Dinosaur Provincial Park

Dinosaur Provincial Park protects a stretch of Alberta badlands along the Red Deer River that has yielded more complete dinosaur skeletons, and a greater variety of species, than almost anywhere else in the world, which earned it World Heritage status. Beyond the green ribbon of the river valley, the land erodes into a maze of bare, banded coulees and hoodoos, and fossils weather out of the slopes so readily that bones lie exposed on the ground along marked trails. Much of the park is a restricted natural preserve you can only enter on a guided hike or bus tour, which protects the fossils and reveals what a visitor would otherwise walk straight past. It is a working palaeontology site as much as a park, and the badlands scenery, especially at sunrise and sunset, is extraordinary in its own right.

History

The park was established on 27 June 1955, during Alberta's 50th Jubilee Year, to protect the fossil beds, and its first warden was Roy Fowler (1902-1975), a farmer and amateur fossil hunter. It became a World Heritage Site on 26 October 1979, both for its badlands and riverside habitats and for the international importance of its fossils: fifty-eight dinosaur species have been found here, and more than 500 specimens are exhibited in museums around the world. Until 1985 finds had to be shipped to museums such as the Royal Ontario Museum, the Canadian Museum of Nature, the American Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum, a practice that changed when the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology opened about 100 kilometres upstream near Drumheller (Wikipedia, Dinosaur Provincial Park).

The landscape

• The badlands - the eroded coulees and hoodoos, best in low-angle light.
• Exposed fossils - dinosaur bones weathering out along the public trails and guided routes.
• Guided fossil hikes - access into the restricted preserve with an interpreter.
• The Red Deer River valley - the green cottonwood corridor cutting through the dry land.

When to go

May to September for the guided programmes and the most comfortable temperatures; the badlands are baking hot in midsummer, so early and late in the day are best. Book guided hikes and tours well ahead in peak season. Spring and autumn are quieter and cooler.

Things to know

It is a long drive from Calgary into open prairie, and summer heat in the shadeless badlands is intense, so water, sun protection and sturdy shoes matter. The best fossil areas are in the restricted preserve, so without a booked guided hike or tour you see far less. Collecting or moving any fossil is strictly illegal. The Royal Tyrrell Museum, the region's great dinosaur museum, is in Drumheller, a separate couple-hours' drive away.

Nearby

The town of Brooks has services; the Royal Tyrrell Museum and the Drumheller hoodoos are a longer drive northwest.

Key facts