

I picked a trip titled “Rural Adventures” (there are currently four themed options for the Calgary area) that took me east of the city on a 366-kilometre (227-mile) loop to the Red Deer River Valley and Drumheller area. My box had arrived in the mail a couple of weeks earlier and the “Before You Go” pamphlet suggested I leave by 9 a.m. It also informed that I would need a minimum of four hours to complete all of the stops once I arrived at my destination. It recommended a full tank of gas, some form of GPS, cellphone charger, and weather-appropriate clothing.

I opened the first clue and discovered I was headed to the “Mars of Canada”, better known as the Red Deer River Valley in the Alberta Badlands. Setting out as the stars disappeared, I drove east to greet the sunrise, spotting a mule deer wading through summer’s shoulder-high grass. I paused at the recommended Horseshoe Canyon viewpoint to admire a bluebird singing high above the dusty, orange-and-maroon-coloured canyon walls before carrying on to my first official stop — the Hoodoos Trail. The popular trail was deserted except for a young woman in a flowing pink dress, her friend posing her against the prehistoric hoodoos in soft morning light.

I’d hiked this trail before so it wasn’t much of a novelty but there was a newness to doing it as part of a game and it was time to open my second clue. I was to retrace my steps to Drumheller and then head northwest to Horsethief Canyon, described as Alberta’s “(mini) Grand Canyon”. Rumour has it rustlers hid stolen horses and cows in the rugged valley corners back in the day.

I arrived to a welcoming committee of Richardson’s Ground Squirrels, a Prairie Falcon hunting for lunch, and a family of mountain bikers screaming down the sand track, their silhouettes against the valley’s moonscape, a reminder to me that humans are a relatively recent addition to this landscape. Paleontologists have found 60 dinosaur species in the Red Deer River Valley, the quality and quantity of the discoveries resulted in Dinosaur Provincial Park, an area farther downstream, receiving UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

Up next on my clue was a visit to Orkney Viewpoint on the other side of the valley. Getting there would require crossing the languid Red Deer River, which is how I came to be on a prairie ferry. The cable-operated Bleriot Ferry pulls cars across the river during summer. No gift shop or toll booth, just a solitary ferry operator waving when it’s time to drive down the steep road onto the rig and then a seven-minute cruise to the other side.

As it got hotter, I skipped some of the suggested sites with no shade, and opened my third clue with recommendations for lunch. I’d brought food but appreciated the tip to picnic at the Star Mine Suspension Bridge. I’d avoided the bridge on other visits because it’s been closed for repairs, but I hadn’t realized it had lots of big shade trees for a refreshing summer break. The mosquitos might have had the biggest feast, but I enjoyed the river backdrop and the reveal on the final clue. It offered the chance to choose your own ghost town.

I was intrigued by Sharples, a place I’d never heard of, but described as a sought-after photography destination. A keen photographer myself, how could I have not known that? Eager to see what I’d missed I set my GPS for the faded town of Sharples and headed onto a narrow gravel road that snaked down into the river valley.

Poking into view was a shiny piece of pipe. And then another. Until a fully operational gas plant came into view. Definitely not run by ghosts. With no place to turn around I carried on and soon spotted a weathered grain elevator and a ramshackle building not from this century. I pulled over — the light too harsh for photos — and listened to a chipping sparrow trill, the black-and-white flash of a magpie’s wing suggesting nature had taken over the village. I watched a house wren appear from a dilapidated building, snatching up a cricket for a begging youngster.

The dusty heat rolled over me, and I was surprisingly relaxed. Letting someone else deal with the “what do I do next?” moments of the journey had given me freedom to concentrate on what was in front of me. I’d also seen places I didn’t know existed in an area I had visited several times. It seemed an out-of-the-box road trip was just what my summer needed.

MORE ABOUT OUT-OF-THE-BOX ROAD TRIPS

Guess Where Trips is the brainchild of Jessica Off, an entrepreneur from London, Ontario. The idea came from a trip she planned for her parents with a series of surprise envelopes. She enjoyed it so much, she turned it into a business.

Travellers choose from trips starting in Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, London, Windsor, or Winnipeg. It costs $65 CAD to receive the itinerary for any one trip. If you can’t decide which trip to take, you can do an online quiz to help you select.

Most of the trips are dog-friendly and suitable for families. The activities and attractions recommended are free or have a small cost (usually less than $10) making them good value for a day’s outing. I found there were more activities than I could fit into a day so you might want to add a hotel night and turn it into a staycation.