By editor
Ekalaka is a ranching town in the Russell Creek Valley, surrounded by badlands and sandstone formations near the Custer National Forest. The Carter County Museum, Montana's first county museum, was the first in the state to display dinosaur fossils. The rocks here belong to the Hell Creek Formation, sixty-six to sixty-eight million years old. The museum displays a nearly complete Edmontosaurus annectens, a complete Triceratops skull, and the most complete juvenile T. rex ever found.
Visitor Access
Admission is free. The museum is open year-round, Monday through Friday, with weekend hours added from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Under the guidance of paleontologists like Dr. Nathan Carroll, the museum offers public digs through its Annual Dino Shindig event every July. For a fee, volunteers can break ground in the badlands, excavating real Hell Creek fossils alongside working scientists.