Makoshika State Park is located near Glendive, Montana, close to the North Dakota boarder. The name in the Lakota language means “land of bad spirits’ and refers to the badlands that make the park. We visited the area in the summer of 2023 and enjoyed the park. Here are several important tips on visiting Makoshika State Park in Montana.
Important tips on visiting Makoshika State Park in Montana
Enjoy the land formations
The park has interesting land formations ranging from cap rocks to spires and hoodoos. If you have visited Badlands National Park or Theodore Roosevelt National Park, you would have seen similar rock formations there. They are fun to look at, walk around, and examine up close. The various Trails in the park take you virtually right to them.
Go hiking
Makoshika State Park offers a variety of hiking trails of varied lengths. Since we visited the park in the summer, it was essentially too hot to venture on a longer hike. We did however do a couple of shorter trails, which were both fun and very scenic. The Cap Rock Trail is, in my opinion, a must while visiting the park. It’s only 0.5 miles and takes you through many different rocks caps and spires to a cool natural bridge. Twin Sisters is another great hike that takes you to an interesting structure that looks like a couple of sisters.
Hiles Overlook is also worth checking out for awesome views of the park’s badlands.
Learn about dinosaurs
This is also a great place to learn about the dinosaurs that lived in the area millions of years ago. Excavations are still going on and many dinosaur fossils have been discovered in the park. The visitor center has an interesting display of skulls and other fossils of Tyrannosaurs Rex as well as Triceratops.
Camp in the park
There are several campgrounds in the park, some sites reservable and others first come first served. We actually didn’t camp in the park but checked it out. The campsites seemed quite nice and fairly private. The only thing is that in the summer you’re bound to have bugs- gnats, flies, and mosquitoes.
Interested in doing other things in the area?
While in the area, you may want to visit Theodore Roosevelt National Park or Medicine Rocks State Park. Click on the links to learn more. They are great places to visit.
