Field Trips
Field trips are open to members only!
For further information about the field trips and registration deadlines for 2023, download the additional details document.
To register for a field trip, print off and fill out the sign up sheet, then mail to Keith at the address indicated on the sign up sheet along with the field trip fee.
Continuing from last year, you will be able to pay field trip fees by Interac E-transfer (Canada only). Follow directions on your bank’s online banking site or mobile app. Bank fees may apply. Payee is giftshop@albertapaleo.org. Please state in the message field: “Field Trip Fees for 2023”. Email a scan or photo of the completed registration form to fieldtrips@albertapaleo.org.
Field Trip Terms
All fees are due at the time of registration. Fees for trips are $10.00. Non-members and unaccompanied minors will not be allowed to attend field trips. All participants are required to have their membership in good standing. Any membership applications received after May 1, 2023 will not be reviewed and voted on by the Board of Directors until September, 2023. Therefore, if you are a non-member and would like to join be sure your application is received prior to May 1, 2023. All participants will be required to read and sign a release form (waiver). Detailed information will be provided to all those registered shortly after the registration deadline. After the registration deadline no refunds will be given; however, you will receive the guide for the trip. Registrations are accepted on a first come first served basis so sign up early to avoid disappointment. For the 2023 field trips Keith will be sending you the waiver and medical forms along with the trip information. This information will be sent to you via email or Canada Post. Please ensure that your addresses are correct and legible when sending in registration forms. When you arrive at the meeting place please have all forms completed. All participants are required to have fully completed all waiver and medical forms in order to attend the trip. There will be no exceptions. All personal information is held in confidence and ultimately destroyed.
Trip Participant Responsibilities
- It is understood that risk is inherent to some degree in outdoor activities. Before registering for a trip please ensure you understand the risks involved and are prepared to accept them.
- As a participant you are responsible for your own safety and equipment at all times
- Inform the trip leader of any medical conditions they should be aware of in an emergency
- Ensure that your previous experience, ability and fitness level are adequate for the trip
Important Safety Information
The APS is concerned about the safety of its members during our field tip outings. Safety protocol requires that the SAFETY GUIDELINES must be communicated to and understood by those attending. You will be asked to sign our waiver as proof of your understanding of these SAFETY GUIDELINES.
Questions about field trips?
Contact Keith Mychaluk, the APS Fieldtrip Coordinator by e-mail at fieldtrips@albertapaleo.org or phone at (403) 809-3211.
Field Trips
Field Trip
Devil’s Coulee Museum and field tour, Warner, AB
Saturday, June 17, 2023 10 AM - 4 PM
Leader: Mona Trick
Mona will lead us to the famous Devil’s Coulee dinosaur egg-site in southern Alberta. In the morning, we will enjoy a guided tour of the Devil’s Coulee Dinosaur Heritage Museum (located in Warner, Alberta). In the afternoon, we will have an extended tour of where dinosaur eggs were first discovered in Canada. We will also have time to search for Late Cretaceous (Campanian) fossils (such as dinosaur eggshell) but we will not be able to keep anything we find, as this is a protected site. The price includes admission to the museum and the guided tour of the eggsite. Due to the restricted amount of parking at the egg-site we will car pool the 30 minutes from the museum to the egg-site. This field trip is just one day in length and Warner is about a 3-hour drive from Calgary. Registration is limited to 40 people. For additional details, including camping and motel information, contact Mona Trick at giftshop@albertapaleo.org or (587) 578-4579.
Registration deadline is June 1, 2023.
Field Trip
K/Pg boundary, Knudsen’s Farm, Huxley, AB.
Saturday, July 8, 2023
Leader: Tako Koning
If you missed this tour last year, Tako will again lead us to the famous Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary (formerly the “K/T boundary”) site on Knudsen’s farm near Huxley, AB. This site is the best location in Canada to view the K/Pg mass extinction boundary. It marks the event when dinosaurs and 75 percent of the Earth’s creatures and plants died almost instantaneously. Extensive academic research at this site has contributed materially to our knowledge of what happened to the world at that time. Huxley is about a 2-hour drive from Calgary. This is a single-day trip.
Registration deadline is July 1, 2023.
Field Trip
Green River Formation, Kemmerer, Wyoming, USA.
Friday, July 14, 2023 - Sunday, July 16, 2023
Leader: Keith Mychaluk
We have been planning this trip for a number of years and finally it is here! The Green River Formation is world-famous for fossil fish, rays, palm leaves and even prehistoric horses and birds preserved in stunning detail in Eocene lake sediments. This trip will take place over 3 days – excluding the long drive to and from Wyoming – in order to accommodate everything we hope to see and do. Kemmerer, Wyoming is a 13.5 hour drive from Calgary (excluding the time required to cross the USA-Canada border; which can be quite variable. Participants will have to find their own way to and from Kemmerer and I strongly recommend splitting-up the drive over (at least) two days in each direction.
Please view the videos on Warfield’s website www.fossilsafari.com to give you an idea of what to expect. Most exciting is the opportunity to watch the professionals excavate fossils at nighttime from the famous “18 Inch Layer” during their “V.I.P dig”. Artificial illumination helps the pros spot subtle clues in the rock indicating where fossils are located. Then they excavate with special shims, chisels and rock saws. It should be quite the learning experience. For those willing to pay an optional fee, you will be able to keep one fossil fish recovered during the night dig. I understand these are quite remarkable; however, the nighttime experience is optional whether you are paying or simply observing.
Please register early and ONLY if you are serious about attending. Expect hot weather! There are no restrictions for attendance but motel space could be a limiting factor.
Registration deadline is June 15, 2023.
Field Trip
Danek Bone-bed and University of Alberta Paleo-Lab tour, Edmonton, AB.
Saturday, August 19, 2023
Leader: Keith Mychaluk
Our gracious host, Eva Koppelhus of the University of Alberta, will guide us to a hadrosaur bone-bed located within the city limits of Edmonton. The Danek Bone-bed is used to teach students enrolled at the palaeontology program at the University of Alberta as their field school. Eva has also arranged for us to have a backrooms tour of their palaeo-lab so we can better appreciate how fossils are prepared and studied. Normally closed on weekends, we will also be provided special access to the University of Alberta Paleontology Museum, which houses the university’s fossil collection. Participants may also wish to tour the Royal Alberta Museum across town on their own schedule. Due to limited physical space at both the bone-bed and the lab, registration is limited to 20 participants. This is a single-day field trip.
Registration deadline is August 1, 2023.
Field Trip
Fossils-in-Tyndall Building Stone, Walking tour, Calgary, AB.
Saturday, September 16, 2023
Leader: Tako Koning
Once again, Tako Koning has agreed to conduct his popular tour of Calgary buildings clad with Ordovician-aged Red River Formation limestone originally quarried in Tyndall, Manitoba. See impressively preserved fossils of corals, gastropods, starfish, orthocones and even algae at Calgary landmarks like the historic Bank of Montreal building. This will be a walking tour of several buildings in downtown Calgary, the community of Kensington and the SAIT campus and is suitable for all ages.
Registration deadline is September 1, 2023.