Red Rock Coulee Natural Area

This is a day-use park only. It has no facilities or services, and camping is not allowed. What it does have, however, is some excellent hiking trails and the chance to spot wildlife. Keep your eyes peeled for white-tailed jack rabbits, mule deer, pronghorn, western rattlesnakes, bull snakes, short-horned lizards and scorpions. (You may be relieved to learn that scorpions are rare in Alberta.) While wildlife spotting offers no guarantees, visitors will definitely see an evocative landscape. There are steep-sided coulees, a small upland of fescue-needle grass and hoodoos. The plants include sagebrush, prickly pear cactus and prairie crocus. Of course, there are also the red rocks that give the place its name. Some measure 2.5 m (8 ft) across. The sandstone rocks—“concretions” in geological terms—have eroded out of the bedrock and are thought to be among the largest in the world.