1994: Dinosaur Provincial Park

         We headed to Dinosaur Provincial Park, which was located in an area very reminiscent of the Badlands.  We set up our tent, then walked around a bit before fixing supper.  Our new camp stove worked a whole lot better than the one we had borrowed from John.

    We got up at 7:00, gulped down our breakfast then scrambled over to the Dinosaur Park Field Station to make sure we could reserve two places for ourselves on the “Great Badlands Hike”.  In retrospect we didn’t really need to get up so early and rush, because hours later, when the hike began, there were only three others.

    The hike was a memorable experience.  It began with a tour inside the “Dinosaur Lab” where we got to see all of the dinosaur bones that the technicians were working on.  After the lab, our group headed outside and as we walked toward the badlands, we passed our campground, where we watched some park rangers trying to catch a rattlesnake.  It was a sobering experience because the rangers were searching just fifty meters from where our tent was set up.  They never did find the rattler.

    Our small group then headed out into the hoodoos, where bones and bits of rock lay all over the ground.   Everyone was encouraged to head out on their own searching for fossilized bones.  This turned out to be a strange event.  Group members would scour the ground, and if they found something that might be a fossil, they would take it over and hand it to our guide.  He would examine the finding, then tell us something like: “This is section of the wrist bone from a small reptilian creature.” 

    Then surprisingly, if it wasn’t a great find, he would pitch it over his shoulder to get rid of it, and we would all go off searching for something better.    My wife made the best find of the hike; when she took the bone up to the tour leader, it turned out to be a toe bone from a dinosaur.  Since the bone was was in such good condition he kept the toe bone and she got a certificate for her discovery.

    When our tour ended at 12:30, we were all wiped out because the temperature was so terribly hot.  Exhausted and sweaty, we plodded back to our tent and made a quick search around it to make sure there were no rattlesnakes, then retired, unable to do anything more for the rest of the afternoon.  Once we recovered a bit, we managed to do some laundry at the laundromat and took a shower.  After supper, we meandered down the Cottonwood trail that took us down beside the Red Deer River. Later we learned that the temperature that day had gotten up to 41°C (106°F).

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