Family nature, science & travel field guide
Drumheller · Alberta · Red Deer River Valley
Drumheller’s layers of life
Meet ancient Alberta in a museum gallery, look for stories in the badlands, and discover why a fossil’s surroundings matter as much as the specimen.
Illustrative destination scene
01Begin with wonder
Drumheller at a glance
A bone is one clue. Its setting adds the story.
Drumheller combines the Royal Tyrrell Museum’s remarkable displays with a badlands landscape shaped by erosion. Families can move between reconstructed ancient life and the rock evidence behind it. The best discovery is often a question about how an object was found and studied.
- The draw
- Museum & badlands
- The pace
- Look closely, leave in place
- The mood
- Deep time made visible
02Put the place on the map
Where to find Drumheller
Drumheller lies in Alberta’s Red Deer River Valley, northeast of Calgary. The Royal Tyrrell Museum is outside town in Midland Provincial Park.
Drumheller and the Red Deer River Valley.
Calgary is a major city and airport gateway to the south-west. The town, the museum and the hoodoo viewpoints are separate stops linked by roads through the badlands.
- By carHighway 9 connects the Calgary region with Drumheller. The Royal Tyrrell Museum is reached on North Dinosaur Trail, Highway 838.
- Local road stopsThe museum and public badland viewpoints are accessed by road. The Willow Creek hoodoos are southeast of Drumheller along Highway 10.
Province overview
Alberta
The highlighted window shows the area enlarged in the local map.
A closer look
Drumheller · museum and badlands
- Featured location
- Key road
- Water
Open enlarged local map ↗ · Royal Tyrrell visitor directions ↗
Geographic orientation with selected landmarks and roads. Road geometry is mapped; this is not a turn-by-turn route or a record of current access.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors ↗ · Province and regional outlines: Natural Earth ↗. Maps prepared 21 October 2026.
03Three ways to look closer
Learn and explore in Drumheller
Three connected ways to understand the place: notice its living world, look closely at a useful design, and follow the process behind an observation.
- Nature spotlightCretaceous plants & habitats ↗
Use ancient plants and habitat evidence to compare Cretaceous floodplains with the modern badlands.
- Engineering spotlightFossil excavation tools ↗
See why recording, protection and careful preparation belong alongside the tools of a dig.
- Science spotlightHow fossils form ↗
Trace one possible route from buried remains to a fossil exposed by erosion.
Start small: Ask what the rock around a specimen can tell us that the specimen alone cannot.
04Cretaceous plants & habitats
Ancient Alberta held different habitats.
The badlands expose rocks deposited in much older environments. Fossil plants, pollen and other evidence help scientists reconstruct forests, wetlands and floodplains rather than assuming the ancient landscape looked like today’s dry hills.
- Plants are environmental clues.
Leaves and pollen can reveal the kinds of vegetation present. A reconstruction combines several kinds of evidence.
- A scene is an interpretation.
A detailed painting makes a hypothesis easier to imagine, but the plants and animals shown still need support from fossil evidence.
Try this: Compare a museum reconstruction with the specimens or labels that support it. Find one feature explained by evidence.
05Fossil excavation tools
Excavation protects information.
Finding a fossil begins a careful recording process. Photographs, positions, rock layers and field notes preserve relationships that can be lost when material is removed.
- Use control, not force.
Different tools suit different rock and preservation. Brushes and small tools are part of a larger professional workflow.
- Support the specimen.
Fragile material may need stabilisation, protective jackets and laboratory preparation. Removing the surrounding rock is not a quick treasure hunt.
Try this: In the illustration, identify the recording tools before the excavation tools. Discuss what a photograph cannot recover once the original setting is disturbed.
Royal Tyrrell: preparation lab ↗ · Royal Tyrrell: found a fossil ↗
01 · Locate
Record the setting
Position and layer belong with the fossil.
02 · Document
Keep a field record
Photographs and notes preserve relationships.
03 · Protect
Support fragile material
Conservation begins before removal.
04 · Prepare
Reveal evidence carefully
Laboratory work may take considerable time.
06How fossils form
Burial can begin a long transformation.
An organism’s remains may be buried by sediment before they are completely destroyed. Some hard parts are preserved through mineral filling or replacement as the surrounding sediment changes into rock.
Illustrated field lesson
One possible route to a fossil.
Burial, preservation and exposure are separate parts of the story.
- Bury
Sediment can cover remains before they are completely destroyed.
- Preserve
Mineral filling or replacement can preserve some hard parts as rock forms.
- Expose
Much later, erosion may reveal preserved evidence in the rock.
- Preservation is selective.
Most organisms leave no fossil. Burial conditions, chemistry and the durability of remains influence what survives.
- Erosion can reveal the result.
Weathering and erosion may expose a fossil much later. Finding it at the surface does not mean it formed there recently.
Try this: Follow the illustrated sequence from burial to exposure. Name which steps preserve evidence and which reveal it.
Royal Tyrrell: palaeontology research ↗ · Royal Tyrrell: fossil collections ↗
01 · Bury
Sediment covers remains.
Conditions must permit preservation.
02 · Preserve
Minerals and rock record traces.
Several different fossil processes exist.
03 · Expose
Erosion reveals evidence.
The original context still matters.
07Make the day work for your family
Family travel guide
A flexible plan, useful official links and enough time to enjoy the place.
Pair the museum with one outdoor stop.
Use the museum as a comfortable anchor for the day, then add an open public viewpoint if weather and energy allow. Gallery time, meals and a short outdoor look can make a full outing without several long drives.
Museum exhibits and outdoor badland trails have different access needs. Consult the museum’s accessibility information and the actual viewpoint description; steep or muddy slopes are a separate commitment.
When to go
Spring
Wet ground can be slippery, and exposed clay can be easily damaged.
Summer & early autumn
Outdoor views pair well with the museum, but heat and thunderstorms can affect a stop.
Late autumn & winter
Build a museum-centred visit and use outdoor routes only when open and appropriate.
Bring a small field kit
- Water and sun protection
- Walking shoes with useful grip
- Layers for changing weather
- Camera or sketchbook
- Museum visit information
- Snacks and a rest break
Can we take a small fossil home?
Leave finds in place and follow the Royal Tyrrell Museum’s official reporting and collection guidance for the land you are visiting.
Did all fossils form by turning bone into stone?
No. Fossils include different kinds of preserved remains, impressions and traces.
Sources & image notes
- Royal Tyrrell collections ↗
- Royal Tyrrell visitor directions ↗
- Royal Tyrrell: Cretaceous Alberta ↗
- Royal Tyrrell: preparation lab ↗
- Royal Tyrrell: found a fossil ↗
- Royal Tyrrell: palaeontology research ↗
- Royal Tyrrell: fossil collections ↗
- Museum visit information ↗
- What to do if you find a fossil ↗
- Preparation lab ↗
- Official hoodoo visitor information ↗
Destination and family scenes are learning illustrations, not documentary photographs. New teaching plates combine polished contextual artwork with deliberately drawn explanatory labels; their main labels are repeated as readable text. Province overviews use Natural Earth boundaries and local maps use OpenStreetMap road, water and named-place geometry; they do not establish current access.
Sources and visitor links reviewed 20 October 2026. Seasonal suggestions are editorial planning advice; use the relevant authority for current conditions and operations.
08 · Read the children’s story
Take the wonder into the story.
Bones Beneath Our Feet
Read Bones Beneath Our Feet together for an illustrated adventure inspired by Drumheller. The discoveries offer a starting point for questions before or after a family visit.
Read together before your visit to spark questions, or afterwards to compare the discoveries with your own.
Read the children’s story ↗Pacific Adventure · Chapter 13