Mars Vista - Prairie Dogs and the Paved Way In

A stop on American Prairie: Rewilding the Plains, a free self-guided tour.

Mars Vista is American Prairie's easiest place to visit, right off paved US 191, with no high-clearance vehicle needed. Antelope Creek Campground here has cabins, tipis, RV hookups, tent sites and a bathhouse with showers, the last such comforts for a while.

Stretch your legs on the interpretive trail, about two miles long, and watch the prairie dog town. Prairie dogs are a keystone species: their burrows shelter burrowing owls, rattlesnakes and other animals, and they are the main food of the black-footed ferret, one of the rarest mammals in North America. A pedestrian gate west of the walk-in tent sites leads into the Antelope Creek Wilderness Study Area.

If you want an American Prairie visitor center, it is not out here. The National Discovery Center is in downtown Lewistown, about 70 miles south on US 191. Its exhibits are free and include a live black-footed ferret, and staff there can tell you current road conditions. Check its website for days and hours before you make the drive.

Getting here: From Buffalo Camp, follow American Prairie's posted route in reverse: north on Regina Road, then west on Dry Fork Road to US 191 and south to the campground between mile markers 96 and 97. Dry Fork Road is not maintained in winter.

Did you know?: The black-footed ferret was believed extinct until a small population turned up in Wyoming in 1981, and every ferret reintroduced since descends from that last handful.

Photo op: Sit quietly near the prairie dog town with a long lens and wait for a sentry to stand up tall on its mound and call.

More on Wikipedia: Prairie dog · Black-footed ferret · Lewistown, Montana

Mars Vista - Prairie Dogs and the Paved Way In

Stops on this tour