The Rockies and the Badlands: Geology and dinosaurs: Canada
Contact an expert to book or discuss this tour.
17 June 2024 – 7 days for £3999
Explore the majestic Rocky Mountains west of Calgary and the otherworldly Alberta Badlands to the east, witness the stunning scenery and geology of southern Alberta and journey into these remote but beautiful lands.
You will join a working palaeontologist to visit two World Heritage Sites with world-class rock outcrops and outstanding dinosaur fossils. Jon Noad will develop the story of rocks and life from the Cambrian (541 million years ago) to the present, a tale that includes massive reefs, dinosaur playgrounds, the geological origins of the Rocky mountains and ice sheets that covered Alberta and carved out spectacular landscapes. The human story began about 10,000 years ago, as the ice sheets were melting away and people arrived to start a history of settlement.
After an introduction in Calgary, the tour explores the structural geology (the landscape, formed as the Rockies grew in pulses from 160 million to 50 million years ago) and the stratigraphy (the layers of rocks) of the stunning Kananaskis valley. Visit the magnificent Banff and Lake Louise area, surrounded by mountains composed of uplifted limestone that originally formed in ancient warm seas.
You will then head east to explore the multi-hued canyons and wind-sculpted hoodoos of the Alberta Badlands, named by early French explorers as “bad lands to cross”. The Badlands include amazing finds from the age of the dinosaurs. The first discoveries were made by Joseph Tyrrell in 1884 and have continued since then to make Alberta one of the most renowned locations for their study in the world. The group will tour one of the world’s best and most-celebrated dinosaur museums, the Royal Tyrrell Museum at Drumheller, and have a talk from a fossil preparation expert. Our last full day will be spent walking the bone beds of Dinosaur Provincial Park, visiting areas normally off-limits to the general public.
In partnership with GeoCultura World.
DAY 1: ARRIVE IN CALGARY
The tour will begin with an afternoon meeting in central Calgary, where the tour expert will discuss the itinerary and introduce the geology of Alberta. This will be followed by a visit to the Calgary Tower, where the spectacular views will serve to orient the tour and discuss more of the geology ahead. In the evening, a group dinner will be accompanied by a talk on the history and culture of Alberta from an eminent local historian.
DAY 2: CALGARY TO BANFF – THE FORMATION OF THE ROCKIES AND GLACIATION
An early departure will lead to the Morley Flats drumlin field, a series of hills formed beneath an ice sheet and the first step on the glacial story revealed by the excursion. The group travels on to the Kananaskis Valley to view a classic feature that can be found as a standard illustration in numerous geology books: the Lewis Thrust Fault, which has moved a slab of rock miles thick for ~80 kilometres from the west and terminates in an extremely large fold in the rock layers at Kidd Mountain's south peak. The morning continues with an examination of the Montney Formation, one of the best hydrocarbon resources in North America, exposed in a series of outcrops that includes a Triassic (240-million-year-old) bone bed.
Afternoon stops include striking views of Yamnuska Mountain, showing the 505-million-year-old Eldon Formation thrust over the much younger Belly River Formation by the McConnell Thrust, as well as exposures of the 70-million-year-old Cardium Formation with unusual sedimentary features and excellent fossils preserving the trails and burrows of animals. A short final leg takes the tour to the overnight stop in Banff, nestled in a stunning setting amid the mountains.
DAY 3: IN AND AROUND BANFF
During the morning, the tour will visit outcrops of the Pekisko Limestone, named after the Blackfoot word for “rolling hills”, and the Mazama ash beds, deposited around 7600 years ago by the ash fall from the volcanic eruption that created Crater Lake in Oregon, 1500 kilometres to the south-west. After lunch in Canmore, the tour will move on to view the 400-million-year-old Devonian sediments rich in amazing stromatoporoids (reef-building sponges) and take in the stunning scenery on a comfortable 2-kilometre walk at Grassi Lakes.
After returning to Banff, there will be a group meal in the evening and a chance to hear more about the story of Banff from a local historian. The town is famous not only for its astounding scenery but also for its hot springs, formed from hot water emerging from the Sulphur Mountain Thrust Fault.
DAY 4: BANFF TO DRUMHELLER
Today, the tour travels along one of the most scenic highways in the world, the Icefields Parkway, on a short journey to Lake Louise. Expect fantastic views of ancient glaciers, waterfalls, rock spires and reflective lakes, all set in landscapes that owe their origin to powerful ice flow processes. There will be a viewing stop at Banff Meadows to take in the spectacular vista, which clearly reveals the astounding crustal-scale faults that formed the Rockies. By late morning, the tour will arrive at the hotel at Lake Louise. There will be a chance to stroll around the edge of the lake before lunch.
In the afternoon, the tour visits Moraine Lake before a longer drive (about 3 hours) to the overnight hotel stop in Drumheller, north-east of Calgary. After settling into the hotel, there is a group dinner at a renowned bar and restaurant in Wayne, an outlying part of the town that was previously home to a number of coal mines. Drumheller itself has a fascinating history that, like much of western Canada, is dominated by the development of the railway network in the early 1900s. It is still the largest town by land area in Alberta, despite having a population of under 10,000 people – a result of its amalgamation with the Municipal District of Badlands No.7 in 1998.
DAY 5: DRUMHELLER – DINOSAURS, EXTINCTION AND HOODOOS
The day will begin with an excursion to one of the world's premier dinosaur museums, the Royal Tyrrell Museum. You will enjoy a talk on fossil preparation and visit a fossil preparation lab, followed by lunch at the museum.
In the afternoon, the tour will first visit Horseshoe Canyon, where the stunning scenery has been used as a backdrop for a variety of films and TV series. The exposed deposits lie just beneath the K/T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) boundary, which marks the end of the reign of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. There will be further stops at various hoodoos, Willow Creek and East Coulee to see world-class sedimentary structures formed by the sideways migration of ancient waterways, evidence of ancient shorelines, some awesome giant fossil tree stumps and preserved burrows in wood formed by bivalves.
A short final journey takes the tour back to Drumheller.
DAY 6: DRUMHELLER TO BROOKS – DINOSAUR PROVINCIAL PARK
The final full day of the tour begins with a drive to Dinosaur Provincial Park, a World Heritage Site. You will spend the day at the park, including having access to areas not usually open to the public, and see some of the best and most famous dinosaur fossils in the world. Your visit will follow a 6-kilometre walking trail that isn't usually open to the public, allowing us to immerse ourselves in the setting. A full packed lunch will be provided.
The itinerary will include Hadrosaur House, home of a sub-complete dinosaur skeleton featuring skin impressions, as well as ancient river channel deposits, whose fossils tell a tragic tale of flash flooding and its impact on Cretaceous fauna. One of Alberta’s most extensive groves of cottonwoods, flanking the Red Deer river, provides a fitting backdrop.
Supper will be at the famous steak pits (vegetarian options available) in Patricia, where everyone can cook their own meal, before the tour continues to Brooks.
DAY 7: BROOKS TO CALGARY AND TOUR'S END
A two-hour journey will return guests to Calgary, where participants are free to return home or to continue exploring Alberta.
NOTE: This provisional itinerary is subject to change as specific locations and accommodations release more information regarding access for the coming year.
ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITIES
Guests who prefer not to participate in certain activities might consider these options:
DAY 2: A half-hour helicopter overflight out of a base in Canmore. This one-of-a-kind flight among the peaks of the Rockies will reinforce the geological messages of the tour by providing a 3D appreciation of the vertical relief of the individual ranges and the widespread distribution of the rock layers. Participants will need to book this activity separately.
Alternatively, participants may wish to spend the day in Banff for sightseeing, museum visits or a gondola ride to the crest of Banff’s Sulphur Mountain for alpine hikes, an interpretative centre and a three-course meal as the sun sets over the Rockies.
DAY 4: In Drumheller there are opportunities for sightseeing, shopping for dinosaur fossils and antiques or hiking.
