Dinosaur Provincial Park

Hoodoos and Dinosaur Bones

Description

Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, Dinosaur Provincial Park is located two hours east of Calgary in an otherworldly landscape that seems a million light years removed from the high alpine environment to its west. Once a lush sub-tropical area on the shores of an inland sea, the area was populated by turtles, crocodiles, and sharks--and was a popular place for dinosaurs to hunt, mate, and die. Today, the area is a spectacular desert badland full of bizarrely beautiful rock formations known as Hoodoos, as well as an amazing concentration of dinosaur bones and fossils. The park has an informative visitor's center, a theater, a bookstore, and 126 campsites with shower and laundry facilities. The Royal Tyrrell Museum Field Station features nearly complete skeletons of a number of dinosaurs, which never fail to impress budding paleontologists of all ages.