Stephanie has a desire to visit all 50 states. I don’t, but she is driving the car. To put a check mark next to Montana we made the hour-long drive from Belfield, North Dakota, to Glendive, Montana, more particularly Makoshika State Park. This park is essentially Montana’s badlands with some dinosaur fossils thrown in.
At the last minute we considered cancelling our trip to Glendive because of wind. The forecast was for 30 plus mile per hour winds all day. We learned in North Dakota that occasional wind gusts and constant low speed winds are okay. Uninterrupted blasting winds, not so much. But it was too late to cancel our hotel room, so we decided to make the best of it.
We pulled into the Makoshika State Park visitor center about 11:00 AM, paid our $8 day use fee, and picked up a map. There is one main road in the park. It is about 4 miles long, out and back. The first half is paved, the back half is well graded gravel. We decided to drive to the amphitheater, eat a picnic lunch, and start exploring from there.
Unfortunately the winds did not abate at all. While eating lunch at a picnic table in the pavilion, we spent more time trying to keep our food from flying away as we did eating.
After lunch we walked out to the Twin Sisters rock formation. Since it was a short walk, the wind wasn’t much more than a nuisance.
Our second stop was the Kinney Coulee Trail, a 0.8 mile lollipop loop. The park map has contour lines to show elevation changes, but I paid no attention to it. I just figured it would be a simple loop. Nope.
It did not take long to realize that sections of this trail are fairly steep with loose dirt. The flatter portions are mostly through and around good-sized rocks. This trail is one of the more technical trails that we have hiked. Boots, hiking poles, and water are a good idea. Naturally we left all three in the car. By the time we realized our mistake, we were too far downhill to bother going back up to the car.
The views were really great and, perhaps most importantly, we were in a sheltered canyon out of the wind. On the flip side, we were in full sun most of the way. Thankfully the temperature was relatively cool.
We both liked the trail, but it was not what we expected.
Next we stopped at the Cap Rock Trail to walk out to the natural bridge. Again, this trail drops into a canyon that, thankfully, was protected from the still fiercely blowing wind.
This trail is shorter (only a 0.5 mile loop) and much easier than the Kinney Coulee Trail. Tennis shoes were fine. Neither poles nor water were necessary. We walked out to the natural bridge and then followed the sign to continue the short loop trail.
After a few twists and turns around the badlands, maybe 25 yards past the natural bridge, we promptly lost the trail. It is not well marked. After going cross country for about 10 minutes we returned to natural bridge and took the known trail back to the parking lot.
For the life of me I cannot figure out how we missed the loop. Maybe the trail is overgrown or damaged because no one bothers making this a loop. It’s easy to just go to the bridge as an out and back trail.
We left Cap Rock Trail about 2:30 PM. The wind was still blowing much harder than we liked. As a general rule, if I have to worry about my hat flying over to a farm two counties away, I don’t want to hike. At some point it becomes absurd. We decided to skip a few short hikes (Diane Gabriel Trail, Gunners Ridge Trail, and Bluebird Trail) as each is exposed to the wind.
As an aside, we learned an important lesson in dealing with high winds. Never, ever have two car doors open at the same time. If you do, the wind will funnel through your car while you watch every loose object fly out. One door at a time.
Our time in Makoshika State Park came to an early end. By 3:30 PM we had checked into our hotel and settled down to relax for a few hours before dinner.
Of note, Glendive is on the Montana Dinosaur Trail. If you’re into dinosaurs, there is a Dinosaur and Fossil Museum and a Frontier Gateway Museum that might be of interest. We skipped both to relax at the hotel.
Hiking in Makoshika State Park:
Twin Sisters Trail: 0.2 miles
Kinney Coulee Trail: 0.8 miles
Cap Rock Trail: 0.5 miles
Total Miles Hiked: a rather sad 1.5 miles
Garrett and Stephanie
To read other posts about our adventures in the National Parks and National Monuments, or elsewhere in the world, check out our Travel Blog. It contains collected links to all of our travel posts.
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