Happy Birthday to Me!!!

I celebrated my 25th Birthday by traveling 3 hours south to Makoshika State Park near Glendive Montana on Saturday. I wanted to spend a day away but I wasn't sure if I had enough time to spend the whole weekend, so I decided to camp out on Sat. and return on Sunday.
I arrived in Glendive around noon and treated myself to a personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut. Yumm! I haven't had any restaurant food (including fast food) for two weeks, and it was a treat. After I found my way into the park and talked with the Park Ranger about trails and paid my camp fee I began to drive around. I found out quickly that the roads were a little tricky and I even had to turn around at one point because the pot hole was as long across as my car and a foot deep.
The scenery was absolutely beautiful and a little strange. The rock formations were almost alien like. The first trail I hiked was called the Cap Rock trail and it went into a valley of various rock formations.

The second hike, I struggled with because of a step incline and I was walking through prairie grass worried about rattlesnakes. 

I finally set up camp around 5. My little tent is so easy to work with, and I had no problems doing it on my own. I ended up camping in a different
spot then I wanted because of the storm clouds. Many of the roads in the park were dirt and gravel. The dirt roads become impassable when wet and I didn't want to take my chances with getting stuck.

Here is one of my favorite views in the Park. It reminded me somewhat of a mini Grand Canyon but the colors were completely different. I made it through the night as it rained on and off, for probably 5 hours or more. I kept waking up and checking my tent, but I was dry the whole night! I woke up on Sunday wishing myself a Happy Birthday and went back to sleep for another hour!

I left my tent to dry out and had my own little church service at the end of the road. The roads held up better than I expected but I'm ok with my decision of picking another site. This was my church for the day!

Before I left I did some more hiking, and then packed up my site. Overall it was a great trip. I'm glad that I went and I'm glad I went on my own. I needed to be able to relax and not worry about school. I even got a chance to read a book that my sister gave me for my Birthday. So here's to turning a quarter of a century old and having my own adventure. I couldn't ask for anything more, except for maybe seeing my best friend. :-(

Here's a few more pictures, and if you're ever in Montana, go and explore this little gem!