If you follow a map, our route over the last couple of days
has been decidedly erratic, which has led to a much greater and better
adventure than we ever planned.
We were unable to get accommodation in Drumheller, so ended
up finding a room in Hanna, which is about an hour’s drive from Drumheller and
only a couple of hour’s drive from Medicine Hat. Our route was on a quieter road, and we were
sailing along when we saw a sign to Dinosaur Park. Hmm. I
had always known that Drumheller was the “centre of anything regarding
dinosaurs” in Alberta, but out of curiosity we decided to take a 40 km side
route east.
The terrain has changed from huge fields with grain
elevators to huge fields with oil donkeys, above-ground pipe control hardware,
and the occasional petroleum storage tank.
It wasn’t until we were within a kilometer of the entrance
to Dinosaur Park that we suspected something was different.
There was a viewpoint which looked down into the valley, and
wow—what different terrain!
Dinosaur Park is an Alberta Provincial Park. It features some small trails (we took most
of them) and some guided activities, like 1-3 day options for guided
prospecting for fossils. Other than
that, much of the park was protected nature reserve. The prize?
Lots and lots of dinosaur fossils.
Big finds like intact skeletons.
Enough to make this a world heritage site.
I will bore you with a little signage, which explains the
uniqueness of this area.
There are three different kinds of rock predominant
here—ironstone (hard), loose sandstone (breaks apart easily) and clay/silt. They come in distinct layers. This layers were created while the area was a
tropical wetland. Then the glaciers
came, then they went, and the meltwater carved out the valleys. (Simplified non-technical summary….)
Erosion is the name of the game. The lands here erode at 10 times the rate of
the Rockies. The ironstone, being
hardest, resists the most, which is why most of the hoodoos are topped with a
red top.
Sandstone is easily carved by water, especially when it
carries tumbling rocks. The clay (formed
by volcanic ash) absorbs up to 10 times its volume in water, and is
deceptive. When it dries out, it forms
“popcorn rock”. When it gets rain, it
retains the water for a long time, and can be extremely slippery.
We have seen deer tracks in the clay, with 6-8” long skid
marks. Even deer have problems here.
Enough geology. Let
me get to the punch line. Because this
was a tropical wetland, it was the home to lots of dinosaurs. If they died, they were quickly buried by mud
and sand, and became well preserved.
There were major finds here in the 1910 to 1917 Dinosaur Rush
period. It became clear over time, that
if you waited a year, the erosion might expose more finds. And so it goes each year.
A couple of sites in the park have a small building (maybe
20 feet by 15 feet) over an actual fossil find left in situ for people to see.
So I am left with the question—what goes on in Drumheller
then? We find out the next day.
Drumheller is the home of the Tyrell museum, which is a
world-class destination for people from anywhere and everywhere. We spent half a day there, and saw a
wonderful perspective of life through a number of eras, with ample fossils and
displays with recreated scenes based on scientific understanding to this date. (Many fossils came from Dinosaur Provincial Park.) Fossils were presented with more lifelike scenes, such as a larger dinosaur being attacked by a swarm of smaller predators.
I suppose that like any other discipline of recreating the
past, every day brings more finds that create more theories to test against
previous “knowledge”. Many disciplines
are now involved in paleontology.
Geology, botany, zoology, climatology, ecology, anatomy, kinesiology,
etc, etc etc. Each new discovery is just another piece of the puzzle that still needs to be solved.
Drumheller is in a set of badlands, like Dinosaur Park, but
I don’t find the hoodoos there as dramatic.
Drumheller hoodoos
Dinosaur Provincial Park Hoodoos
It’s almost like there has been a deliberate move to focus
the tourist traffic in Drumheller, which leaves Dinosaur Park in a relatively
pristine state and available for more research. One thing we could do outside Drumheller was to walk among the badlands, and illegally pick up fossils. (No police are allowed to read this.) Here is a picture of a rock that had all kinds of worm tubes and other artifacts. Unfortunately, it was too big for me to take away.
We were lucky by learning what we did in Dinosaur Park, and then have it
reinforced in the Tyrell Museum with so much educational material.
As we were leaving Drumheller, a big storm system blew in,
with winds that turned the badlands into a sand blasting machine. Rain followed for a brief period, but mostly
seemed to evaporate before hitting the ground.
Nonetheless, the temperature dropped from 22C to 7C in merely
minutes. The whole sky looked hazy , but
that turned out to be wood-smoke from the BC fires in the Kootenay Region. The
smell of smoke is strong.
(PS The reason for
the difficulty in finding accommodation was that this weekend was the last
weekend of the Calgary Stampede. That
also explains the hordes of people in the Tyrell…whew!)
One small highlight of the Tyrell Museum was the outdoor
dining area—rife with gophers. These
guys had the temperament and activity level of the chipmunk (high energy,
constant fighting and squealing and other attractive moments). Despite the “Do not feed” signs, another
group threw lettuce to the beasts.
We will be in Edmonton tomorrow to see family and friends.
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