Montana Dinosaur Trail

25/01/2025

Happy ! The first known bones of Maiasaura peeblesorum, the state fossil of Montana, were discovered in the Cretaceous outcrops of the Willow Creek Anticline. Recently recognized as an International Geoheritage Site, this area revealed the first dinosaur eggs and babies discovered in the western hemisphere.

24/01/2025

A Montana Paleontology milestone to celebrate - a famed dinosaur nesting area along Montana's Rocky Mountain Front has been designated as an International Geoheritage Site! Here's the news from Montana State University and the Museum of the Rockies: https://www.montana.edu/news/24259/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIAvV1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHdPdLcfjxGoLXCZ8bvp9TQR68zFGjzrcx-RoUi0i4Fx0LYfjkbnqCoi-7g_aem_FR1xE7GWQViGgHiNQAtYwA

The announcement was made at the 37th International Geological Congress.

22/01/2025

There's just a couple more weeks to apply for our summer internships. if you want to spend the summer digging dinosaurs and teaching people about paleontology apply here.

https://tmdinosaurcenter.org/get-involved/employment/field-internship/

18/01/2025

Happy ! Montanoceratops (MOR 542) is just one of many ceratopsians (“horned dinosaurs”) discovered in the Cretaceous outcrops of Montana. This small plant-eating dinosaur was a distant relative of much larger ceratopsians like Achelousaurus and Triceratops.

14/01/2025

Montana Dinosaur Digs offers real dinosaur fossil expeditions with real paleontologists. Book an expedition today!

13/01/2025

Twenty years ago the Montana Dinosaur Trail (https://mtdinotrail.org) began inviting the World to experience the thrill and excitement of seeing, touching, learning about and participating in the uncovering of the rich Paleo Story Montana has to tell. The Trail’s 14 facilities and their central and eastern Montana communities are excited for what this 20th Anniversary Year will bring! They’re hoping that You will come visit and be part of this Montana Paleo Adventure and Celebration! Here’s the January-February Operating Schedule for the Trail Facilities:

Montana Dinosaur Trail Facility Operating Schedules
January-February 2025

Blaine County Museum, Chinook: Open Mon-Fri 9 am-5 pm EXCEPT Closed Select Federal Holidays (Mon. Jan. 20, Martin Luther King Day).
Carter County Museum, Ekalaka: Open Monday-Friday 9 am-5 pm, Saturday-Sunday 1-5 pm EXCEPT Closed All Federal Holidays (Jan. 20, MLK Day).
Depot Museum, Rudyard: Open by Appointment Only, 406-355-4356.
Fort Peck Interpretive Center, Fort Peck: Open By Appointment Only Mon-Fri, call 406-526-3493 or 406-526-3411 ext. 0.
Frontier Gateway Museum, Glendive: Open by Appointment Only (24 hr Advance Notice Minimum) through May 2025. Call 406-377-3018 or 406-365-4653.
Garfield County Museum, Jordan: Open by Appointment Only (24 hr Advance Notice Minimum) call Karen Witt 406-557-2544.
Great Plains Dinosaur Museum, Malta: Closed for December 2024-February 2025.
H. Earl Clack Museum, Havre: Closed January, will Re-Open February. Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump site/Tours Closed until May 2025
Makoshika State Park, Glendive: Visitor Center Open Wed-Sun. 10 am-4 pm, Closed State & Federal Holidays; Park open for Day Use 7 am-10 pm and overnight camping.
Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman: Open Daily 9 am-5 pm.
Old Trail Museum, Choteau: Closed until May 2025.
Phillips County Museum, Malta: Closed Jan-Mar, Reopens April 2025.
The Montana Dinosaur Center, Bynum: Open By Appointment Only, Call 406-469-2211. Book 2025 Field Digs at https://tmdinosaurcenter.org/
Upper Musselshell Museum, Harlowton: Closed December 1, 2024-April 1, 2025.

08/01/2025

Once Again - Dino Shindig Sunday Field Expedition Tickets sold out in less than a day! For those of us who didn't get one, there is still lots of Dino Shindig activities happening during this July 26-27 weekend. Looking forward to it!

UPDATE: We are SOLD OUT! But never fear! You can still join us for fabulous talks by world renowned paleontologists on July 26 and the Science & Cultural History gathering at Medicine Rocks State Park on July 27, which includes a fossil Microsite activity. More exciting events will be posted here and on our website in the coming months.

EXTRA EXTRA! Read all about it! Tickets for the 13th Annual Dino Shindig Field Expedition are now on sale! Don't delay! Purchase on our website at: https://cartercountymuseum.org/dino-shindig

Event Description:
SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2025 AT 9AM TO 5PM
Cost: $100/person
At Carter County Museum 306 N Main Street Ekalaka, MT 59324
Tickets for the Fossil Field Expedition include admission to July 26 activities as well as a sack lunch and Shindig t-shirt. Trained paleontologists will guide the field expedition and Carter County Museum will provide field tools. All fossils discovered during the Field Expedition will be deposited at Carter County Museum where they will be prepped, catalogued, and made available to researchers. All finds will include participant names as collectors and will be identified as such if put on display in the museum. Many of our visiting researchers are invited to speak at the Shindig to share the results of their studies with the community.

05/01/2025

Happy ! The dinosaurs at MOR are preparing for the upcoming Cretaceous Crossroads exhibit! Here, the lower jaw of Daspletosaurus horneri (MOR 590), a tyrannosaur from the Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation in Montana, undergoes some conservation in the fossil preparation lab.

02/01/2025

02/01/2025

Here's to new memories waiting to be made across our untamed frontier. May your 2025 be filled with Montana moments that take your breath away.
📸: Cayleigh and David Barbeau
location: Makoshika State Park, Glendive

02/01/2025

02/01/2025

🦅 Meet the Birds of Prey
Kick off the new year with a feathered encounter!
Join educators from the Montana Raptor Conservation Center on Saturday, January 4, from 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m., in the Redstart Classroom. Meet with one of their ambassador birds of prey and learn about the Center's impactful conservation efforts to protect these avian "dinosaurs."
🎟 Included with membership/admission
Don't miss this wild experience: https://museumoftherockies.org/calendar/rmg-10

23/12/2024

Happy ! This is the skull of a Columbian Mammoth (MOR 604) that was discovered in Montana. As recently as ~ 11,000 years ago, these relatives of modern elephants roamed North America. You can encounter this mammoth and more fossil mammals in the Cenozoic Corridor at MOR.

14/12/2024

Happy ! Museum of the Rockies (MOR) Exhibit Specialist, Brian Helms, is surface scanning the humerus (upper arm bone) of a duck-billed dinosaur (MOR 2844) discovered in the Cretaceous Judith River Formation (~77 mya) in Montana. This specimen will join the fossils of many other dinosaurs, marine reptiles and more as part of the upcoming Cretaceous Crossroads Exhibit opening at MOR in Summer 2025!

11/12/2024

In Bynum or Havre this Saturday (Dec. 14) there are Christmas Parties going on. The Montana Dinosaur Center's Christmas Party is 1-4 pm at the Center in "downtown" Bynum. The H. Earl Clack Museum brings back their Dinosaur Christmas Event at the Holiday Village Mall 1-3 pm as part of the community's Winterfest Craft and Vendors Fair. https://www.havredailynews.com/story/2024/12/05/local/dino-christmas-is-back-saturday/547123.html
Happy Holidays All!

A favorite holiday activity for local children is back, with the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum Dino Christmas at the Holiday Village Mall 1-3 p.m., during the Winterfest Craft and Vendor Fair. The museum, part of Montana's Dinosaur Trail, has been holding the Dino Christmas event for years. The offe...

10/12/2024

In this Season of Gift Giving the Montana Dinosaur Trail received a Great Gift! A Kalispell Family – 4 yr. old Emma, 7 yr old Raymond along with Mom and Dad (Ashley & Chris) – completed their 3-year Trail travels this November which brought the number of 2024 Passport Finishers up to 62 – A New Record!!!! To help us celebrate, Ashley provided Trail Travel Photos from each of the 14 Trail Facilities and these thoughts on the Family’s Experience: “The entire "trail" was such an awesome experience for our whole family. The kids are already asking when we can go back to different museums and maybe even do a dig. We loved it!....We have fun stories and memories from every single stop. Thanks again!” It was our pleasure…..that’s why we're here….SO there’s Your cue – get a Montana Dinosaur Trail Passport at any Trail Facility or online at https://mtdinotrail.org and start your Trail Experience!

08/12/2024

December Holiday Greetings from the Montana Dinosaur Trail! As you’re traveling around Montana this Holiday Season, 6 of the Trail’s facilities are open on regular schedules, 5 are welcoming you by appointment (24 hr. advance notice requested) and 3 are closed, but focused on getting ready to open in the Spring of 2025 in even better shape than this year (Schedule Below). Montana Dinosaur Trail Passports are always a fun gift or having Paleo-Artist Jenn Hall’s Trail images on merchandise of your choice is a wonderful way to say – “Let’s Go Adventure in Montana!” Both are available on our Trail Website’s Passport and Shop Pages – https://mtdinotrail.org. Have a Great Finish to 2024 and We look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

Montana Dinosaur Trail Facility Operating Schedules
December 2024

Blaine County Museum, Chinook: Open Mon-Fri 9 am-5 pm EXCEPT Closed Dec. 24-26.
Carter County Museum, Ekalaka: Open Monday-Friday 9 am-5 pm, Saturday-Sunday 1-5 pm EXCEPT Closed All Federal Holidays.
Depot Museum, Rudyard: Open by Appointment Only, 406-355-4356.
Fort Peck Interpretive Center, Fort Peck: Open By Appointment Only Mon-Fri, call 406-526-3493 or 406-526-3411 ext. 0.
Frontier Gateway Museum, Glendive: Open by Appointment Only (24 hr Advance Notice Minimum) through May 2025. Call 406-377-3018 or 406-365-4653.
Garfield County Museum, Jordan: Open by Appointment Only (24 hr Advance Notice Minimum) call Karen Witt 406-557-2544.
Great Plains Dinosaur Museum, Malta: Closed for December 2024-February 2025.
H. Earl Clack Museum, Havre: Open Tues-Sat. 1-5 pm. Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump site/Tours Closed until May 2025
Makoshika State Park, Glendive: Visitor Center Open Wed-Sun. 10 am-4 pm, Closed State & Federal Holidays; Park open for Day Use 7 am-10 pm and overnight camping.
Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman: Open Daily 9 am-5 pm EXCEPT Closed Dec 25, and Jan 1.
Old Trail Museum, Choteau: Closed until May 2025.
Phillips County Museum, Malta: Open Monday-Saturday 10 am-5 pm.
The Montana Dinosaur Center, Bynum: Open By Appointment Only, Call 406-469-2211. Book 2025 Field Digs at https://tmdinosaurcenter.org/
Upper Musselshell Museum, Harlowton: Closed December 1, 2024-April 1, 2025.