International, Canada

Dinosaur Provincial Park

Day 1

Dinosaur PP Welcome Sign
Welcome to Dinosaur Provincial Park!

We arrived at Dinosaur Provincial Park around 6:15pm, roughly about 11 hours after leaving Turtle Mountain Provincial Park in Manitoba. Dinosaur Provincial Park is part of the Badlands in Alberta, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were especially excited to explore because we heard you could come across fossils at pretty much any given point you were in the park. 

Upon arrival, you drive down into what feels like a mini (mini is not correct–it’s massive) Grand Canyon to get to the campground and trailheads. You’ll drive past (and feel free to stop!) a parking lot atop the badlands offering a breathtaking view. The Red Deer River runs through this park also, which can you catch a glimpse of from the view. We didn’t have a canoe or kayaks with us, but there is a launch on the west side of the park. 

Though having a mostly neutral color pattern, the beauty of this provincial park was incredibly unique. After checking in at the office, which is inside the Cretaceous Cafe, and setting up camp at site S-30, we knew we just needed to start exploring right away. Before setting off, we were bombarded with horrendous mosquitoes. (Don’t let them stop you from visiting though, just be prepared with a lot of bug spray.) I think we fully bathed in bug spray about 4 times before exploring. Anyway… 

Biking was only allowed on paved and gravel roadways, which is pretty typical and definitely makes sense. The trails and roadways are clearly marked with great signage, which definitely avoided any confusion. Don’t forget a bike lock so you can park your bikes and hike some of the trails along the way.

The sun was setting, so we opted to only bike around 2 miles. From the south campground, we followed the road north toward the public loop road. We followed this for about .75 miles before deciding we wanted to save this loop for the morning. So instead, we changed direction and headed toward the north campground. This road took us past the play park, amphitheatre, circled back past the visitor centre, and finally back to our campsite. But, not before stopping at the John Ware cabin first. We listened to a 4 minute audio recording about John, but the gist is that John Ware was a cowboy in the Carolinas who was born into slavery, left for Texas after the Civil War, became really good at riding and training horses, and is most known for bringing cattle to Alberta for the first time. He had a really interesting backstory and left a legacy that is well worth the listen. You’ll have to go and listen to the rest of it yourself! Or read in one of the many books about him, but it’s best to just go and visit 🙂

Learning about John Ware’s cabin closed out our short adventure for the evening. We decided to have some dinner with a fire to wind down. Dinner this night included burgers and beans. Because the mosquitoes were so bad, we didn’t have dessert, and we cut our night shorter. Once our last log on the fire burned out, we went into our tent early to play games before bed. We played one of our favorite road trip games, Love Letter (I’ve mentioned this game what feels like a billion times before). Eric also taught me a new came, Convoy. It was good, but not Love Letter good, haha. After games, we were soothed to sleep by the faint guitar music someone was playing a few campsites down. 

John Ware's Cabin
Our Campsite

Day 2

Wow. This park is amazing. We were so busy from the moment we woke up to the moment we went to bed that I barely took any notes! 

Breakfast today consisted of the usual yogurt and granola bar. Though late for us to be on the move, we left on our bikes at 10:30am. Taking the Public Scenic Loop Road, we brought our bike locks knowing we would be hiking at most of our stops. Bikes are not allowed on the hiking trails, so they must remain on the paved or gravel driving roads I mentioned earlier. We went on some longer hikes throughout the loop bike ride: 

Hike 1: Badlands Trail

This is a loop trail (our favorite kind of trail!) shorter in length at just under 1 mile. Though short, this trail is worth the stop for the fantastic views! 

Hike 2: Trail of the Fossil Hunters

This is an out-and-back trail, and only about .5 miles long. Though very short, it was a fun little trail with lots of information!  It was really cool to see the quarry site, and don’t miss checking out the fossil display at the trailhead! Just before this trail, between Trail of the Fossil Hunters and the Badlands Trail, be sure to stop at the fossil houses! 

Hike 3: Coulee Viewpoint Trail

I should tell you that, before the Coulee Viewpoint Trail, we wanted to hike the Cottonwood Flats Trail (1.4 mile loop). Unfortunately we couldn’t due to how intense the bug situation was. Visiting here in the spring may be better for this trail. Anyway… 

The Coulee Viewpoint Trail is not on the scenic loop. This is a .5 mile loop interpretive trail. To get there, you need to start at the visitor centre, so we finished the scenic loop and decided to continue here to check off all the trails at Dinosaur. This trail may be short, but it really packs a punch as it has some REALLY steep terrain. Trekking poles and my inhaler would have definitely been useful for this one.

Dinosaur Provincial Park Eric Biking

Back at the Campground

Back at the campground, we had a super late lunch of chili and chips & salsa. Around 3:00pm, we made our way to the visitor centre to check out the gift shop. Once we were in, we noticed a huge dinosaur skeleton in the middle! There was also an interactive map of the park that would light up the different trails to show their route. In retrospect we should have stopped here first so we could see this map beforehand (we had a printed map, but this one was just so cool!). 

This was one of the coolest visitor centres we have ever seen. We learned so much about the history of the park and area, and feel like we barely scratched the surface. Next time we visit, we’re hoping to get a guided tour of the preserve, which is actually what makes up a majority of the over 18,000 acre park (only accessible as a park ranger or through special programs). The museum and gift shops were both amazing. We bought a magnet and some snackies, of course. 

Day 3

This Canada road trip was pretty quick moving, so we got up early and headed west toward Calgary. Next up: Banff National Park. 

But first, I’d love to share the rest of our photos with you: