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Drivers can feasibly fit in a trip to Dinosaur Provincial Park the same day as the Tyrrell Museum, a 174-kilometre journey from Drumheller to the park, and then head back to Calgary on the Trans-Canada Highway, which runs just south of the park. The nearest town is Brooks, 48km west of the Royal Tyrrell Museum Field Station , the park's obvious hub (late May to early Oct daily 8.30am-9pm; early Oct to late May Mon-Fri 9am-4pm; $2; tel 378-4342, reservation line tel 378-4344). The excellent Dinosaur Provincial Park campsite in the park beside Little Sandhill Creek is open year-round, but only serviced from May to September ($13) - book on (tel 378-3700). Nestled among some of the baddest of the badlands, the region's landscape is not only one of the most alien in Canada, but also one of the world's richest fossil beds, a superb medley of prairie habitats and ecosystems and (since 1979) a listed UN World Heritage Site. Over 300 complete skeletons have been found and dispatched to museums across the world, representing 35 (or ten percent) of all known dinosaur species. The field station has five self-guided trails , the Badlands Trail and Cottonwood Flats Trail being the most worthwhile, and giving a good taste of this extraordinary region. The centre also has a small museum that goes over the same ground as its parent in Drumheller, leaving the real meat of the visit to the Badlands Bus Tour , an excellent ninety-minute guided tour of the otherwise out-of-bounds dinosaur dig near the centre of the park (May-Sept Mon-Fri tours three or more daily, Sat-Sun 7 times daily; $4.50). A few exposed skeletons have been left in situ , with panels giving background information. The station also organizes two-hour guided hikes , most notably the Centrosaurus Bone Bed Hike (Tues, Thurs, Sat & Sun 9.15am; $4.50), which visits a restricted area where some 300 centrosaurus skeletons have been uncovered. All tours fill up quickly, so it's worth trying to book ahead (tel 378-4344).
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