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.All Trips / Alberta / Central Canada / North America
Visiting Alberta’s Dinosaur Country: 1) The Royal Tyrrell Museum
At first glance, the small city of Drumheller seems an unlikely place to find a superb science museum – one of the finest in Canada and one that is very family-oriented. The museum opened in 1985 and was given “Royal” status in 1990 by Queen Elizabeth, a sign of high distinction.
I live in Calgary and when I have visitors who are inclined to see a museum, I always suggest they drive to see the Royal Tyrrell. Alberta is the dinosaur capital of the world and this museum houses one of the most interesting and diverse collection of fossils and related items you’ll find anywhere. The Royal Tyrrell has a collection of over 125,000 fossils, mostly vertebrates.
Entrance to Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller
The Museum is located in …
.All Trips / British Columbia / North America / Western Canada
A visit to the Burgess Shale. Stanley Glacier, Kootenay National Park
One of the world’s most famous fossil sites is Canada’s Burgess Shale, which contains a large assortment of ancient and amazingly well-preserved (often soft-bodied) marine fossils. Originally discovered at high altitude in the mountains of British Columbia’s Yoho National Park in 1909, the Burgess Shale was one of the important reasons for the designation of the region as a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are two Burgess Shale sites in Yoho National Park you can visit, both long hikes with significant altitude gain. One is to Mount Stephen and the other to Walcott Quarry.
Recently a sister site has been discovered further south in Kootenay National Park, about 25 miles (40 km) south of the original site. That …
.All Trips / Central USA / North America / Utah
Dinosaur National Monument — Fossil Bone Quarry, Utah
Situated in a remote region of northwestern Colorado and extending into eastern Utah, you’ll find Dinosaur National Monument. This is Green River country, the river winding through memorable rock formations and desert landscapes. But the real treasure of the region is what’s beneath the ground. You’ll find some of the world’s largest deposits of dinosaur bones in Dinosaur National Monument. Our visit today is to the monument’s Fossil Bone Quarry.
In 1909 paleontologist Earl Douglass, working for the Carnegie Museum, discovered plant and animal fossils at this site. A quarry was established revealing rich deposits of Jurassic-era dinosaur bones. Dinosaur National Monument was created in 1915, initially protecting 80 acres in the quarry area but now expanded to 210,844 …
.All Trips / Alberta / Central Canada / North America
Hiking in Horseshoe Canyon; an introduction to Alberta’s Badlands
Most of the hikes I’ve featured on this blog are in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains, with good reason. The scenery in these mountains is truly spectacular, the altitude not overly taxing, and the long summer days are usually dry and sunny. But there’s a lot more to Alberta than its Rocky Mountains. Most of the province is actually composed of vast rolling prairies within which you’ll find limited regions known as “the Badlands”. The Badlands are one of the most unique ecosystems in Alberta, a mostly treeless environment that offers expansive and colorful vistas of eroded, banded mesas, buttes, and coulees.
The easiest place to explore the Badlands is at Horseshoe Canyon, just over an hour’s drive north of Calgary, near Drumheller, …
Tagged Alberta, badlands, fossils, hiking, Horseshoe Canyon
“Pic of the Week”. June 20, 2014: “Black Beauty”, Drumheller, Alberta
One of the most amazing Natural History museums I’ve ever visited is the Royal Tyrrell Museum in the small town of Drumheller, just over an hour’s drive northeast of Calgary. The museum sits in the “Badlands” and it’s here in the hills around the museum (and throughout Alberta) that the world’s most extensive deposits of fossilized dinosaur bones are to be found. I’ve got to write a full blog post on the museum and Alberta’s dinosaur country soon, but as a teaser I thought I’d share the Tyranossaus Rex exhibits at this museum with you today.
One of the highlights of the museum is “Black Beauty”, a rare nearly completely intact T Rex skeleton, one of a few ever found in …
Jun 19, 2014
Comments Off on “Pic of the Week”. June 20, 2014: “Black Beauty”, Drumheller, Alberta
