Medicine Root Loop

The Medicine Root Loop traverses the open mixed-grass prairie atop the badlands wall, offering a completely different perspective from the geological drama below. Here the landscape is expansive, windswept, and alive — prairie dog towns dot the grassland, bison herds drift through in morning and evening, and pronghorn antelope appear as tawny flashes against the golden grass. Medicine root, the namesake plant, was used medicinally by Lakota people and is common along the trail margins in summer.

The loop connects to the Castle Trail at both ends, and sections travel right along the edge of the badlands wall where the prairie abruptly drops into the eroded basin below. The contrast is dramatic — one step on green-gold prairie, the next peering down into a labyrinth of grey spires and gullies. Wildflowers are prolific from late May through July: pasque flowers, prairie coneflowers, and black-eyed Susans color the grassland margins. The trail is exposed with no shade, and afternoon thunderstorms develop rapidly in summer — check forecasts and carry water. This is an excellent loop for wildlife observation at dawn and dusk.