Outdoor Report: Escape the crowds at Dry Island Buffalo Jump provincial park

The chill in the air marks the start of the changing larches — and the busiest season for hiking in the Rocky Mountains.

So, for this week's Outdoor Report, Paul Karchut introduces us to a nature walk that's never crowded.

Where is this somewhat secret hike?

Dry Island Buffalo Jump provincial park.

Never heard of it? Neither had I.

It took me roughly two hours to drive there from Calgary, and my guides were Greg and Susan Hall.

"It's a wonderful vista," says Susan.

The best way to describe it? It's a lot like Dinosaur Provincial Park or Drumheller — complete with a deep, desert-like valley and those iconic Alberta hoodoos. 

Greg calls it a "hidden gem" and says you can wander for hours without seeing anybody.

How established is this park?

There's not much infrastructure in the park, but that's part of its charm. You have some picnic tables and an outhouse in the parking lot, but that's kind of it.

There's no camping and no official trails — just a network of kind of deer paths that you have to make sense of.

So as Greg says, it's a bit of a choose your own adventure.

"We have been ... a little disorientated in going down the wrong channel or up the wrong ridge."

After a rain, the access road often closes because it just becomes a skating rink, so keep an eye on the forecast. If it's raining the day before you plan to go, best to wait until things dry out.

Why is it called Dry Island Buffalo Jump provincial park?

The buffalo jump is pretty self-explanatory. This area was used numerous times over the last 3,000 years by Indigenous Albertans.

What makes this one unique is they would run buffalo off a 40-metre cliff at the north end of the park. That's a much larger drop than other buffalo jumps discovered in Alberta.

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As for the dry island, that's an entirely different part of the park.

It's an isolated hunk of prairie formed by over thousands of years by streams and rain. What you're left with is this flat-topped island, covered with prairie grasses in an otherwise sort of Martian landscape.

And getting on top of that island is often the goal people set for themselves. But again, because these trails aren't marked, you might wind up just exploring with no specific end goal.

Is it also a hot spot for dinosaur fossils?

Yes, and we came across a number of dig sites on our hike — both active and inactive. But, it was a weekend so no one was working. But, it's not that uncommon to come over a hill and walk right on top of a team of paleontologists digging away. 

In fact, Greg and Susan once stumbled upon one of the most famous paleontologists in Canada — Dr. Philip Currie — who wound up spending a big chunk of time telling them what he was up to.

An impromptu lecture like that is just not something you'd get to experience in our other busier fossil spots in Alberta.

What advice do you have for people who want to check it out?

Well, it certainly is getting cooler now but in the dead of summer, this area can get scorching hot so make sure to bring lots of water. The mosquitoes can also be really bad so bug spray wouldn't hurt.

But Greg and Susan say it's a great area to explore with kids, because the hoodoos and other formations make for a really interesting environment for their imaginations to run wild.

This could also be a great place to extend your hiking season later in the fall when the mountains west of us are getting too cold or snowy.