Medicine Rocks State Park
State park · Carter County ·
Unusual sandstone formations, dark skies, and vast solitude await
Unusual sandstone formations, dark skies, and vast solitude await
"A remote 330-acre state park of Great Plains badlands known for its unusual, Swiss cheese–like sandstone pillar formations and wide-open solitude. Designated an International Dark Sky Sanctuary in 2020, it offers some of the clearest night-sky viewing in the country and is a popular spot for camping beneath the rock formations; camping is available year-round (including winter, the offseason, when the park is often nearly empty). Wildlife sightings commonly include mule deer, antelope, grouse, and turkey. Facilities are minimal but visitor-friendly: eight campsites on a first-come, first-served basis, potable water year-round, and dogs allowed on leashes no longer than eight feet. Visitor numbers are low (just over 21,000 in 2023 versus roughly 2.9 million at Glacier that year), and fees are modest—campsite rates generally range $4–$34 per night (lower in winter and spring) and out-of-state entry is $8 (Montana residents are exempt if they pay the $9 state parks fee with vehicle registration)." - Evie Carrick Evie Carrick Evie Carrick is a writer and editor who’s lived in five countries and visited well over 50. She now splits her time between Colorado and Paris, ensuring she doesn't have to live without skiing or L'As du Fallafel. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines
"It’s not hard to see why many Native American tribes considered the ancient sandstone pillars of the Medicine Rocks in southeastern Montana sacred. The remote landscape is both peaceful and beautiful, covered with strange geological rock formations. In the 1800s, Sioux and Northern Cheyenne camped near these unique perforated rocks, which are filled with holes and tunnels crafted by rainfall and wind over 61 million years. The Medicine Rocks site is populated with chained and isolated arches, and caves and spires reaching 80 feet high and 200 feet across. Native Americans came here in search of medicinal plants, lookout points for hunting bison, and resting spots while traveling from the Yellowstone River Valley to the Black Hills. When future President Theodore Roosevelt visited the area in 1883, he described it as, “as fantastically beautiful a place as I have ever seen.” The 320 acres of Medicine Rocks still offers physical reminders of the past. You can find thousands of petroglyphs that predate the arrival of European settlers, along with the signatures of cowpunchers, a sheepherder’s famous profile of a woman with a flower beside a bird, and recent inscriptions of elk, cattle brands, and military mentions. Carving into the rocks is prohibited and park officials ask you be careful not to vandalize the site or disturb earlier markings. Instead, they recommend climbing the “Swiss cheese” rocks and taking in the sights of the golden eagles flying in the skies above, and the mule deer and sharp-tailed grouse moving on the prairie below. Medicine Rocks is set about 11 miles north of Ekalaka and 30 miles west of both the North Dakota and South Dakota borders. The site was privately owned until Carter County, Montana seized the property in the 1930s. The state of Montana took over ownership in 1957 and in 1993 it had the site declared a “primitive park.” Today, the park is managed by the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks." - ATLAS_OBSCURA
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