Montana Park of the Week: Tower Rock State Park

This week's featured State Park is Tower Rock State Park, a 424-foot high rock formation that marks the Missouri River Canyon entrance in the Adel Mountains Volcanic Field.

Native American tribes once used this day-use-only park to mark the entrance to and exit of the buffalo hunting grounds in north-central Montana.

Besides the Native Americans, Tower Rock was also claimed by the UK, Spain, and France before becoming part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1802.

Lots of development threatened to destroy the area, but due to the complicated nature of the structure, most construction ended up moving around the area that is now the park.

It took almost 200 years from when Lewis and Clark first laid eyes on the formation to when Montana claimed it as a protected park in 2004.

Now, thousands of people visit the park each year.

Located where the plains and mountains meet, you'll find Tower Rock State Park.

This park's namesake is an over 400-foot high rock formation along the Missouri River. The tower is made of igneous rock chunks blasted skyward from the Adel Mountain volcano and then cemented together by volcanic ash.

Tower Rock is a geological marvel, estimated at around 75 million years old. Once, the rock consisted of a giant outer shell that wethered away over millions of years, leaving the super hard inner layers.