Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta

This summer our family took an extended trip into Western Canada to visit some of the Rocky Mountain Parks including Banff, Jasper, and Yoho. We decided that we wanted to fly into Calgary Alberta, rent a car and drive through the Rockies and finish our vacation with a few days exploring the West Coast and flying home from Vancouver. Lilyanna is a bit of a dinosaur nut, and I was curious to explore the desert and prairie areas of Alberta as well, so we began our vacation by driving a little east from Calgary and visiting Dinosaur Provincial Park and Drumheller.

The badlands at Dinosaur PP are a strange and otherworldly landscape when experiencing them for the first time. The first stop, just before entering the park, is a very short trail that leads you to the edge of the prairie that overlooks the vast canyons of the badlands. Having arrived just at sunrise, the warm golden sunlight was just starting to touch the tops of the rock formations, hinting at the adventures which awaited us for the rest of the day. The badlands are expansive from this viewpoint, showing an interesting contrast between their smooth vertical cutouts and the sharp horizontal multicoloured bands of sedimentary rock.

As we explored and took guided tours of the park, I was particularly attracted to the interesting graphics of the rock formations around the park.

One of the more famous hoodoos in the park is the aptly named "Phred the Camel", who just happens to have a pyramid shaped formation in the background as well.

In addition to the grand vistas and towering rock formations, there were numerous interesting small details to be discovered along the trails, with miniature hoodoos, stunted shrubs, cacti and fossils all waiting to be discovered

We were fortunate enough to avoid any rattlesnakes, scorpions and coyotes, but we did see a few of the mule deer wandering through the wilderness

On the second day of our adventure, we returned to the badlands one final time to capture some sunrise images. Here I captured my favourite picture of the location, with beautiful pink light illuminating the hoodoos and coulee of the badlands. The warm light on the rocks looked amazing contrasting with the blue of the clear sky as the sun rose to illuminate the scene. Overall it was an awe inspiring experience enjoyed by everyone in the family, and I would love the opportunity to return some day.