Medicine Rocks State Park
The Medicine Rocks State Park is 25 km north of Ekalaka in Carter County of the U.S. state of Montana. The 130 -acre State Park is situated on 1049m above the sea. The name derives from several up to 15 m high sandstone cliffs that make the terrain for some strains to a sacred place.
The sandstones are former river sediments and can be dated by finds at an age of 61 million years. The top gray layers are partially perforated with passages of worms that have occurred only in salt water. Different degrees of erosion of the boulders found a striking and bizarre appearance. Some are full of holes as a natural sponge, with small caves or barn, large overhangs.
The trunks of the Arikara, Assiniboine, Mandan, Gros Ventre, Sioux and Cheyenne are traditional users of the land, the rock formations served as a lookout, as storage, living and storage space as well as for different rituals and ceremonies. Finds of bones, stone tools and burnt pottery are housed in Ekalaka in Carter County Museum.
Of the first tourists in 1883 was the young Theodore Roosevelt. Some other also left inscriptions and carvings in the soft sandstone. The area was privately owned until 1930 due to tax liabilities fell to the Conty. 1957 appropriated the Carter County Commission the site to the state of Montana and 1965, the state park was established.
In the Medicine Rocks State Park mule deer, pronghorn, turkey vultures, golden eagles, wild turkey, chicken tail = Tympanuchus phasianellus, Woodhouse Toad and various small rodents can be observed.