Talkington Trail

Overview

Talkington is a 7.9 mile long trail in the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It connects Rim Trail to Jones Creek Trail. The park’s main road crosses the trail dividing it into the 3.8 mile long Upper Talkington Trail to the east of the road and the 4.1 mile long Lower Talkington Trail to the west.

Getting There

Talkington Trailhead is well marked on the park main road to the northeast of Buck Hill.




As I was approaching park’s road from Upper Talkington Trail, I lost the trail. You can see my wanderings on the park road. The black line shows the correct path.

Route Description

Place	Elevation	Distance
Jct. with Rim Trail	2800 ft	zero miles
Park Rd.	2440 ft	3.80 miles
Jct. Jones Creek Trail	2380 ft	4.10 miles
Total One Way	-	7.90 miles

This is a description of Talkington Trail from its junction with Rim Trail to the junction with Jones Creek Trail.

At the junction with Rim Trail, you are standing on a flat plateau. To the east, you can only see typical flat Midwestern terrain. To the west, the ground drops 200 feet and badlands suddenly start.



Upper Talkington Trail begins by going down the slopes.



Badland hills.

A plain that is home to a prairie dog town opens up.

Bison and wild horses.

Bison

Wild Horses

The trail continues west on the badlands.

This formation reminded me of Colorado’s Wilson Peak.



Near the park road, I lost the trail, see map above. The trail reaches the road where you walk a very short distance right (north) to reach the signed trailhead for Lower Talkington.
Start of Lower Talkington.

Further into the trail.



The trail goes into a valley to reach the junction with Badlands Spur Trail.



It then climbs out of the valley into an area of white colored hills before ending at the junction with Jones Creek Trail.

Images

View Talkington Trail Image Gallery - 26 Images