Alberta: The Drumheller Dinosaurs

Week 9: Canadian Summer Staycation Series!

This is the ninth in a series of 13 weekly blog posts highlighting one iconic Canadian experience in each Province and Territory.

In this weeks’ blog post we’re visiting the Valley of Dinosaurs in Drumheller, Alberta.

The town of Drumheller is located approximately 120 kilometers north east of Calgary. It’s considered to be the dinosaur capital of the world because of the high concentration of fossils found in the area.

Fun Fact: The first dinosaur skull was found here in the 1880’s while workers were searching for coal.

Map of Alberta

We visited Drumheller at the end of an epic RV road trip through the Rockies in 2018. Check out our blog post about our epic road trip here.

After spending a week traveling from Edmonton to Jasper and finally onto Banff, we decided to take a last minute side-trip to Drumheller for the day before heading back to Edmonton.

We packed up the RV, left our campsite in Banff, drove past Calgary and headed North East. After driving past field after field after field we started to question if we were heading in the right direction.

When we turned onto the exit for Drumheller and the road slowly started to descend we knew that we were going the right way and were relieved to have finally made it.

The kids loved our dinosaur welcome upon arrival in Drumheller!

Because this was a last minute side trip, I hadn’t done any of my usual trip planning and research, so I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived and discovered that there was an entire town in the valley.

To be honest, I was expecting a few random dinosaur attractions spread out in the middle of nowhere with a gas station and maybe a diner or two but Drumheller is a thriving town with amenities found in any other small town with a population of around 8,000 people.

Dinosaur tourism is big here and the town and local businesses do a great job of incorporating dinosaurs into just about everything…their township website name is https://dinosaurvalley.com/ (and the logo has a dinosaur in it!)

After spending the day here, our girls both agree that there are a few attractions that families must see when visiting Drumheller.

The World’s Largest Dinosaur

You can’t really miss finding the location of this T-Rex which happens to be 86 feet tall and 4.5 times bigger than a real Tyrannosaurus Rex would have been! As soon as we drove into town we knew that this was going to be our first stop!

The world’s largest dinosaur is located beside the Drumheller Visitor Information Center. When we arrived, we went inside the visitor center/ gift shop and were able to get more information and some brochures on other things to do in the area.

The picture below gives some perspective on how tall this dinosaur is. If you look closely, you might be able to see our kids on the dinosaur’s foot.

Here’s a close up….

For a small fee you can walk into the giant T-Rex, climb the 104 steps to the top and stand inside the huge open mouth. The view of the town and valley is pretty spectacular from up here!

The fee charged goes to the The World’s Largest Dinosaur (WLD) Legacy Fund. 15% of the revenue generated by the fund goes back into the community for economic development initiatives in the Drumheller region.

In addition to the World’s Largest Dinosaur, there are a number of public dinosaur art pieces located throughout the community. We found these 2 walking back to our RV along with some painted dinosaur tracks.

The Hoodoos

Although we didn’t see any dinosaurs when visiting the Hoodoos, we all agree that this was the highlight of our visit to Drumheller.

In case you’re wondering what a Hoodoo is, it’s a sandstone pillar resting on a base of shale capped by a large stone. The stacks take millions of years to form and are 5-7 meters tall. Erosion washed away the softer rock, leaving behind these stacks.

The hoodoos are located just a short drive from town.

After a rainy and cool week in the rockies it was nice to have warmer temperatures and clear, blue skies when we visited the Hoodoos.

Because of the fragile nature of the rock, they do ask visitors to only walk on the approved pathways to help preserve them.

We took our time walking around the area, looking at all of the stacks and the beautiful colour of the layered rock.

We would have liked to stay here for a longer visit but a chocolate ice cream cone was waiting for us in our RV – a nice treat on a hot summer day.

Star Mine Suspension Bridge

Our last stop in Drumheller was a quick visit to the Star Mine Suspension Bridge.

Prior to 1931, this bridge was used as a cable car system before being turned into a pedestrian bridge for coal workers to cross the Red Deer River to get to the mine.

Our youngest fell asleep in the RV on our drive over so I sat outside on our camping chair enjoying the sunshine while my oldest and Joe explored the bridge.

If we had planned our visit to Drumheller in advance we would have booked an overnight stay at one of the nearby RV campgrounds to give us more time to explore the valley and area.

Because we were short on time and had to drive the RV back to Edmonton, we didn’t have a chance to visit the museum but it is a must do when in Drumheller.

Royal Tyrell Museum

The Royal Tyrell Museum is the only one in Canada dedicated to Palaeontology and has the world’s largest display of dinosaurs.

In addition to the dinosaur exhibits, there’s a 1.4 kilometer Badlands Interpretive Trail that takes you from the museum through the Midland Provincial Park.

If your kids dream of being a Palaeontologist one day, they can watch fossils found in the area being prepared for research and display by the museum research team.

Drumheller is a great family friendly destination, even if you have kids who aren’t dinosaur enthusiasts.

Let us know in the comments section below if you have any questions about the Drumheller area.

And if you want to catch up on our other blog posts in this series…click on the links below:

Newfound and Labrador: Iceberg Alley

Nova Scotia: Tidal Bore Rafting

Prince Edward Island: All Things Anne

New Brunswick: Hopewell Rocks

Quebec: Old Quebec

Ontario: Tobermory

Manitoba: Going on Safari

Saskatchewan: Notoriously Moose Jaw

British Columbia: Rainforest and Beaches

Yukon: The Klondike Gold Rush

North West Territories: The Northern Lights

Nunavut: Inuit Culture in Iqaluit

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If you haven’t had the pleasure of traveling for a vacation within Canada before, now is the ideal time to do so.

With a decrease in the number of international tourists expected to visit because of the Covid-19 travel restrictions in place, popular tourist destinations within Canada will be less crowded this summer. Hotels and resorts have been offering discounted room prices and free room upgrades to entice travelers to book accommodations.

In addition to a less expensive and more enjoyable travel experience, the tourism industry in Canada has been hit hard by Covid-19 and they are going to need our help to recover as quickly as possible with our tourism dollars.

Let’s all do our part and help support our own economy and tourism industry to recover by choosing to spend money on Canadian travel experiences this summer.