Booking information
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15 June 2026 - 7 days for £4,800 per person
Join an immersive geology expedition which brings the dramatic landscapes of southern Alberta into sharp scientific focus, from the glacier-carved summits of the Rocky Mountains to the fossil-rich sculpted canyons of the Badlands. You will travel with a working palaeontologist, visiting two UNESCO World Heritage Sites that feature exceptional rock exposures and world-class dinosaur localities.
Throughout the journey, you will trace the grand sweep of Earth history from the Cambrian (~541 million years ago) to today. You will explore ancient tropical seas and massive reef systems, the rise and reign of dinosaurs, the mountain-building forces that uplifted the Rockies, and the glacial ice sheets that sculpted the region into its current form.
Your journey begins in the Kananaskis Valley, where you will examine striking examples of structural geology and stratigraphy, observing how tectonic forces folded and faulted layered sediments into today’s dramatic mountain landscapes. From there, you will continue to Banff and Lake Louise, surrounded by towering limestone peaks originally formed in warm, shallow Paleozoic oceans.
Heading east, you will watch the terrain transform into the multi-hued Badlands, where banded buttes, wind-carved hoodoos, and deeply eroded rock layers reveal a vivid record of deep time. Here, dinosaur fossils have been studied since the 19th century, and the area remains a global centre of palaeontological research. You will tour the world-renowned Royal Tyrrell Museum, including behind-the-scenes insights into fossil preparation, before spending your final full day walking the active bonebeds of Dinosaur Provincial Park in areas normally closed to the public.
This tour is designed for travelers with an interest about geology, palaeontology, and Earth history - whether you are just beginning to explore these subjects or bring academic or professional experience. If you enjoy engaging with landscapes not only for their beauty but for the deep-time stories written in their rocks, and you value learning directly from researchers in the field, this journey will be particularly rewarding.
In partnership with GeoCultura World.
DAY 1: ARRIVE IN CALGARY
The tour will begin with an afternoon meeting in central Calgary, where the tour expert will discuss the itinerary and introduce the geology of Alberta. This will be followed by a visit to the Calgary Tower, where the spectacular views will serve to orient the tour and discuss more of the geology ahead. In the evening, a group dinner will be accompanied by a talk on the history and culture of Alberta from an eminent local historian.
DAY 2: CALGARY TO BANFF – THE FORMATION OF THE ROCKIES AND GLACIATION
An early departure will lead to the Morley Flats drumlin field, a series of hills formed beneath an ice sheet and the first step on the glacial story revealed by the excursion. The group travels on to the Kananaskis valley to view a classic feature that can be found as a standard illustration in numerous geology books: the Lewis Thrust Fault, which has moved a slab of rock miles thick for ~80 kilometres from the west and terminates in an extremely large fold in the rock layers at Kidd Mountain's south peak. The morning continues with an examination of the Montney Formation, one of the best hydrocarbon resources in North America, exposed in a series of outcrops that includes a Triassic (240-million-year-old) bone bed.
Afternoon stops include striking views of Yamnuska Mountain, showing the 505-million-year-old Eldon Formation thrust over the much younger Belly River Formation by the McConnell Thrust, as well as exposures of the 70-million-year-old Cardium Formation with unusual sedimentary features and excellent fossils preserving the trails and burrows of animals. A short final leg takes the tour to the overnight stop in Banff, nestled in a stunning setting amid the mountains.
DAY 3: LAKE LOUISE AND MORRAINE LAKE
Today we travel along the scenic Icefields Parkway on a short journey to Lake Louise. Expect fantastic views of ancient glaciers, waterfalls, rock spires and reflective lakes, all set in landscapes that owe their origin to powerful ice flow processes. There will be a viewing stop at the Banff Meadows to take in a spectacular vista before moving on for a stroll along Lake Louise and a picnic lunch at Moraine Lake, considered by many to be the most beautiful lake in the world. After returning to Banff there will be a group meal in the evening and a chance to hear more about the story of Banff, a town famous not just for its astounding scenery but also for its hot springs, formed from hot water emerging from the Sulphur Mountain Thrust Fault.
DAY 4: PEKISKO LIMESTONE AND CANMORE
During the morning the tour will visit outcrops of the Pekisko Limestone, named after the Blackfoot native tribe word for “rolling hills”, and the Mazama Ash Beds, deposited around 7600 years ago by the ash fall from the volcanic eruption that created Crater Lake in Oregon, 1500km (900 miles) to the southwest. After lunch in Canmore the tour will move on to view the 400-million-year-old Devonian sediments rich in amazing stromatoporoids (reef-building sponges) and take in the stunning scenery on a comfortable 2km (1.5 mile) walk at Grassi Lakes.
In the afternoon, drive around 3 hours to Drumheller, with stops to introduce the Badlands along the way. We will dine at a renowned bar and restaurant in Wayne, an outlying part of the town and previously home to a number of coal mines. Drumheller itself has a fascinating history which, like much of western Canada, is dominated by the development of the railway network in the early 1900s. It is the largest town by land area in Alberta, despite having a population of under 10,000 people.
DAY 5: DRUMHELLER – DINOSAURS, EXTINCTION AND HOODOOS
The day will begin with an excursion to one of the world's premier dinosaur museums, the Royal Tyrrell Museum. You will enjoy a talk on fossil preparation and visit a fossil preparation lab, followed by lunch at the museum.
In the afternoon, the tour will first visit Horseshoe Canyon, where the stunning scenery has been used as a backdrop for a variety of films and TV series. The exposed deposits lie just beneath the K/T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) boundary, which marks the end of the reign of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. There will be further stops at various hoodoos, Willow Creek and East Coulee to see world-class sedimentary structures formed by the sideways migration of ancient waterways, evidence of ancient shorelines, some awesome giant fossil tree stumps and preserved burrows in wood formed by bivalves.
A short final journey takes the tour back to Drumheller.
DAY 6: DRUMHELLER TO BROOKS – DINOSAUR PROVINCIAL PARK
The final full day of the tour begins with a drive to Dinosaur Provincial Park, a World Heritage Site. You will spend the day at the park, including having access to areas not usually open to the public, and see some of the best and most famous dinosaur fossils in the world. Your visit will follow a 6-kilometre walking trail that isn't usually open to the public, allowing us to immerse ourselves in the setting. A full packed lunch will be provided.
The itinerary will include Hadrosaur House, home of a sub-complete dinosaur skeleton featuring skin impressions, as well as ancient river channel deposits, whose fossils tell a tragic tale of flash flooding and its impact on Cretaceous fauna. One of Alberta’s most extensive groves of cottonwoods, flanking the Red Deer river, provides a fitting backdrop.
Supper will be at the famous steak pits (vegetarian options available) in Patricia, where everyone can cook their own meal, before the tour continues to Brooks.
DAY 7: BROOKS TO CALGARY AND TOUR'S END
A two-hour journey will return guests to Calgary, where participants are free to return home or to continue exploring Alberta.
NOTE: This provisional itinerary is subject to change as specific locations and accommodations release more information regarding access for the coming year.
ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITIES
Guests who prefer not to participate in certain activities might consider these options:
DAY 2: A half-hour helicopter overflight out of a base in Canmore. This one-of-a-kind flight among the peaks of the Rockies will reinforce the geological messages of the tour by providing a 3D appreciation of the vertical relief of the individual ranges and the widespread distribution of the rock layers. Participants will need to book this activity separately.
Alternatively, participants may wish to spend the day in Banff for sightseeing, museum visits or a gondola ride to the crest of Banff’s Sulphur Mountain for alpine hikes, an interpretative centre and a three-course meal as the sun sets over the Rockies.
DAY 4: In Drumheller there are opportunities for sightseeing, shopping for dinosaur fossils and antiques or hiking.
