Makoshika State Park
Encyclopedia
Badlands
A badlands is a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded by wind and water. It can resemble malpaís, a terrain of volcanic rock. Canyons, ravines, gullies, hoodoos and other such geological forms are common in badlands. They are often...
which conceal dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
fossils. The park contains rock from the Hell Creek Formation
Hell Creek Formation
The Hell Creek Formation is an intensely-studied division of Upper Cretaceous to lower Paleocene rocks in North America, named for exposures studied along Hell Creek, near Jordan, Montana...
and dinosaurs such as Triceratops
Triceratops
Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...
are found there. In 1997 a fossil Thescelosaurus
Thescelosaurus
Thescelosaurus was a genus of small ornithopod dinosaur that appeared at the very end of the Late Cretaceous period in North America. It was a member of the last dinosaurian fauna before the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event around 65.5 million years ago...
was found at Makoshika by an expedition led by Jack Horner
Jack Horner (paleontologist)
John "Jack" R. Horner is an American paleontologist who discovered and named Maiasaura, providing the first clear evidence that some dinosaurs cared for their young. He is one of the best-known paleontologists in the United States...
and Bob Harmon
Bob Harmon
Robert Green Harmon , is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He played nine seasons in the majors, between 1909 and 1918, for the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates....
. Birds such as the turkey vultures, prairie falcons and eagles make their homes here. There is a visitor center with a small museum on the geology and local fossils.
Facilities
- 18 Hole Disc Golf Course- widely considered one of the toughest disc golf courses in the US. Set right into the Badlands, the course has difficult and somewhat intimidating holes.
- Amphitheater-During the summer, educative talks, walks, and performances are put on
- Group Shelter- host to many activities such as the very popular "Buzzard Day" celebration