Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park

Alberta is home to alien-looking rock formations called hoodoos and one of the best places to see them is at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, right at the southern end of the province. This UNESCO World Heritage Site isn’t just special because it’s beautiful, but it’s also sacred to the Blackfoot people, whose ancestors left rock carvings and paintings on the hoodoos, having had inhabited the land for over 10,000 years.
The hoodoos can be viewed by wandering along the Matapiiksi (Hoodoo) Trail, a 1.5-mile (2.5km) path that weaves throughout the formations, with the carvings visible as visitors walk by. There are some steep sections and the natural terrain can be a bit uneven, making it inaccessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs, but the walk isn’t overly difficult. Hikers also get a view of the sediment-laden Milk River, the only river in Canada that drains south into the Mississippi drainage system.

An amazing experience. A sacred site for indigenous peoples with spiritual overtones for visitors even now. The snakes are migrating for hibernation in the special hibernaculums located in the park - who knew?

Unbelievable experience! So much history! So much to see and great campground! Visit the information center before you explore! Full dumping station with fresh water fill up!

One of the best Provincial parks. Super nice and quiet, campground is great, and views are worth the drive

Great scenic views. 2nd time being here. There aren't signs to direct you where to exit. Trail not friendly for everyone. People with mobility concerns should avoid this trail. Come prepared with water, had heat exhaustion and got lost easily. My mom had to be rescued because there are many steep areas and her legs are bad. I had to scale a rock with a 12 foot drop in order to get immediate help. Rangers were friendly and quick to aid safely. Took a lot of beautiful photos though and will be more prepared next time.

Amazing location. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a very modern visitor center. There are paid guided tours, but they also have a little tour book for self-guided tours.
There is drinkable water and coin-operated showers on site.
The rock formations/hoodoos are spectacular in person. Pay attention for plants you won't find in Northern Alberta, especially rare grasses and cacti.
Weather can change in a heartbeat. Even if it says 0% chance of rain, that can become "severe thunderstorm warning" unexpectedly, as happened to us yesterday.
Overall, highly recommend this place! Bring a swimsuit since the Milk River runs right beside the campground.

Great provincial park. Facilities and staff are first rate and the park itself is very interesting visually and historically. Could spend at least half a day there if not a whole one. In summer be sure to bring water and sunscreen and consider leaving your dog at home.pretty hot place in July and August.

Best place in Canada to see hoodoos as there's an entire valley of them. Visit the interpretive centre, and head to the lookout point west. Some of the Writing on Stone has been vandalized over the years, but the scenes remain intact.

The interpretive centre is free, and it's one of the best I've seen geared towards keeping kids attentive. Lots of games and interactive elements. Not much for refreshments in the giftshop other than water and some beef jerky.

The Hoodoo Interpretive Trail is a beautiful hike, however all the interpretive panels have been removed, so pick up a brochure at the visitor centre before taking the hike so you know what you're looking at. There's more signs in the parking lot at the trail head. They change the route occasionally for ecological preservation. Also great place to see stars at night among the hoodoos.

Great place to camp overnight, as you can get up early while it's still cool and take the hoodoo trail hike.

Honestly, this park is a must visit for provincial and national park enthusiasts.need to bring your own food and drinks - especially lots of water.there was warnings for rattlesnakes however did not see any; it was 33 degrees 2 Sep 2022.

A great place for a day's hike or camping. I went on a guided tour to see pictoglyphs only accessible on a tour. The guide was amusing and informative. The badlands are yellowish, with a character much different than Drumheller, Alberta.

Simply amazing. Freely walk around and explore, but I recommend taking the tours with a guide. The guided tour will take you to the actual writings with a great explanation/interpretation. Would definitely love to go again.

Wonderful vacation location. Be warned that this is typically a very hot destination in summer. Was only here for 2 nights of camping but got to enjoy a lot of the activities in that time: floating down the Milk River, exploring the hoodoos, taking one of the UNESCO tours of the restricted area, walking all of the hiking trails, taking in an evening interpretative shows and visiting the visitor centre and gift shop. You don't want to miss the beach, the cute bunnies, deer, and resident owl.

Really nice park. Very unique experience in alberta. Wanted to go hear my whole life and finally made it. Got caught in a sudden storm, but really enjoyed the walk we were able to do. Beautiful views, worth seeing.

We stayed here for 2 nights. Just happened to come across it when looking for a campground just over the border at Coutts. So happy we did! What a lovely park with interesting rock formations sitting along the Milk River. Also this park has a huge collection of petroglyphs. Great hiking through the hoodoos with views of the river and petroglyphs. Quiet campground along the river. Interesting displays in the Visitor Center. We had electric - 30 amp - hook up. Filled up with water at the beginning of the park. Dump station was there as well. This campground is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Weak AT&T cell service in the campground. Though there was wi-fi available at the Visitor Center, but our AT&T hotspot worked better.

I could have spent all day walking around the hoodoos that make up this majestic and magical oasis.

It's a shame that many of the petroglyphs have been surrounded by modern graffiti/vandalism.

The campsite along the river looks like a great spot to settle into to spend a few days while you truly experience the spirituality and emotional impact of this incredible geological wonder.

I had my first encounter with a rattlesnake here. Keep your ears open. They let you know when you get too close.

A world heritage site with much history. But its just fun to walk through the hoodoos. There's a good visitor centre with souvenirs and a little store by the campground for snacks. A nice beach and a slow moving river to float down. I recommend taking the tour, sadly due to vandalism the best writing is not accessible without it.

Always find myself surprised by how uniquely beautiful it is here. A lot of fun to climb the rocks and jump around with the kids. Unique rocks to climb and explore. Great photo spots. In the campground there are lots of picnic tables and firepits. Bathrooms, Ice cream shop. Head to the river for a cool swim. They have a foot shower so you can rinse off your feet. They also have a nice boardwalk staircase built to get to the beach. I saw several elderly people using that rather than the worn path to the beach. We've seen snakes every time we've gone. We go looking for them though so it's not common to see on the well used paths.

Writing-on-stone Provincial Park truly is unique and beautiful. It is amazing, how in the borders of one province you can see absolutely different landscape formations with it's unique view, flora and fauna. Be careful with the snakes

Its one of a kind experience because you have to find the ancient writings in the rocks. Make sure to get the booklet map at the information center so you can start looking for the clues where to find the writings. Its exciting and fascinating at the same time especially when you find it.

A rare gem. Worth the drive! Tour was great too! So many different views will make you gasp! Your kids will love it! So many places to explore!

Super stunning visit! Super easy to hike/navigate and well created "tour" that you can do. The visitors center was really well done.

We camped a few days here and the location for the campsites was a little crowded, but expected considering the area is so accessible. If you are like me and prefer crownland or a bit more privacy, you might want to find something else. That being said, we lucked out as we attended in the middle of the week and the grounds were pretty empty!

One of the most incredible and strangely beautiful places on earth. Love this place…every time.

The trails were great. Was a little difficult finding it. We had to ask for directions as the signs were not clear, coming from Milk River. Drove to the travel information center and found it closed. The was a family taking pictures of their children playing on the tiny dinosaurs, who pointed us in the correct direction and we pointed to the map on the bulletin board.

Writing-on-Stone is excellent, with Hoodoo Trail being among the best walks for families with young children. One downside is that there are not good nearby places to stay outside of the excellent campsite that is always full and not available. We stayed in Lethbridge both times we've visited, which works but is not ideal. Further, good luck finding places to eat - so you'd better back plenty of food!

Calming, historical and a good place to camp. The comfort camping option was excellent.
When I was there last I saw some kids scratching stick figures on the rocks. Grandpa when was drafted to mind them was to winded/ out of it to mind them. So please watch your kids so they don’t deface this place. The graffiti here is the worst kind of self centred

We stayed in Lethbridge overnight and decided to do a quick trip here. It's an hour away from there. It didn't disappoint us! Beautiful area with camp sites. Make sure you have your hiking shoes and sticks. We'll definitely come back to hike more and paddle in the river.

Beautiful hike. Full of history. Fairly easy, I think most people would be able to do this hike. Took us about 2 hours to get to the battle scene, but we stopped and looked around a lot.

This is an amazing provincial park to visit and a fantastic campground for camping. As this is a popular camping site, you need book it way in advanced.

You can buy firewood at the campground. You also have very clean and well maintained flash toilet and hot shower (2.5 mins for loonies and 5mins for toonies).

The hoodoo trial is must to do. It’s a 2.5km one way hike from the campground. But you can drive to each of the view points by car. Do not miss the battle scene point where the scene is carved on the wall.

But make sure you are always looking around and listening to rattle of rattlesnake as we came across two of them literally in the trail.

1st visit to the park, beautiful camp ground, showers, beach, small store, and interpretation center, grandkids loved scrambling on the hoodoo. Great TRIP!

This place is magical. I will cherish the experience and the time I got to spend with an elder of the Blackfoot First Nation who said a prayer in his native language (Siksiká). He also guided us to do our tobacco offering in a respectful manner.

I am troubled by the vandalism on the rocks in the area that is free to the public. I am also troubled by the offerings placed in that area that are stolen. It is really unfortunate that people feel the need to disrespect such sacred land and culture.

We had a super time. Drove in from Lethbridge for the day. Brought our two small dogs with us and they walked everywhere on leashes. Many information panels outside to read about the history of the park. We couldn't take the dogs into the interpretive center / gift shop. We managed to take turns inside.

This is an amazing place. We did the tour with a park interpreter and it was an amazing experience. Would highly recommend a visit. If you do go please be respectful of this special place. Sadly they gave to put signs up about not defacing the rock with graffiti. Can definitely be hot as well, so take a hat and lots of water.

Amazing place with magical feel. Worth visiting and really enjoyed the Rock Art history tour. Great place to learn about history of Canada

Vraiment un beau paysage! Pour ceux qui aime ça des roches, c'est parfait comme endroit. Cependant, pour le camping et la rivière c'est très ordinaire! On y va vraiment juste pour les roches haha

It had been quite awhile since we had visited here. It was great re-exploring all the trails and hoodoos again. Of note was the good cell service, unlike years ago. Milk River was flowing well and we would have liked to float down the river in the kayak, starting up-river and down to the campground, but there is no way to return to your vehicle. Too bad there is no shuttle for that. A nice 4-day stay though.

Absolutely stunning scenery and landscape! The visitor centre is worth visiting and learning about the Indigenous culture and history that is tied to this area! The hoodoo trail was so unique and being near the Sweet Grass Mountains of Montana is also a neat feature of this place. Campground was well kept and staff were very friendly! Definitely worth another visit!

This is a place for families to connect with the history, land and life of the Blackfoot people. Please take a tour/s.it’s a privilege to be guided by an Elder.

Very nice campground and interestingscenery. We were sorry we only booked 1 night. There was a mama deer and her 3 fawns who were coming and going. Super cute.

The park is awesome, the campground is awesome! One of my favourites. There’s showers (2$ if I remember correctly), a beach (no pet allowed), you can bring your air mattress or whatever floating device to enjoy a lazy-river style ride, and the hoodoo trail is spectacular I’ll certainly go back there on next summer! Drinking water has a weird taste though; bring your water container.

Loved this park. It had everything an info center, clean bathrooms lots of space to eat and a fun little concession stand. The trails were breathtaking. It was like travelling back in time. 100% worth a visit.

A very interesting place! Very beautiful stone structures.and by the way the washrooms are really clean and well maintained.

The tour was a little bit underwhelming. One wall of petroglyphs. We were expecting a hike and tour

Amazing area. River float is great. Hoodoos are good and make sure to do the $15 tour. 3-5000 year old petroglyphs are amazing.

Extremely helpful and friendly staff! My family and I had some vehicle issues at the site, and at one point were debating if we wanted to spend the night in our car and wait for a towing service in the morning. Not only did the staff help us get a permit so we could stay the night in the parking lot, but one of the employees, Amy, volunteered to make us dinner as well! We did eventually get some roadside assistance and were able to drive home, but we'll never forget the hospitality, and kindness that the staff at the visitor center showed us.

We went for the view. It did not disappoint. No fee to enter the park. Very helpful staff. We listened to the Snake Awareness speaker and it really helped me feel better and gave me to tools. We did not see a snake. Snake information scared kids then they didn’t want to walk. But at least they were informed what to do. Good beach area. Amazing playground! Good for ages 6-68 for us.

Fantastic campground. We did the Interpretative Tour, Campfire stories at the amphitheatrw, Hoodoo Trail and walked the hoodoos near the Visitor Centre. Be aware for rattlesnakes as we saw a few there over the three nights we were out there.

Most people know hoodoos from Drumheller but not in Writing-on-stone. Too bad I don't have enough time to walk throught the whole trail.

Highly recommended to join the day tour, the staff will explain and tell stories of the history of Writing-on-stone.

An amazing park with lots of historical culture to explore. There is not a lot of shaded areas so make sure you bring enough water with you. There is a lovely river with a beach at the campground that you can swim in on a hot day.

Beautiful place. One of Alberta's must see parks, you will learn about the indigenous peoples of the area and see some cool landscapes

Well worth the trip - incredible history, art, culture and scenery! The park works hard to preserve the rock art - the hike is beautiful and if you can get up to the lookout for sunrise or sunset I would recommend it! Facilities were clean and close by, and we had service and data the whole time if that’s important to you. Bring a good floaty and take a lazy trip down the milk river! The sites weren’t very private which was my only complaint but it’s such a unique provincial park - would highly recommend! Keep in mind if you have a pet with you, you cannot do the tour which means you won’t see a lot of the rock art, but you can take your dog on the trail and there’s some incredible art to see there.

This park was quite the experience. I need to come back because we went during the heat wave and it was extremely hot. The views were spectacular out of this world. I think it would be neat to camp here. You can camp beside the water. Then there are trails. There are carvings in the stones. Easy to see why it's a UNESCO protected site. Watch out for snakes.

Interesting history.very informative guided tour of area. Super knowledgeable and fun guide loved to talk. Watch out for rattle snakes.

Spectacular scenery, nice safe family campground. Most likely as a result of parts of this park being protected world heritage site there is a lot of law enforcement presence. The conservation officers are generally very nice, very friendly and assuming your are willing to meet them half way, forgiving of minor problems. However the hourly patrols do start to feel a little oppressive.

This is also the hottest and driest part of the province, with a fairly significant amount of biting insects.

Other than this, it is a very nice campsite with a unique beach that is, with proper parental supervision, very child friendly.

Please if you have very small children wearing life jackets keep in mind that while not deep, the river was a very fast current.

In general absolutely must be visited at least once. A walk through the maze of weather carved sandstone formations is unlike anything else we have ever seen and must be experienced.

Mind blowing hoodoos, and seeing the writing is amazing! Probably one of the best sites to visit in Alberta!

Super cool place lots to see. Dress for hiking not wheelchair accessable except the visitors center and picnic area at the main parking and viewing area.nice little beach area and overnight camping at the milk rivers edge.

A great place for the whole family to climb and explore and we loved playing in the shallow river to cool off after.

Worth the drive!

Hubby, daughter and I ventured out to Writing on Stone Provincial Park because it comes highly recommended.
Well, I’m happy to jump on that bandwagon too. This is a lovely campground, with everything you need to have a comfy stay. Washrooms, showers and a little convenience store.
The interpretive centre is also pretty cool and little kids love it!
The best part of this place are the amazing walking trails and views - they are awe inspiring!

Amazing place, with gorgeous scenery. Would come back in an instant. Can get a little hot though so bring your sunscreen.

Amazing spot on the Milk River with a beautiful trail that winds upriver through fantastic hoodoos to a rock cliff with stone writing on it. Lots of wild flowers still even in mid August. Very interesting visitor center perched on the cliff top.

An amazing gem tucked away in the province. Well worth the drive if you're nearby. Lots of exploring and things to see for people all ages!

Beautiful place. The hoodoo trail is 4.5km round trip. Pretty hot though. Bring water bottles. You can fill them for free at the visitors center. Watch for snakes!

Beautiful scenery and very spiritual atmosphere. But the campground washrooms were gross and not clean. Also really annoying that we had to move campsites our second night. The reservation systems needs to be revised.

What an amazing Provincial Park! It’s almost like you travel to another country! The Grassland is an amazing part of the Province and I would highly recommend a visit. It’s a bit of drive from Edmonton, AB but totally doable!

First time here lots of native culture, our guide is full of wonderful information an must see place to visit.

So different than flat prairies! Nice hike and views. Milk River is slow and peaceful. A few tubers. Sadly there is vandalism on the wall writings. Still amazing it's there.

Busy, but will be back again. Awesome time to float down milk river, play at river beach and hike the hoodoos

This is seriously one of the most amazing parks in Alberta. The campground is down in a cottonwood oasis next to Milk River. The entire campground is surrounded by giant hoodoos with petrographs and trailheads start right in the campground. There are also multiple locations around the campground and further down the trails for launching tubes to float down the river. You can hop off at the beach and start again! Clean showers and toilets, complete with a small general store! Incredible place for families.

Really nice campground, good amenities, although the spot we got was backwards, the power hookup is right next to the firepit, which makes it hard to plug into without an extension cord.otherwise it was really nice! I would come back

Incredible place both spiritually and by viewing the natural landscape. Well worth the visit to explore this unique part of Canada. The campground was clean, fairly private, had a small store and had a camp host that was very informative. The Interpretive Centre at the beginning of the park entrance offers a full explanation of the provincial park, panoramic view and as well has as a gift and souvenir shop.

Awesome hoodoos to explore, and make sure to bring your bathing suit and a floaty for the easy flowing river that horseshoes the campground.

Amazing! Great place for a weekend visit. Great view from the visitor center and the cliff above Police Coulee. Nice campground for the people who like to camp. A nice beach on the Milk River. You can float on the river on tubes from one end of the park to the beach. The Hoodoos are amazing.

Went during the long weekend. It was hot, plus 30 but the hike itself was exciting and not to steep of an incline. The hoodoo trail had an information book on the various stops and the interpretive center and the hoodoos were both very interactive. A good place for children and adults alike. There is a river to go swim in (which we didn't partake in.)

Great place for the family! Always love coming here! Brings back memories of being a kid and camping here. Lots to do and learn

Beautiful area, the hoodoos are breathtaking! We camped here and the facilities were good. Milk River is a fast moving river, so be cautious. There is a lovely sandy beach area. Sunsets were gorgeous, with the unique hoodoos in the background. Saw 2 huge bull snakes; if you don't love these reptiles then look elsewhere.

Nice place to go with the family for a day trip or for camping. The grounds are amazing and the milk river is beautiful. The only thing is that it's super far away from calgary and the road there is not as beautiful as the one to the mountains.