Makoshika State Park

Makoshika State Park is a world of wonderous landscapes, scenery

For those who want to get to know the landscape of eastern Montana, one of the best ways is to pack a picnic, a camera and an inquiring mind and venture into Makoshika State Park — Montana’s largest state park.

The 11,531-acre park, located on the southeast edge of Glendive, celebrates its 57th anniversary in 2010. Makoshika (pronounced Mah-koh’-shi-kah) gets its name from a Lakota phrase meaning “land of bad spirits” or “badlands.”

The first few miles of park road pass through a coulee surrounded by rugged gumbo knobs. Keep going and you’ll find pine trees, scenic views of a valley 600 feet below, and a sense of freedom only nature can provide. Look closer, and you will find even more.

Here, wind and water erosion are constantly changing the sandstone knobs and caprocks. Evergreens stand in contrast to the red scoria on other hillsides. During warm months, over 150 species of wildflowers mix with grasses and shrubs. Mule deer, though good at hiding in the park’s many coulees, can be seen — especially in the early morning and evening. Coyotes, bobcats, turkey vultures, prairie falcons, golden eagles, meadowlarks and mountain bluebirds also reside in the park.

Millions of years ago, dinosaurs walked the badlands. Fossils of 10 species of dinosaur have been found in Makoshika, with the endless potential for more. The most well-known fossil in Makoshika is Triceratops, but Edmontosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex have also been found.

In 1991, volunteers from the Milwaukee Public Museum excavated a Triceratops skull and skeleton, which is on display in the visitor center. In 1997, a full skeleton of the extremely rare Buganosaura was excavated and airlifted out of the park by a team from the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. Makoshika Park will have a cast of the skeleton to display in the visitor center when it is completed by Museum of the Rockies staff.

The visitor center holds many other displays in addition to the fossils. The Seaway exhibit helps visitors understand what the park was like when it was under an inland sea. Other exhibits, such as “A Moment of Dinosaurs” and “Ages of Erosion” help explain the fossils and landscape found in the park.

There are scores of places to hike in Makoshika, but only three hiking trails have been fully developed by the park. All of the trails are covered in gumbo, which is extremely slick when wet; none of them should be attempted immediately following a rainstorm or snow melt.

The Diane Gabriel Trail, a 1.5-mile loop through the badlands and grassland terrain, leaves the campground in Cains Coulee. The highlight of the trail is a fossil site where a Hadrosaur (duckbill dinosaur) is locked in a sandstone block.

The Cap Rock Nature Trail is a one-mile loop that features a close-up look at soil strata, caprocks and a spectacular natural bridge. Interpretive signs are placed at the trail’s entrance and leaflet guides are available.

The third developed hiking trail, the Kinney Coulee Trail, is located about four miles from the park entrance. The shortest trail at half a mile, the hike will take you 300 feet down to the bottom of a coulee, through pine trees and across eroding shapes that stir the imagination and pique the interest of the curious.

A developed campground is located one mile into Makoshika, and for the adventurous types there are more rugged sites scattered throughout the park. The campground has modern vault pit toilets and drinking water available from mid-May until October. There is another, semi-developed campground about three miles into the park, also with toilets but without drinking water. The other, more isolated camping sites include tables and grills. There is a $12 camping fee for all camping in the park, though passport-holders pay only $9.

About five miles into the park, there is an A-frame lodge with beds, living spaces, a kitchen and a spectacular view. It is the Lions Youth Camp, owned and operated by the Glendive Lions Club. There is also a second, smaller lodge with eight smaller cabins, outdoor barbecues horseshoe pits, reserve use of the lodge.

The newly renovated Makoshika Amphitheatre hosts the Makoshika Melodrama, a dinner theater production, every August. At 8 a.m. on Sundays during the summer, church services are held at the Makoshika Amphitheater overlooking the park and every year multiple educational and entertainment programs take place in the amphitheatre and the group use shelter.

The park offers special summer programs each Thursday from the first week of June until the last week of July. The educational summer youth program takes place every Thursday morning and the all-ages Campfire Talks are given by speakers on a multitiude of subjects, such as astronomy, history and geology, each Thursday evening. Nature talks are also scheduled throughout the summer.

There is a target shooting range about half a mile from the park’s entrance, and approximately six miles in is the Makoshika Bowmen Archery Range. The field range has targets set to National Field Archery Association standards. The rifle range is open to the public as part of the park’s day use regulations, while the archery range requires a daily use permit. Inquire at the visitor center.

There are approximately 12 miles of road running through Makoshika Park, and only the first two miles are paved. The next five miles are all-weather, but the last five miles of road are unimproved, impassable in wet conditions, narrow, twisting, and hilly. Trailers and motorhomes are not recommended past the second mile because of a series of switchbacks which proceed up the hill at a 15 percent grade. A Makoshika State Park road guide detailing the features of the park is available for purchase for $2 at the Glendive Area Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture in downtown Glendive or at the park’s visitor center.

Montana residents are able to enter all state parks with a valid Montana license plate. Non-residents are subject to daily entrance fees or can choose to purchase an annual Montana state park pass. Call the visitor center (406) 377-6256 for schedules and other information.