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Fossil Footsteps
When you travel along Highway 12 to Baker, you're likely to see wildlife such as fox, coyotes, white-tail and mule deer, turkeys, eagles, hawks and antelope. You might even see a zebra (yes, a zebra!) if you watch closely. The area around Baker is where you'll find some of America's most-productive oil and gas fields, producing much of the fossil-fuel energy we use today. Turn south on Highway 7 in Baker and you'll find Ekalaka, a town of 300 residents and home to the Carter County Museum, the first state-chartered museum in Montana and the location of one of only three complete Anototitan copei (a duck-billed dinosaur) skeletons in the world. Ekalaka is not only one of 15 designated stops on the Montana Dinosaur Trail, but it is also reminiscent of some of the early towns in Montana. Between Ekalaka and Baker, you can take a drive through Medicine Rocks State Park, so named because early native Americans considered the area "good medicine" and who often sent their young braves there to experience their "medicine dreams" which would often reveal the names they would give themselves as warriors. Don't forget to fill your glass, thermos or picnic jug with water from Medicine Rocks spring, some of the best and purest water you will ever taste. It's available at the hand pump at the park's entrance.
Head back North on Highway 7 and continue on to Wibaux (pronounced WE-bow), where Theodore Roosevelt spent much of his early life. It is the site of the "stone church" constructed of lava rock collected in the area.
From Wibaux, get on I-94 and proceed west to Glendive, another stop on the Montana Dinosaur Trail. You'll be amazed at the way the town has embraced the dinosaur theme, even naming many of the businesses after the dinosaur species they have "adopted." Be sure to visit the Makoshika Dinosaur museum, and inquire about their "paleo-kids" program that can include an opportunity to dig for your own fossils. If you want to see the last place on earth Dinosaurs roamed, take a short trip to Montana's Largest State Park, Makoshika (pronounced ma-KO-she-koh). The visitor center there features some one-of-a-kind fossils as well. And, don't forget that Glendive is one of only a few places on earth where paddlefish can be found.
After you've explored Glendive, travel west on I-94 to Terry, home of the Evelyn Cameron Gallery and the 3-story Prairie County Museum. Evelyn Cameron was an early pioneer who came to Terry from an aristocratic background in England and who took up photography as a way to support herself and her husband. She left behind thousands of glass-plate negatives chronicling and recording the lives of the early wildlife, farmers, ranchers and businessmen of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. You'll be amazed at the story of how she took many of her wildlife photos, which often involved her risking her life to get just the right angle.
As you continue west to Miles City, you'll pass through the "Diamond King Ranch," one of the oldest and largest cattle ranches in Montana.
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