Makoshika

 

Tuesday, June 25, (cont'd)

 

As we went west from the TR National Park, we continued to see some Badlands type formations, and a sign for a little town called Home on the Range.  We didn't stop, but the words to the song, "Home on the Range" are reportedly written in stone  on the hills.  It is also a 960 acre Catholic home for boys, and the site of a fundraiser called the Champions Ride Rodeo where the top 20 cowboys in the country are invited to compete on some of rodeo's toughest  rodeo stock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are now in  Montana and Big Sky Country!

 

 

We were looking for a place to stay for the night, and wondered into Glendive.  There were three possible campgrounds, but we opted for a state park we'd never heard of.  We drove through a modest residential area and all of a sudden the vista opened up, and we were in the largest state park in Montana.  At 11,000 acres, it contains spectacular badlands that contain dinosaur fossils   There was a triceratops found here, and numerous other large dinosaurs.  Who knew?  It was such an out of the way place.

This was the view from our back window. 

At first we were the only ones in the campground, and felt like no one else had ever discovered this place.  But it has all kinds of trailheads and an 18 hole golf course, to boot!  There is an amphitheater and lots of group activities. listed.

As the sun set over our campsite, we were in awe of the beauty of this area.  If we had another day, we would have liked to explore.

By the way, Makoshika is Sioux for "bad Earth."

The cottonwoods were beautiful and there was a 3/4 moon.  We barbequed some chicken and were able to sit outside.  We read our books and even read by flashlight until the sky was dark.