Makoshika State Park Campground

Small campground with vault toilets, and drinking water. a mile away from the campground are standalone sites you can drive into and park one vehicle you’re champion if you get site #22.

Amazing views all around, definitely worth the stop. Scenic drives & hikes. Absolutely loved this area.

Dry camping with potable water. You might get some generator noise, but during our 3 night stay only 1 camper violated the 8pm-8am quiet rule.

Groceries & gas a couple miles away. Like others noted, the road coming in is real rough, take it slow.

Campsites in the main campground were lovely! They had a nice amount of privacy. Verizon service but only 2 bars, only good enough to send texts.

Amazing trails, stunning scenery, very cool disc golf course. Would absolutely go back.

What an amazing place! We arrived in the dark and woke up to the most amazing sunrise! Toilets. No electricity. Only $24 for non-residents

This is on of the coolest state parks this side of the Cenozoic Period! They found dinosaur fossils in this park. and you never know you just might find some too! Our campsites butted right up to a cool mountain and the peaks are small enough for you to scamper around on. PLUS the have the coolest frisbee golf course this side of the jurassic Period with embedded holes spread over the ancient cretaceous landscape! How cool is that.

Astronomy wise this is a Bortle Class 4 site SQM: 21.62 mag./arc sec2. I did not get to observe due to smoke and poor weather.

All sites are primitive but there is fresh water in each of the two campgrounds and vault toilets are nearby. Trash pickup id also available. There is no dump-station but one is close by at: Glendive Landfill City government office 801 E Brennan St. (406) 377-9839

Hiking at the park contains easy and tough trails but each one is sure to delight with wonder and discovery on each one.

Brother and I crashed here late so we drove in in the dark. We were delighted in the morning to find a beautiful park and a super lucky campsite with a bathroom and some trees for hammocking and two tent pads! Would love to stay here again. The out of state fee is $28/night

Spent a night here while on a road trip. Beautiful landscape and clean, quiet campgrounds. Great place to explore!

The scenery here is incredible! Beautiful views from the campground. Also there is a really awesome disc golf course. I don’t play, but I want to play here!

Roads are paved, some better than others, sites a mix of blacktop and gravel. Water hydrant and vault toilets. Badlands geography and fossils are the main draw. Wasn’t crowded in September and most folks were quiet.

Be careful on the road from the visitor center to the campground - very rough. Otherwise, this is a decent campground with fabulous views of the surrounding badlands. No electric sites or dump station, but there is potable water available at the campground. It’s very close to the interstate, so it makes a great stopover.

We stayed here one night on our way to Oregon, on a Friday, August 1st. We got there just as the rangers were leaving and were told the sites were full but there was an overflow parking lot where we could stay. Then a ranger came out of the visitor center and said some one had just cancelled so we could have site #5. Huzzah!

The campground is small and there is no electricity. The scenery around you is stunning "Badlands" type scenery with wildflowers and blooming cactus along the road. The sites are crowded together but even though the reservations were full, a couple sites remained empty all night. That irks me because other people could have used them if they had been polite and canceled like the people who did so for site #5. The parking lot area was full too. Met some nice people at the campground though.

There is a nice drive into the hills of the "badlands" and a picnic area with disc golf. Also you can rent a teepee or a gypsy wagon for the night!

Stay up too. Rustic with bathrooms

Wow! What planet is this on? We loved our stay at Makoshika and highly recommend a visit to this otherworldly park. Campground is not fancy, but sites are adequate, Plenty of water accessible throughout park. Lots of hiking trails that explore the unique formations that make a visit to this park a must.

This park is so much fun with great easy dog and family friendly hikes. The camp spots and scattered throughout the park and really nice. Water and bathrooms available too.

The road to the top campsites was precarious, but we parked our 22 foot campervan plus bike rack in the site with plenty of room to spare. The view and sunrise were absolutely gorgeous.

This is a gorgeous setting! Stunning views everywhere you look. Lots of great hiking trails for all abilities. Great ranger staff. Very interesting visitor's center. Disc golf course. If it rains, the mud is insane! Thick, really slippery and sticks to everything. No hookups, water is good tasting. Dispersed areas are so beautiful!

One of Montana's hidden gems, plenty of hiking trails and don't forget your camera. So many majestic views. Camp grounds are basic with water and a very nice Disc golf course to try very skills at.

Absolutely worth a visit on your way to Teddy Roosevelt - push past the steep grade for some great views and privacy or enjoy the frisbee golf near the entrance...

Great spot! Beautiful sites with fantastic views. First come first camped , perfect!

Arrived 9pm tired on motorcyle weeknight end of June slept on the bench without tent hiked at 5am and left well worth the ride on my way to Theodore Roosevelt park

Got to the campground at dark. Only sites available were up a 15% switchback road, trailers discouraged but we were told by the camp hosts we wouldn’t have a problem with our teardrop. The road was no joke and nerve wracking but once we were up at the top of the hill things were ok and gravel road. Very busy with vehicle traffic from people within the park leaving much after dark.

I didn’t make a reservation, but was able to find a site just fine! I stayed in site #29, in the Pine on the Rocks area, which was the best site I saw when I was driving around looking for one. Beautiful views right from the comfort of my hammock. The shade and a nice breeze kept me cool until the sun went down. A nice little retreat from my long day of driving.

Makoshika State Park is beautiful camping and is about as good as it gets for primitive camping. There's quite a few hiking trials, a small museum and a gift shop at the Visitors Center. The photography options are just about endless. Also, don't let anyone fool you into believing the Diane Gabriel Trail is "easy." I mean, it's not bad … until you have to scale the hill. Beautiful views though.

If you're in a tent or a pop-up, there are some very cool primitive sites up the switchbacks that provide spectacular views of the park. If you have a camper or RV, camping in the coulee is wonderful. 

The only negative is the primitive camping angle when there exists the ability for each site to have both water and electric. They added water spigots on each side of the Cains Coulee Campground earlier this year, but if they were running lines, why not run to every site? I understand if it's a water pressure issue, but still. Electric as well. The Camp Hosts now have water, electric and sewer. It'd make sense to bring that to all the sites. Not only would it make camping at Makoshika a 5-star experience, it'd allow everyone to enjoy the peacefulness of the Cains Coulee valley without a bunch of generators running.

Our experience was awesome and we will be returning next year.

Nice stop or weekend. No power, water at visiors center. Verizon service limited to none. Great trails for hikes. Hosts helpful.

This was one of several sites up a winding steep but paved road where trailers are not allowed. We had a very private site #20 with our own clean private vault toilet and garbage can. It was down a single track rutted road but our 24’ pop up truck camper made it with ease. We could see some of the hoodoos if we walked around. There was lots of room to set up a tent and just wander around. Cost was $14. We had groupings of pine trees for shade as it can get hot there even in Late September.

There is a campground for larger RVs but they are on asphalt closer to the entrance. They were crowded and it looked hot there.

It seems like I’ve said every campground on my trip was awesome. However it was my first time to the west AND The Dyrt helped me plan my trip so I found some AWESOME campgrounds.

Makoshika Stare Park has a Triceratops on the sign, how can you not get excited about checking it out! Kids would love this park.

The campground I stayed at has a reservable TP , a pit toilet and good sized sites but not much shade. My site ran right up to the edge of a drop off. My Pomeranian , being the bonehead he is jumped right in ! Luckily it was only about 6 or 7 feet.

The hiking was ...well... Awesome! Lol You can actually walk through the hills and on top and around. There were rabbits appearing and disappearing. There were benches in interesting places. Informational markers and interesting spots.

Excellent place to bring the kids.

Pros: Scenery is beautiful, staff are helpful, fellow campers quiet and respectful. Con: due to landscape and close proximity of sites there is little privacy. Lots of loud generators.

this a fantastic park full of geographic wonders and beautiful vistas. we had a wonderful stay here

I stayed in campsite 31, which is located very deep into the park after the pavement has ended. But it was so isolated and amazing! Couldn’t see another campsite or hear a single other group. And the view was amazing! These photos I attached were taken directly from my site. Sadly the smoke from the fires on the west coast has made its way over, but it was still very peaceful. Only downside was that I had to drive to the toilets, but I highly recommend!