Makoshika State Park, Glendive, MT

Tuesday August 7-Friday August 10, 2012

Makoshika State Park is an odd but very interesting area.  We had been there on our first trip out west and it's a really WEIRD place.  It's right at the edge of this little town called Glendive, MT.  You have to make a series of right and left turns to get to the park so you go from a little community environment and turn into the state park road and see all of these weird looking mountains!

Makoshika State Park is located in the rugged badlands of eastern Montana in Glendive. The name Makoshika (Ma-ko'-shi-ka) is a variant of a Lakota phrase meaning land of bad spirits or "badlands". Although the area resembles the badlands of the Dakotas, these badlands expose older rock layers. Makoshika is the largest state park in Montana, covering over 11,400 acres. 

Our camp site is one of those specs!

The campground has no water or electricity on each site.  There are about 10 sites in one part of the park and then remote ones scattered thru to park itself.  It's not well populated, although for one night it was almost full!  Go figure.

The morning temperatures are wonderful. A light breeze and moderate temps. We even needed a comforter during the night.

However, during the day it is really oppressive and incredibly windy. Temps in the high 90's with no shade on the campsite. The wind was so strong last night that I was wondering if we should tie down the camper. Ed assured me we were good 'anchors' on one side of the camper and that it wasn't going any where.

We took a sunset cruise one night to take a look at the changing colors of the mountains.  The park itself goes in about 8-10 miles so there are lots of windy roads to travel that lead to little trails that can be hiked.  There were a few washed out sections of the road that we had to cross. It was a good thing the weather was so dry since there were signs telling you that the roads were not passable if it was raining or wet  (Flashbacks of our adventure in July!!!)

The town of Glendive was great.  They had a wonderful, active library and an excellent Albertsons grocery store! (little things make me happy!).