Popular Ontario road trip destination is being copied with fake version in Toronto

It took millennia of geological forces to form the Cheltenham Badlands and only a few generations of poor farming practices to reveal its red, rolling landscape. But Waterfront Toronto is managing to do it all in a matter of months with a new facsimile of the popular tourist destination, right here in the city.

A new feature known as the 'badlands scramble' is one of many new public spaces set to open on Toronto's waterfront next year as part of the transformative $1.3 billion Port Lands Flood Protection project.

This 1,600-square-metre climbable feature will mimic the eroded shale formation that draws throngs of visitors to Caledon every fall. However, instead of having to travel roughly 30 kilometres northwest of Toronto's city limits, you can see this natural-inspired landform right in the heart of the city.

Waterfront Toronto shared an update on the scramble's construction, revealing the current progress for the replicated rolling fingers of eroded Queenston shale.

Friday Photos: It took geological forces a super long time to form the Cheltenham Badlands 450 million years ago. Luckily, our crews work a bit faster to build the Badlands Scramble. Check out more photos from the site here: https://t.co/uhd2sFlrRD pic.twitter.com/6suurtkXG9

— Waterfront Toronto (@WaterfrontTO) June 14, 2024

The tiered artificial landscape's base has been shaped out of lumber and steel, and is being filled in with clay-coloured shotcrete — a construction method where concrete is sprayed onto surfaces, effective at creating artificial rock surfaces.

A mock-up of the badlands scramble was created earlier this year, giving crews a testbed to perfect techniques and materials for the final version now taking shape.