A father and toddler at the centre of an Amber Alert issued Friday in rural Alberta have both been found unharmed, Hinton RCMP say.

The father surrendered to RCMP at his home in Brule, Alta., and was "arrested without incident," Staff Sgt. Chris Murphy said at a news conference late Friday afternoon at the Hinton RCMP detachment.

Murphy had no information about charges but said the investigation continues.

"It was a very long day for everyone involved, including the mother," he said.

The Amber Alert was issued around 3:30 a.m. Friday for a missing toddler thought to have been abducted by his father.

The boy and his mother were visiting the father's home in the small Alberta town when an altercation took place, RCMP said in a news release Friday morning.

The father was armed with a rifle when he drove away with the boy in his truck, police said in that news release.

"The dad ... was seen leaving the residence with a rifle," Cpl. Laurel Scott told CBC News in an interview Friday morning. "And so we want to make sure the public understands that he is considered armed and dangerous right now."

Police said the two were seen leaving a home in Brule, in a 2002 medium green GMC Sierra pickup truck.

That truck was found Friday afternoon parked outside the father's house in Brule.

For much of the day there was a heavy police presence in the area. While the hunt for the man and his son was underway police urged members of the public to avoid the community and refrain from posting details about the search on social media.

The RCMP established roadblocks in the Hinton area to control access.

Those roadblocks have been taken down and all roads are now open, police said.

Brule is 20 kilometres west of Hinton and about 315 kilometres west of Edmonton.