Parking
Start at the Talkington Trail Roadside Pulloff in the South Unit; the National Park Service identifies it as auto parking and trailhead access.
Overview
About Lower Talkington Trail
Why go
- Pale badlands hills and a valley give the route a distinct payoff.
- Connects directly to the park’s 11.4-mile lower loop.
Heads up
- Walking it as a standalone outing means retracing the 4.1-mile segment.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Theodore Roosevelt map
Full mapElevation2,398–2,536 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
2 active Theodore Roosevelt alerts
- ClosureRidgeline Nature Trail inaccessibleThe South Unit’s 0.6-mile Ridgeline Nature Trail is currently inaccessible because of a road collapse. Check current park conditions.Official details
- InfoPetrified Forest trailhead: use approved routeUse the approved legal route from I-94, Exit 10 toward Camels Hump Lake, and follow the clearly marked posts to the Petrified Forest trailhead.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Theodore Roosevelt Tour Guide
Your drive to Lower Talkington Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Theodore Roosevelt National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Theodore Roosevelt audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Talkington Trailhead: A Half-Day Walk0:00 / 0:29
“You're nearing Talkington trailhead, a starting point for a half-day walk through open grassland and badlands.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Theodore Roosevelt Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- A View Through Our Galaxy
- Buck Hill: Ripple Marks at the Summit
- Chorus Frogs at Coal Vein
- Coal Vein Trail: The Ground Above the Fire
- 45 audio storiesacross Theodore Roosevelt’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Bison, Wild Horse, Wapiti, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 38 trails, 35 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Lower Talkington Trail
A point-to-point walk into the badlandsLower Talkington Trail is a 4.
Lower Talkington Trail is a 4.1-mile, one-way dirt route in the South Unit, from the Talkington Trail Roadside Pulloff to the Jones Creek Trail junction. The path heads through open badlands, crossing a valley before climbing toward pale, almost white hills near the junction. It is a backcountry segment, not a standalone loop.
Decide how you’ll finishAllow about 2 to 3 hours one way to reach Jones Creek.
Allow about 2 to 3 hours one way to reach Jones Creek. Walking back to the roadside pull-off on Lower Talkington makes the outing roughly 8.2 miles round trip. For a circuit, the park connects this trail with Jones Creek and Lower Paddock Creek in an 11.4-mile loop that takes 6 to 8 hours. If you want less, the park also suggests walking partway down from the pull-off and turning back.
Park rulesPets, bicycles, and motorized equipment are prohibited on trails and in the backcountry.
Pets, bicycles, and motorized equipment are prohibited on trails and in the backcountry. A free permit is required for backcountry camping.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Theodore Roosevelt
1,082 sightingsBisonMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
346 sightingsWild HorseMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
27 sightingsWapitiMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
46 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
87 sightingsPronghornMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
162 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Theodore Roosevelt. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
