Montana is home to a busy prehistoric past, and Visit Montana wants travelers to know about the Montana Dinosaur Trail.
“Winding its way through the state, the Montana Dinosaur Trail takes travelers back in time with 14 locations to learn about Montana’s prehistoric residents,” said Visit Montana. “While the trail starts along Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front and ends in Southeast Montana, dinosaur enthusiasts can explore the sites in any preferred order. As a bonus, many of the stops on the trail are home to fossils and artifacts that were unearthed locally, in Montana. The trail’s Prehistoric Passport makes it easy to visit them all—just like the dinosaurs did.”
Bozeman’s Museum of the Rockies is a Smithsonian affiliate and home to Big Mike the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Big Al, a nearly-complete Allosaurus. The Museum of the Rockies is also a research museum, and is home to a fossil collection, permanent exhibits, and planetarium shows.
Big Mike is one of the most complete T. rex skeletons in the world. The original bones are on loan to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, but a 15-foot bronze cast is still at the Museum of the Rockies.
A local family discovered the fossil in eastern Montana in 1988, which the team producing Jurassic Park used to complete their movie.
The Rocky Mountain Front is another stop on the dinosaur trail. The communities of Bynum and Choteau are a four-hour drive from Bozeman.
The Montana Dinosaur Center in Bynum is home to many fossils, including remains of a recently discovered dinosaur species. The center is also home to a dig program, where “attendees work alongside paleontologists to unearth a piece of Montana’s rich dinosaur history for themselves.”
Other important places on the Montana Dinosaur Trail include:
- Egg Mountain near Bynum
- Old Trail Museum in Choteau
- The Upper Musselshell Museum in Harlowton
- The Depot Museum in Rudyard
- Blaine County Museum in Chinook
- The Fort Peck Interpretive Center and Museum
- Frontier Gateway Museum
- Makoshika State Park
- Carter County Museum in Ekalaka
Find more dinosaur adventures and ways to explore Montana’s history, or for more information on Visit Montana, at visitmt.com.
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