The Royal Tyrrell Museum holds the largest collection of dinosaur specimens in Canada—over 160,000 fossils catalogued since its opening in 1985. Named after geologist Joseph Burr Tyrrell, who discovered Alberta's first Albertosaurus skull in 1884 along the Red Deer River valley, the institution anchors Drumheller's identity as the paleontological heart of North America. The badlands surrounding the town expose sediment layers from the Late Cretaceous period, when this region sat at the western edge of a shallow inland sea. Erosion has carved the Horsethief Canyon and created the hoodoo formations that define the landscape today. A bus tour from Calgary to Drumheller covers 135 kilometres of prairie highway before descending into the Red Deer River valley, where the terrain shifts abruptly from flat grassland to sculpted rock. The museum itself occupies 14,100 square metres across three levels, with ten permanent galleries tracing life on Earth from the Precambrian era through the Ice Age. The Dinosaur Hall displays more than 40 mounted skeletons, including a complete Tyrannosaurus rex and the marine reptile Shonisaurus. The Cretaceous Garden recreates vegetation from 70 million years ago using living plant analogues, while the Preparation Lab allows visitors to observe technicians extracting fossils from rock matrix through floor-to-ceiling windows. Drumheller's terrain formation began 70 million years ago when rivers deposited sand and mud across floodplains, burying organic matter that would fossilize under pressure. Glacial meltwater carved the valley 13,000 years ago, exposing strata rich in dinosaur remains. The town's economy shifted from coal mining to paleontourism after the museum's construction, with visitor numbers now exceeding 400,000 annually. Small-group excursions typically include stops at the Hoodoos Trail, where mushroom-shaped sandstone pillars rise seven metres from the valley floor, and Horseshoe Canyon, a natural amphitheatre offering unobstructed views of layered sedimentary rock. The Calgary to Royal Tyrrell Museum route remains the most direct access point for international visitors, with departure times coordinated to maximize daylight hours during excavation season from May through September.