The unique structures of Montana’s ‘Rock City’

If you’ve never visited “Rock City” several miles north of Valier, you might be surprised at the almost surreal landscape this natural wonder reveals. Watch the video above to see Paul Sanchez’s report.

Michaela Hanson, a land-use specialist with the Montana Department of Natural Resources & Conversation, said of one of the unique structures: “This is a sandstone pillar underneath this hard rock cap. And the water basically flowed through here and just eroded this underneath. But because the top half is so hard, it can’t really erode, which is kind of why we get these very defined mushroom type looking formation. So that’s basically how it was formed. But it happened over millions and millions of years.”

She continued, “The Two Medicine (river) right there, basically it kind of cut down and as the water from the sea kind of followed where that river really cut down, the water just kind of slowly flowed downwards into that canyon, which is what kind of created these like pathways basically of around these rocks.”

The website Roadside America notes: “Take the Cut Bank Highway north out of Valier, stay straight on Rock City Road for approximately 7-8 miles (mostly straight but unpaved). Undeveloped area, may need 4x vehicle.”

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