Dinosaur Provincial Park

Dinosaur Provincial Park gained its international reputation and designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site primarily because of the large number of dinosaur fossils exposed in its deeply eroded badlands.

Many of the specimens displayed at the Royal Tyrrell Museum come from Dinosaur Provincial Park - the Museum conducts major digs there every summer. To support its collecting activities, the museum established a Field Station in the heart of the badlands.

Some 120 kilometres southeast of the museum, the field station not only supports the summer field season, but assists in the preservation of fossil resources and displays significant finds in a small but exciting exhibit hall. The displays present a picture of what the region looked like 75 million years ago, when the fossils were living creatures.

Here is a large scale map of how to get to Dinosaur Provincial Park.

What to do at Dinosaur Provincial Park

Dinosaur Provincial Park offers a number of interpretive events and tours, including some that are wheelchair accessible.

Events

Wheelchair accessible events are marked with a icon.

Space on the tours is limited to 17 - 24 participants.

Outside tours and hikes may be canceled in the event of rain or poor road conditions. Alternate tours will be available.

Badlands Bus Tour

Come on a 2 hour bus ride, led by a park interpreter, into the heart of the Natural Preserve to see things that make Dinosaur Provincial Park unique: unforgettable landforms, dinosaur remains and wildlife! Please note: not all of the tour buses can accommodate wheelchairs. Call the park to make special arrangements for this service. Tel. (403)387-4342.

Centrosaurus Bone Bed Hike

What is so significant about a bed of bones covering an area about the size of a weird shaped football field? What have palaeontologists discovered about the lifestyle and behaviour of Centrosaurus dinosaurs by studying this bone bed for twelve years? Join an interpreter on a 2-1/2 hour hike to the bone bed and see for yourself one of the world's most exciting dinosaur excavation sites.

Difficulty: Moderately Strenuous.

Please prepare for the hikes by wearing proper walking shoes, a hat, sunscreen and remember to bring water!

Fossil Safari Hike

On this 2-1/2 hour hike, a park interpreter will lead you to a microvertebrate fossil site in the Natural Preserve. You will see fossils and discover exciting new facts about creatures which once prowled through the river delta 75 million years ago.

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate.

Please prepare for the hikes by wearing proper walking shoes, a hat, sunscreen and remember to bring water!

Lab Tour

Are you itching to get behind the scene? Have you met a palaeontologist lately? Travel through the lab in the Royal Tyrrell Museum Field Station and discover just how much time it takes to prepare an excavated fossil of learn how the scientists put the fossils back together.

Ticket Sale Procedures

Please see specific posters at the Park for details. Purchase your tickets for the Badlands Bus Tour, the Centrosaurus Bone Bed Hike and the Fossil Safari at the Field Station on the day of the tour. Tickets for all events are $4.50 for Adults; $2.25 for youths (6-15). Under 6 are free (children still require a ticket stub). Tickets for morning tours go on sale at 8:15 AM and tickets for afternoon tours at 12:30 PM. In July and August when demand often exceeds tour capacity, plan to arrive 30 minus early! Pick up free tickets to reserve a place on the Lab Tour at the Field Station as well. Please prepare for the hikes by wearing proper walking shoes, a hat, sunscreen a film and binoculars.

Space on the tours is limited to 17 - 24 participants.

Outside tours and hikes may be canceled in the event of rain or poor road conditions. Alternate tours will be available.

Schedule

Please note: The Event Schedule is subject to change.

Remember: July and August are very busy at the park and demand often exceeds tour capacity, so be sure to be there early to pick up your tickets!

* Check with the park at (403)378-4342 for details on the Thanksgiving Day Weekend programs in October.

This document was prepared by Wayne Hortensius, Calgary, Alberta, Canada for the Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society. All information © 1995 Royal Tyrrell Museum. All Rights Reserved.
Updated: July 29, 1995