It’s been a hot minute since I sat down to officially share thoughts and photos about my travels. Day jobs and living life certainly get in the way of documenting the things. I recently got to take an amazing day trip, courtesy of my husband as a birthday gift, and it really should be shared, so here I am.

When my husband asked what I wanted for my birthday this year, I couldn’t think of much in terms of actual physical gifts, so I asked for a day trip. I’d been reminiscing about a day trip we did last year to Hard Luck Canyon near Whitecourt. I originally found that trip on someone’s blog (which I’ve unfortunately lost track of), and it suggested a few other stops along the way, including Rocky Mountain Big Horn Distillery, to turn it into a day trip, and I had it in my mind to try the same type of trip, but head to a different location. I made this day trip request a bit challenging by asking for it to be multifaceted; I asked for part of the trip to include a historical stop that we might be able to metal detect at (a hobby I took up during the pandemic), possibly include some antiquing (I also became an old, old woman during the pandemic) some sort of hike (we all need to get out and be in nature), and maybe visit a local brewery (because beer is awesome). A final challenge to this request is that it had to be close enough to Edmonton, where we live, that we could leave in the morning after giving our senior, diabetic dog, her morning dose of insulin and be back in time to give her her suppertime dose.

Our first destination (“History”) was in the tiny hamlet of Duhamel. It was here that we stopped at St. Thomas Catholic Church, a historic Metis church dating back to 1883. We were surprised to find the church doors open and we were able to look around at the interior and some of the artifacts on display.

Up the road a short drive we found the church’s cemetery, with graves- some unmarked, dating back to the 1880s. This cemetery is the burial site of First Nations, Metis and early European settlers to the area.

After we explored the area, we headed to another part of the Duhamel area that was known to have early settlers and structures and did a bit of rainy metal detecting. We didn’t do much, as the day was rainy and the digging was muddy, but after a few bottle caps, nails and a drill bit, we did find a fancy old spike, that we think has some age, due to how far down it was buried.

After the digging and history lesson, we were ready for lunch, so my husband drove us to the next stop of the day: Donalda. I was aware Donalda existed, but I hadn’t yet had a reason to visit. This little village is particularly special, as it overlooks the Meeting Creek Coulee, which is the most northerly point of the Canadian Badlands (this is where the hike and nature portion will come in later). We initially drove around the area to take in some of the beautiful landscapes. We took some photos and chatted with some local cows before we headed into town to get lunch at the Coulee Tea House, an adorable café and restaurant in an old mechanic shop, with the most amazing selection of tea. We had a pot of tea, soup and sandwiches, and then did some shopping at the attached antique shop (yay! antiquing!) and local artisan market.

The thing that can’t be missed during a trip to Donalda, is the giant oil lamp on the edge of town. It can’t be missed, because it’s literally massive. From the village’s website: “Donalda has the largest oil lamp replica in the world.  At 42 feet in height, it overlooks the coulee and lights up all night, every night.  The Village Office across the street houses The Lamp Museum with the world’s largest oil lamp collection, numbering over 1000 lamps along with many local artifacts.” There’s a little walking area where the lamp is located, as well as the old railroad station, so after lunch, we headed there for selfies. I love lamp.

At the railroad station, you’ll find the signs posted for the Willow Canyon Hiking Trail. This trail (as per the sign) “leads to 129 acres of badlands offering fabulous sight-seeing from the top of the coulee rim to the bottom of the valley”. We strapped on our hiking boots and slathered on the bug spray and headed out to see the landscape up close.

We had a lovely 3.75km round trip hike, through forest, meadows, farmland and cow pastures that took us down to the bottom of the valley, where one could see what might be considered “baby” hoodoos. The hike is decently challenging, as it follows a lot of cow trails that were quite muddy from a lot of recent rain the area has had. While it was also pretty fun to hike along through the cow country, it should always be noted to make sure to never get between a mama cow and her baby cow. Even though the cows were generally avoidant of or indifferent to us humans, never make a mama of any species worry about her baby. In some cases, we had to hike through a bit of brush and avoid the main trail to give the cows a bit of space. The other thing to be aware of on this hike is the sheer amount of cow poop on the trails. But really, if you come back from a hike with clean hiking boots, did you really have an adventure?

I should add here as well that if you’re a birder (guilty) this is also a great area to find a good selection of birds, including American Goldfinches, the Wilson’s Snipe, Flycatchers, Vireos, Common Yellowthroats, and a variety of sparrows and Spotted Towhees.

The rain finally stopped and the day cleared up nicely during our hike. The area really is exceptionably beautiful. We were struck by the fact that the entire hike, we were the only two out there, so if you’re looking for a quiet hike filled with solitude – this one is for you.

Once we had our fill of hiking and nature and made it back to the car, our final destination, to celebrate successful physical exertion, was a local brewery. A 45 minute drive from Donalda had us at Battle River Brewery in Camrose. The brewery has a small tasting room and casual patio in town. After a few local beers and some chicken wings, we headed back to the city to tend to the elderly, diabetic dog.

I have to hand it to my husband for planning a very challenging request. We packed in a ton of activities into a single day trip, getting some local history, supporting some small town business, and getting in some good exercise in while getting out into nature. I highly recommend doing this trip if you’re looking for a quick getaway this summer. Feel free to get in touch if you have other suggestions for central Alberta daytrips as well.

Until next time, keep those hiking boots dirty.

L