First Visit To Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park

Living in a province with an abundance of natural beauty, places like Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper and Waterton often overshadow the lesser known provincial parks.  I came to realize this summer that this really shouldn’t be the case, as some of our provincial parks can definitely stand on their own in terms of valuable places to visit.

On a hot summer weekday morning, I made the drive to Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park.  The drive is extremely easy and flat and as soon as you reach the entrance, you are greeted with some amazing formations.

This is a popular camping spot in the summer, that usually books up quite quickly.  The Milk River runs through the area, meaning that there are some water activities as well as a small beach that can be enjoyed.  There are also 2 main walking trails that are frequently traveled.

The first trail that we did was the Visitor’s Centre Trail.  We had parked our car near the campsite, so we took the 0.5km trail up to the Visitor’s Centre.  We later found out that you could also park at the Visitor’s Center and walk down to the campsite area as well.  The trail is not your typical hiking trail, as you are literally climbing through hoodoos.  It’s not a hugely slanted incline, but due to some areas where you have to climb, it may be difficult for some.  You could also stay on the actual trail, but it was much more fun to climb through the hoodoos.

Although the Visitor’s Centre Trail is quite short, it offered amazing views at every stop.  You can also see Montana’s Sweet Grass Hills in the distance from the trail. 

We were short on time, and decided to forego the 2.2km (one way) Hoodoos Trail and just drive to the viewpoints along the trail.  This was especially convenient as it was over 30 degrees that day.  Although it would have been nice to walk the entire trail, we were quite satisfied with what we saw from the Visitor’s Centre Trail and decided that it was worth skipping to save time.

Our first stop was the Battle Scene.  From the small parking area (there was room for 5-6 cars), it was a 10 minute walk down to the Battle Scene.  Be careful as you make your way down the first flight of stairs, as we heard a rattlesnake hissing, and I later heard stories from others that they had also heard the snake in the same place.

The walk through the hoodoos to the Battle Scene was incredible, and once you arrive, you will notice that the faint hieroglyphics are caged off to prevent damage.  It was a bit disappointing that there weren’t more, but regardless it was neat to see.  There are also vast and stunning views of the fields there as well.

After climbing back up the hill to the car, we drove the short distance to the Police Coulee lookout. This is the highest point of the park, so it offered views of the entire area, including the river, hoodoos and fields.  From the parking lot, it is a short climb up a flight of stairs to the viewpoint.  Unfortunately, the hoodoos are quite far away, but since we saw them up close at the other places, this was a fantastic summary of the area.

Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park is well worth a visit and you can easily spend a full day there exploring the area.  As we had some time constraints, we only got to spend about 3 hours there, but could have easily been there for another few hours as there is quite a bit to see.