The programs with the gentlest physical requirements are our Indoor programs, which require a limited amount of walking, have ready access to seating, and can be modified to be wheelchair accessible:
Our Bus Tours are a great way to get out on the landscape, without a long walk and extended exposure to high temperatures. Both bus tours have stops at which participants will disembark from the bus and stretch their legs over short distances. Please note that these programs do involve standing without access to seating for periods of 15-20 minutes:
If you are looking to spend more time out on the landscape and less time on a bus, but a full hike is not possible for you or your group, a Fossil Safari might be the right program for you. This all age’s program involves a short drive into the Natural Preserve by bus, a walk that is less than 1km to a fossil site, and then the rest of the program spent in the field looking for fossils.
Evening programs, especially in the summer, offer an opportunity to get out on the landscape after the peak temperatures have passed. These programs are also slower paced and for participants 14 and older, making them a more relaxed experience:
Choosing the right program for you or your group is one of the best ways to ensure that you will have a positive experience while visiting Dinosaur Provincial Park. When selecting a program, there are a number of factors worth considering while making your decision.
Tolerance to heat/ experience being active in high temperatures
Time of year
Mobility of participants
What are you really hoping to experience?
Most of our programs will offer you an opportunity to see, and often touch, fossils. On any tour, our knowledgeable interpreters will be happy to answer any questions you might have about fossils and palaeontology. However, not all our programs are focused specifically on palaeontology or fossil finding. Also, different tours will take you to see different types of fossils in different contexts.
Non-palaeontology focused programs:
Interested in seeing an articulated skeleton:
Interested in seeing a large number of fossils in the ground at a bonebed:
Interested in seeing the fossils of many different species in the field:
Interested in getting up close and personal with fossils indoors:
Interested in an extended adventure where there will be a variety of fossils:
Throughout the season a variety of free programs are offered that require no advanced registration. The best place to find information about free programs being offered in the park is on our Free Programming web page
A full list of what you will need for a specific program is provided to participants upon booking. It is crucial that you review the attachments to your confirmation email in advance of the program. In general, participants will need:
High temperatures in the badlands are not unusual, especially in peak summer. Most of our programming is designed and scheduled with this in mind, and will go ahead without disruption. This is why we strongly recommend that all program participants dress appropriately, bring enough water, and make informed decisions about participation based on their own health and heat tolerance.
However, programs may be modified or canceled if temperatures climb above what is safe for the normal delivery of the program. Decisions to modify or cancel a program are made on a case-by-case basis by the interpreter leading the program, based on a combination of other environmental factors, Health and Safety policy heat thresholds, the age limit of participants, and difficulty of the program.
In the event of a cancellation due to weather, you will receive either a full refund or be offered an alternative program. Note that alternative programming is dependent on a variety of factors and is not guaranteed.
In the event of rain on the day of, or significant amounts of rain in the days proceeding, programs may have to be cancelled.
Program cancellations on rainy days are most often made due to the effect that rain has on the stability of the ground in the badlands. The soft mudstone of the badlands contains a mineral called bentonite. When bentonite gets wet, it swells to multiple times its original size and becomes simultaneously extraordinarily slippery and incredibly sticky. As such, walking or driving on mudstone that is wet can be both damaging to the environment and dangerous for visitors. Even several days after a rainstorm, when the surface of the mudstone looks dry, subsurface layers of mudstone can remain saturated and unstable. As such, for your safety and for the protection of the Park, programs may be cancelled due to rain.
Similarly, cancellations may occur if there are other weather conditions that threaten the safety of participants and/ or the protection of the Park.
In the event of a cancellation due to weather, you will receive either a full refund or be offered an alternative program. Note that alternative programming is dependent on a variety of factors and is not guaranteed.
