Glendive, Montana, Makoshika State Park, geology, paleontology, walking and rock climbing! It’s beautiful here in an odd way. Rugged, rocky, layers upon layers of earth! Our first adventure was to drive as far as we could in the state park (which is Montana’s largest state park). We investigated some hiking trails, but they all looked dangerous for us older less experienced hikers! But we took lots of pictures!
The second evening we noticed a bench across the draw from our campground and asked several of the returning hikers how the trail was. They responded in agreement that we were capable of making it! So off we went! Early on we had an option of going “Grassland” or “Badland”. Grassland was .2 miles longer, but we opted for that. We use an app called Strava to document or walks, hikes, bike rides, which is a really cool app and as long as you remember to set it as you start off, it gives you a really great detailed account of your activies. Friends and relatives who also have Strava can ‘follow’ you and you give each other ‘kudos’ on activities completed!
After crossing the grassland we started our ascent, it seemed grueling, but we made it up, first to see the hadrosaur vertebrae (circled in blue) then continuing up to the bench! We met a nice young lady and her corgi Winston. She was kind enough to take pictures of us. Proof we made it to the top!
We made it to the top! We made it back down! We did take the “Badlands” segment of the trail on the way back. We sure enjoyed ourselves and our accomplishment!
We stretched muscles that hadn’t been stretched for a great while, we were sore and slept like babies! Tomorrow, northeast to the Yellowstone and Missouri Confluence Interpretative Center!
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