Makoshika State Park Campground

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.



This place is so cool!

This is a beautiful area of Montana that goes under visited and under appreciated. The campground is just as nice as you would find in one of the national parks. There are fire pits, tables, pit toilets, and the availability of firewood and water at each camping area. I was able to make my way down here in January and happened to be the only fool camping in the Montana winter when a wind storm rolled through. Regardless of the wind, this is a wonderful campground with plenty of hiking and biking extremely close to the campground.

First winter camping

wow, what a find! We had planned to travel through the area but hadn’t planned to stop—until we hit the Tourist Center at the Montana border and found a brochure for thus park. If you love geology and want a quieter less crowded and more accessible experience than the Theodore Roosevelt National Park nearby, then this place is for you! There are  several campgrounds and dispersed campsites to choose from, the RV campground is small and packed and a bit barren, but the tent sites are magnificent. There are incredible canyon views from the “Pine on Rocks”  campground close to the park amphitheater, but the campsites are kind of on the edge of a cliff so would not be good with kids or pets. The trails are magnificent, and you can hike to all kinds of geological wonders, even some dinosaur digs in action! However, don’t do like we did  as we came in August and the heat is BRUTAL and we werent able to hike as much as we wanted. However, we were pleased that our dog was able to join us as we discovered dogs arent allowed on the hiking trails over at the National Park

Dinosaurs and caprocks galore

We stayed in site 12, which was rated as an RV campsite, it was pull through, but the hosts said mainly they use that area of the campground for tents with the RVs across the street (RV sites 1 - 9).  If you are tent camping, the upper sites are really nice and secluded (20s - 30s).  RVs cannot make it to sites 20s - 30s because it is a narrow dirt road to the top.

  

It's dry camping - no RV hookups, but at the visitor's center they have a water fill station that is free.  You can pull in and fill up your RV water tank.  There is no dump station at the park, nor in Glendive, so you have to drive to Miles City or Wibaux to dump.  We found a Cenex in Miles City that had a good dump station and it was free.

  

The sites were spacious, clean and affordable.  Sites 11 &amp; 13 had a nice view.  The bathrooms were pit toilets.  Very clean.  No running water.  Camp fires are permitted.

  

The camp hosts were really helpful and friendly.

  

We spent one day in Makoshika hiking the trails with our dog.  We felt that 1 day was sufficient, but you could easily spend more time to enjoy the park, take some longer hikes, or play disc golf.  The other day we took a drive to North Dakota to check out Theodore Roosevelt National Park, about an hour drive away.  Well worth the drive.  We stopped at Beaver Creek Brewery on the way back to the campsite and brought back a growler for around the campfire.

  

They said next year they plan on expanding the campsites and adding in some full hook-up RV sites and a dump station.  Even without that, we plan on coming back.

  

I'd book in advance if you are planning on going over a weekend.  The campsites were all booked when we arrived.  We reserved our spot about 3 weeks prior.

Clean campground, spacious sites, and excellent hosts

Words can’t describe the beauty of this place. You must get out of the car to see it. 

Magical 

We rented the tipi campsite and it was super cool! Campground host was very nice and gave us recommendations for hikes. We even saw a dinosaur spine fossil! Makoshika state park is truly a hidden gem. 

Fun night in a Tipi!

The campground is non-electric, so remember that if you like to run your AC when it is 100+! Luckily, a rain shower cooled it off for us. There were only a handful of people staying there. The hosts were super nice and drove around to check on everyone often. Wish we would have booked the teepee spot so we could hang out in it. Luckily, we did not see any rattlesnakes, though I heard there are giant ones in the park. Lots of hiking trails. Overall, a gorgeous place to explore.

Hot but beautiful

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! 

Awesome Campsite! 

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. 

Pine on Rocks campground 

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

Great views - Convenient 

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.

Great Primitive Camping

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.

Beautiful views!

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

Simply Easy

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

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! 

Amazing Place! 

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. 

Such a hidden gem! 

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. 



Decent Campground, Incredible Scenery

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!

Lovely rock formations

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. 

Great views, ok campground 

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.

Recommend , would visit again.

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! 

Gorgeous park! 

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

Hidden gem.

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

Phenomenal night

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. 

Paleontology Abound at Makosika State Park in

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

A beautiful way to wake up

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