The Amazing Views of Dinosaur Provincial Park

Having lived in Alberta most of my life, I had always heard about Drumheller being the dinosaur capital of the world, but little did I know that just east of Brooks, there is a place called Dinosaur Provincial Park.  Upon a bit of research, I discovered that Drumheller may have the best museum devoted to dinosaurs, but Dinosaur Provincial Park has the natural landscapes that contribute to the beauty of the area.

I found it especially fascinating as you approach this place.  We were driving through the flat grasslands, much like how you would expect the Prairies to look like, and then suddenly everything changes and you are surrounded by this rugged, jaw dropping scenery of eroded hills and valleys.  It happened instantly.

We arrived shortly after 4pm and the Visitor’s Centre was already closed, but it didn’t matter to us as we were surrounded by these amazing formations and wanted to start exploring immediately.  We started walking on the Coulee Viewpoint Trail, right next to the Visitor’s Centre.  On the Alberta Parks website, this trail is rated as difficult, but in reality, I think the difficulty only comes from the fact that the trail is intertwined into the rocks and you do have to do a bit of climbing.  People with mobility issues may have a bit of problem, as it can be quite a bit of up and down.  On the other hand, it is also a huge playground with unlimited opportunities to explore.

We must have spent about an hour and a half on the Coulee Viewpoint Trail before making our way back down to the starting point.  We took a quick break for dinner and then headed to the Badlands Trail to view the sunset.  It ended up being the perfect end to the day as we were treated with a gorgeous sunset.

The Badlands Trail is every bit as impressive as the Coulee Viewpoint Trail, but was just shorter and the rocks weren’t as densely populated.  It gave us more freedom to run around the area.  The Badlands Trail also offered some more views of the grasslands in the area, which was a great complement to the hoodoos.

This is definitely a place that I’d like to go back to again.  I still can’t believe I didn’t know about earlier.