Home of Big Faunaš¦
My friend Heather and I went on a weekend camping trip to Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The park is a magnificent place with other-worldly landscapes, unique flora and a wonderful visitor centre. They also have camping, but in the summer you really need to book those sites in advance. We ended up camping at Kinbrook Island Provincial Park on Lake Newell instead. It is about a 45 min drive northeast from there to Dinosaur Provincial Park.
The camping site was lovely, and there were an amazing array of birds: swallows, gulls, robins, pelicans, and many more. The sunset over the lake was gorgeous.
As you are driving up to Dinosaur Park, all of a sudden there is a huge drop-off and the landscape is breathtaking! I recommend stopping and taking a few photos for the overhead views.
We proceeded to the Visitor Centre and for $2 you can go through their exhibit. It is well worth this cost, and they have a really wonderful display of the fossils, the paleontological digs, and flora and fauna of the area.
We then spent the rest of the day hiking - first at the Fossil Display trail and then the Cottonwood Flats.[1] You could hike for days in this park. We wandered looking at the great formations, and checking out the flora. The timing was perfect (early July) - warm (not hot) and many of the plants were in bloom. The two trail areas are completely different, with the large Cottonwoods near the river providing a nice change of pace and some shade. Best of all were the loaded Saskatoon bushes, and I must admit we ate a few handfuls of berries! š«
Fossil Display trail
Cottonwood Flats
I had wanted to visit for a really long time. Iām so glad that I finally got the opportunity to go. Highly recommended for hiking, as well as for nature and dinosaur enthusiasts! ā
[1] You can see a list of all the trails in the park here: https://www.albertaparks.ca/parks/south/dinosaur-pp/information-facilities/trails/
