The Beautiful Badlands of Montana: Makoshika State Park

Just when we realized that both North and South Dakota get credit for spectacular Badlands ... we discovered a third state with ''Badland Bragging Rights''. While it may be on a smaller scale, western Montana can boast of equally spectacular Badland scenery that is found in its Makoshika State Park. 

In the past few weeks since we started traveling west, my Google news feed has seemed to know what I need to know even before I know what I need to know. (Did you follow that??) Articles on the best campgrounds, hikes, and state parks pop up all the time. Because we are intrigued with the unique outdoor scenery and experiences that can be found in many state parks, I tend to pay attention to the ''Best State Parks'' lists. And that is how Makoshika State Park came to our attention.

Located an hour west of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, we decided to stop and check it out after boondocking at a Harvest Host brewery nearby the night before. The main campground was booked, but the ranger did say that if we wanted to drive up a fairly steep road, she though that we could get one of the primitive (meaning no water or electric hookups) first come/first serve campsites. This, once again, is the beauty of Baby Beest. She and her driver like the challenge of steep roads, and she doesn't (usually) need any hook ups since her batteries get charged while driving.

On the way up we stopped at Cap Rock Trailhead for a first glimpse at the amazing rock formations. The trail led us up, down and around all sorts of unique structures that appeared to be right out of The Flintstones television show ... complete with a the stone bridge to get from one house to the next. After our hike, we reached Pine On Rocks Primitive Campground, and as Fred would say ... ''Yabba Dabba Do!!''

We found one of our most FAVORITE CAMPSITES EVER!!!

Located on a point overlooking both sides of the canyon, we had spectacular views all around us. We are both thinking that we could have said that we were at the Grand Canyon and people would have believed us. 

That afternoon we took another hike on one of the many trails that surrounded us. 

Once again, rock bridges led us across, down and back up again.

For someone who very rarely sits still, a campsite gets true high marks from me if it calls me to just hang out in my hammock, enjoy the smell of the pine trees, listen to the birds, rock in the gentle breeze, and just enjoy the scenery. It also helps if it has a good cell signal ;-)

We struck up a conversation with the campers next to us. Craig caught our attention as he was scurrying down and back up the hillside with a very large camera and tripod in tow. He is a talented landscape photographer, and we enjoyed hearing about all the beautiful areas that he has photographed. Hearing him describe the beauty of Glacier made us even more excited about our next stop. As I was lying in my hammock, I heard a drone flying over, and shortly after, got notice of a new email. Craig had taken an amazing overhead photo of our most FAVORITE CAMPSITE EVER!!!

Seeing the landscape from that prospective will always help us remember this magical site! You can enjoy even more of his talent by visiting his website ScenicTraveling.com.

Later that evening, I found a prime seat for sunset over the beautiful Badlands of Montana. Although Makoshika State Park may not be easy to pronounce, I am sure happy that I paid attention to that ''Best of'' article that named this the best state park in Montana.

Finding hidden gems like Makoshika State Park continue to fill us with more desire to seek out all the big or small ''new-to-us'' places where God's beauty abounds. 

And seek it out we will ...

... as we ''enjoy'' our final eight hours of driving to the crown jewel of national parks ... Glacier!

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