Canada's Great Wilderness Is Home To A UNESCO Global Geopark With Dinosaur Tracks

North America is full of dramatic, beautiful wildernesses. From remote, awe-inspiring national parks in Alaska and forest-covered mountains in Montana to eerie desert landscapes in Arizona and granite boulder-strewn hills in Colorado, there are majestic, magnificent areas of unspoiled nature all over. As you might expect, Canada has plenty of stunning landscapes and remote, natural beauty, but one part of the country stands out as one of the world's last untouched frontiers: British Columbia's Great Wilderness.

Stretching from the Coast Mountain Range to Alberta and the Yukon, the Great Wilderness more than lives up to its name. With vast, seemingly endless open spaces, craggy mountain peaks, and deep, dark pine forests, it is a stunning place for adventurous travelers to explore, and it is also filled with some of Canada's most impressive and captivating wildlife. It is also home to Tumbler Ridge, western Canada's only UNESCO Global Geopark, a fascinating destination filled with fossils, dinosaur remains, and a rich, vibrant history.

Tumbler Ridge is situated in the foothills of Canada's Rocky Mountains, within the Great Wilderness, the largest tourism region of British Columbia. It is around 72 miles from Mile "0" of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek, and accessible via Highway 52 and Highway 29. Regularly scheduled flights arrive at airfields at Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Prince George, and Grande Prairie from cities around Canada and the U.S. Tumbler Ridge is 117 miles from Fort St. John, 155 miles from Grande Prairie, and 249 miles from Prince George.

Tumbler Ridge was originally a mining town, which grew up around the Quintette and Bullmoose coal mines. When those mines closed in the early 2000s, the town pivoted to tourism, which was helped hugely when two local children discovered dinosaur tracks. Following this discovery, more tracks, fossils, and other dinosaur remains were found, making Tumbler Ridge one of Canada's foremost destinations for dinosaur enthusiasts! The area now boasts the only known tyrannosaur trackways in the world, as well as the largest collection of bones in British Columbia and some of the oldest in Western Canada. The Tumbler Ridge Museum is a great place to start, filled with fossil specimens, dinosaur bones, interactive displays, and paleontological exhibits. But it is also worth exploring the rest of the Geopark with a keen eye, as new discoveries are made every day, and most are found by visitors!

Tumbler Ridge Global Geopark is far more than just dinosaurs, though. Recognized by UNESCO for its international geological significance, it is a playground for explorers and adventurers, filled with towering waterfalls, stunning hiking trails, amazing geological formations, towering mountain peaks, incredible alpine views, and magnificent forests. Serious hikers might want to take on the challenge of the Monkman Pass Memorial Trail, a six-day thru-hike that cuts through rugged mountain terrain and includes the Kinuseo Falls, a 200-foot cascade that is taller than Niagara Falls. For less ambitious walkers, the Shipyard-Titanic Trail at the foot of Babcock Mountain offers gorgeous alpine meadows and gravity-defying rock towers that resemble a sinking cruise liner and give the trail its name.

Canada has loads of great destinations for wildlife lovers, and they will be absolutely delighted with the array of incredible creatures that call the Tumbler Ridge Geopark and the wider Great Wilderness home. Exploring the geopark, sharp-eyed visitors might run into moose, black and grizzly bears, mountain caribou, and even mountain lions. In the skies, golden and bald eagles soar.

It is a fantastic place to visit for anyone into adventure sports, at pretty much any time of the year. During the spring and summer, ATV tours take visitors deep into the wilderness, and the raging rivers are a great place for whitewater rafting. There are some fantastic rock climbing spots, including the Shipyard and Titanic rock formations, and Boulder Gardens. During the winter months, snowmobiles replace ATVs, and snowshoes or cross-country skis are required for the trails, but the adventures continue.

Given the abundance of waterfalls in the geopark, it is hardly surprising that one of the most popular winter activities is ice climbing. For advanced climbers seeking a challenge, Bergeron Falls, one of the tallest waterfalls in northern British Columbia, is an exceptional option, while Nesbitt's Knee Falls is a little more manageable for intermediate ice climbers.