Makoshika Sees Huge Spike In Visitations

All 14 Montana Dinosaur Trail Partnership trail facilities were able to open in 2020, but with shortened seasons and limited capacity. Facilities hosted 262,704 visitors, with over 40 percent from outside Montana. Visitor numbers were down 27 percent from the 2019 record of just under 360,000, Makoshika State Park enjoyed its best year to date with 128,000 visitors, a 50 percent increase.

Overall, the facilities sold 322 “Prehistoric Passports” to visitors and 29 groups completed their passports by visiting all 14 facilities last year. The trail finishers came from six states: Idaho, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin and Montana. The 2020 passport sales went to people in 28 states along with Montana and China.

Eighty passports have been sold so far during 2021. All 14 facilities are open or planning to be open in 2021.

For information about trail facilities and Montana’s unique Paleo story, visit mtdinotrail. org or follow the group on Facebook.