Dinosaur Provincial Park has some of the most impressive badlands scenery in Canada. It offers the best of the badlands, including flat-topped buttes, sandstone spires, mushroom-capped hoodoos, cactus-lined gullies and the cottonwood glades along the Red Deer River valley.
Hiking in Dinosaur Provincial Park is the best way to experience this otherworldly landscape. Large sections of the park are accessible on foot, offering 20 kilometres of hiking trails. Several easy-to-moderate trails can be done individually or combined to make a larger loop.
Note: Much of Dinosaur Provincial Park is a preserve, and access is not permitted to the public. It is illegal to enter these areas without a staff person (on a guided tour) or with a permit. Please obey the signs.
Dinosaur Provincial Park: A UNESCO World Heritage Site
While the unique landscape is worth the trip, the area’s high concentration of dinosaur fossil discoveries is why it’s famous. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site because the area is literally unmatched when it comes to the number and variety of dinosaur fossils. There are also countless fossils of other organisms from the “Age of the Dinosaurs.” You can learn more about that in our other post: Epic adventures winter camping in Dinosaur Provincial Park.
It’s illegal to take or disturb fossils. If you see or find a fossil, you must leave it undisturbed. Even dusting sand off a fossil to get a better look is considered disturbance. Instead, please take a photo and report it to the visitor centre.
Dinosaur bones were discovered while hiking in Dinosaur Provincial Park on a guided tour.
The landscape is also responsible for earning the park UNESCO World Heritage Site status. It shows an outstanding example of erosion patterns in a semi-arid environment. All those buttes, hoodoos, and drills carved down hills of bentonite clay are a geologist’s dream, are specifically unique to the area and are strikingly beautiful.
Indigenous history in Dinosaur Provincial Park
Dinosaur Provincial Park is located in Treaty 7 territory. It is the sacred homeland and traditional territory of the Blackfoot people (Siksika), who considered the dinosaur fossils here “grandfathers of the bison.” The Blackfoot were the first to discover dinosaur fossils, respectfully leaving those bones undisturbed.
The Blackfoot called hoodoos matapiiski, which means “the people.” The hoodoos are said to have a spirit, like other earth beings, and to watch over the land. Interestingly, the early Blackfoot didn’t camp within the coulees and hoodoos of the area, possibly out of respect for the spirits. Instead, they set up tipis and camps on the upper grassland flats and explored the areas below during the day.
A glyphstone sits above the valley of the Red Deer River at the park’s entrance. This boulder is covered in etchings made by Indigenous people of the past. It was found west of the park and relocated here in 1958. The etchings on this stone could be landmarks for travel or sacred offerings before or after a bison hunt.
Guided tours and hikes in Dinosaur Provincial Park are worth it!
There are plenty of hikes outside the Natural Preserve area; however, booking a guided tour is worth the cost. Inside the preserve, Park Interpreters will take you to notable locations to learn about the first people to explore the stunning landscape and show you real dinosaur bones. Because the area is a preserve, you’ll likely see dinosaur fossils still in the ground during your tour.
Plus, specific tours take you right to significant bone beds and high-concentration fossil discoveries, like the Centrosaurus Bonebed hike. Or you can take it to the next level and do a one- or two-day guided excavation! These tours are indeed the best way to get the most out of exploring and hiking in Dinosaur Provincial Park
From May through September, over a dozen tours and programs, ranging from easy to difficult, are available. These include bus tours, family programs, indoor programs, and guided hikes. There are also free drop-in tours around the park and at the visitor centre.
Learn more about Dinosaur Provincial Park tours.
Hiking in Dinosaur Provincial Park
Strap on your walking shoes and explore! Most of the trails open to the public are one or two kilometres long. Because there are so many intersecting trails, you can meander through the landscape for hours and never be that far away from where you parked.
Download your Dinosaur Provincial Park Trail Map or pick one up at the Visitor Centre. Here are some favourite hikes in Dinosaur Provincial Park.
Welcome Walk (formerly Coulee View)
Loop: Moderate – 1.2 KM. Difficult when wet.
Easily combined with the Nighthawk Walk (0.6 km) and Valley View (0.3 KM)
The Welcome Walk officially begins just behind the Visitor Centre, though you can access it from the campground on the other side of the buttes. This trail quickly climbs to the top of a ridge with a view of Little Sandhill Coulee. Then it goes through impressive badland territory where you’ll see spires, pipes, tunnels and deeply carved rills in the clay hills.
This higher area has a few intersecting trails, which you can easily add to your walk. The Nighthawk Walk overlooks the campground below, and you can follow Little Sandhill Creek as it meanders through the coulee, surrounded by brush and cottonwood poplar trees. In the north area of this section, take the short Valley View trail to get a little higher and see over the north campground loop and Red Deer River in the distance.
Things to know:
- This trail becomes impossibly slippery when wet. The park may close after it rains.
- Keep an eye on your kids. There are steep drop-offs near the viewpoints.
- Dogs are permitted on a leash
- Bikes are not allowed.
- Do not take or disturb fossils. Please take a photo and report it to the visitor centre.
Palaeo Preserve Trail (formerly Badlands Trail)
Loop: Easy – 1.5 KM
The Palaeo Preserve Trail, formerly the Badlands Trail, is the only trail next to the park’s designated Natural Preserve. It is the first trail on the public scenic loop road, on your right, with a small parking area across the road to your left.
As mentioned, the Natural Preserve area is off limits to all but staff, research scientists and those on a guided tour. However, they have carved out this special little trail to give visitors a taste of the area and a chance to learn more through a self-guided tour.
Interpretive signage along the trail educates hikers on how this unique badlands environment was created and why it’s a hot spot for dinosaur bones. You’ll also see good examples of hoodoos and pinnacles, and move through sandstone ridges indented with grooves where tiny streams have cut through the bentonite clay.
Take your time, read the signs, and enjoy the remarkable views!
Things to know:
- Dogs are permitted on a leash
- Bikes are not permitted. Please leave them on the bicycle stand provided at the trailhead.
- Do not take or disturb fossils. Please take a photo and report it to the visitor centre.
- Stay on the trail! It is illegal to enter the Natural Preserve that surrounds this interpretive trail.
Extinction Expedition & Stories in Stone/Dino Discovery Trail
One way: 3.5 KM or 5- 7 km in a loop combined with a side trip to the Fossil Houses, returning on the Prickly Pear Path or Time Travellers’ Trail.
Moderate to Difficult
The trail system within the Public Loop Road offers several routes that often intersect and loop with each other. If you want a longer hike that really gives you the best of the best this area has to offer, we suggest you combine a few. Check out the map for the route we took.
Starting at the trailhead for the Time Travellers’ Trek, which is at the parking area directly across from the Palaeo Preserve Trail on the Public Loop Road, you climb some steps up to the first ridge. From here, you’ll see a boot track that leads steeply up the side of a hill and onto the top of the highest butte in the area. We recommend you scoot up there and take in the 360-degree views of Dinosaur Provincial Park and all its glory!
After you’ve taken your photos at the top, head back down and follow the black diamond trail markers for the Extinction Expedition. This trail takes you along ridges and around hoodoos and showcases the moonscape hills carved with rills. You go down a little rope ladder and connect with the Stories in Stone trail. You can either follow that north and loop back via the Prickly Pear Trail or connect with the Dino Discovery Trail and see the Fossil Houses.
Fossil Displays at Dinosaur Provincial Park
If you connect with the Dino Discovery Trail (formerly Trail of the Fossil Hunters), you’ll enjoy a few interpretive signs about the significant fossil discoveries made on that very spot. After a short walk, you’ll arrive at Fossil Display 2. A short 200-metre trail will take you up to Fossil Display 1. Both show real dinosaur bones and give insight into how dinosaurs lived and died in the area and how fossil excavations operate in the park.
Can’t go hiking in Dinosaur Provincial Park, but still want to see fossils? Both fossil houses are accessible by car and have a well-maintained, gravel parking lot.
To return, you can follow your steps back to the Extinction Expedition. Or you can make it a loop by taking the Stories in Stone trail back to Prickly Pair and heading back to the campground or parking area. If you want the flattest way back, you can take Time Traveller’s Trek, which follows the Public Loop Road.
Things to know:
- This trail becomes impossibly slippery when wet. The park may close it after it rains.
- This trail is considered difficult because of stairs, ladders and steep inclines/descents.
- Dogs are permitted on a leash.
- Bikes are not permitted. Please leave them on the bicycle stand provided at the trailhead.
- Do not take or disturb fossils. Please take a photo and report it to the visitor centre.
Plan your trip to Dinosaur Provincial Park
Camping
Camping is available year-round. Dinosaur Provincial Park offers walk-in tenting, unserviced and powered campsites for RVs. Pit toilets are available in the campground loops. However, you’ll find hot showers, flush toilets, laundry facilities and public wifi at the nearby Dinosaur Park Service Centre. It’s open seasonally, so check the website for details.
Comfort camping in high-quality canvas wall tents is also available. These tents are very comfortable, with full beds, private decks, bar fridges, electricity, and some with river views!
It’s a popular spot, so reserve your campsites as early as possible! Reserve here.
Visitor Centre
The Visitor Centre at Dinosaur Provincial Park is open daily from late April to the end of August and on weekends from January through April. Pop in for a trail map and ask any questions you might have about exploring and hiking in Dinosaur Provincial Park.
It offers an information desk, a gift shop, washrooms, and registration for guided tours. It also houses a small exhibit about the area and the Sternberg-Anderson Theatre, which visitors can view for a small fee.
What to bring
Water bottles or bladders. If you’re going on a hike, bring at least 2 litres of water per person along. It gets exceptionally hot here in the summer. There are places to refill your water in the park.
Food and supplies. The Cretaceous Café at the Dinosaur Park Service Centre is open from May to September and offers a concession-style menu. The centre also has a small camp store with a few convenience items and supplies. However, if you want something more or different, the closest town to pick up supplies is Brooks (35 minutes away).
Sturdy footwear. Sandals are okay around the campsite, but pack sturdy, closed-toe footwear for your hike. Dust, sand, rocks, holes, and crevices can make the ground unstable. If it has rained, the area can get ridiculously slippery, and the mud is dubbed “dino-snot.” Rattlesnakes, scorpions, and ants are around (though sightings are rare), and you want to protect your feet.
Things to know
Things that bite live here: Dinosaur Provincial Park is home to prairie rattlesnakes, scorpions and black widow spiders. To avoid snakes, stay away from ledges and piles of rocks. Scorpions and black widows live in little holes and burrows, so don’t stick your hand down any of those!
It gets very hot: The Canadian Badlands can heat up in the summer, with temperatures soaring between 30 and 40 degrees Celsius. Besides the cottonwoods in the campground and along the river, there is very little shade. Wear a hat and sunscreen, drink lots of water, and monitor your heat tolerance.
Dogs on a leash: You can bring your dog into the park, but they must be on a leash. Dogs are not permitted on guided tours.
No cell service: While you might find a few bars of service on a hike and along the Public Loop Road, cell service is generally unavailable in the park. You can access free public wifi at the Visitor Centre and Dinosaur Park Service Centre.
Book interpretive tours early: This is a very popular park in the summer, and the guided interpretive tours and hikes fill up quickly. If you’re planning on visiting the park and want to explore the Natural Preserve, book your tour as soon as possible. Learn more about the tours, dates, cost, and registration on the Dinosaur Tours page.
Getting here
Dinosaur Provincial Park is 220 KM east of Calgary and 48 KM northeast of Brooks, Alberta. It is not near Drumheller, Alberta.
From Calgary: Take Highway 1 (Trans-Canada HWY) east and turn left on HWY 550. Then, take Township Rd 212 to Park Rd 130 and follow the signs into the park.
From Edmonton: Google Maps will show you that there are several routes to head south, all leading to HWY 36 eventually. Turn left onto HWY 570, get onto HWY 876 and then Park Rd 130. Follow the signs into the park.
