Palo Duro Canyon State Park was exactly what we needed. After living for 13 weeks in an RV park, we wanted to park the RV away from civilization.
Leaving the Albuquerque area on Saturday morning April 28th, we drove 324 miles to the park, located in the Texas Panhandle. Palo Duro Canyon State Park is about 30 miles south of Amarillo and 14 miles east of the nearest town, Canyon, Texas.
Along the way, we saw this historical marker at a rest stop west of Santa Rosa. We were leaving the highlands and entering the plains.
We pulled off Texas 217 into the park entrance around 5:00 pm. We made our reservations online, however, the site and campground are not chosen until check-in. The ranger gave us a choice of two spots that would accommodate our RV and truck. We picked the spot in the Mesquite Camp Area because it was located near the end of the canyon and close to the trailheads.
The distance from the entrance to our campsite was a winding, hilly eight miles. It was slow going, however, the scenery was great and we were not in a hurry.
After pulling in, we set up, relaxed and enjoyed the view. It was quiet and the dogs enjoyed all the new smells when we took them on a hike after dinner.
We received a trail map when we checked in. After reviewing it, we decided to walk to The Big Cave and The Lighthouse, the rock that is the symbol of Palo Duro State Park. We started our day of hiking around 9:00 am Sunday morning.
The hike to The Big Cave was short but could have been shorter. We parked off the road near an entrance to the Juniper trail, believing we’d find the cave along that trail. About ¾ of a mile in, we arrived at the cave, which was in an area open to the road. Yes, we could have parked much closer and not hiked through the woods. We considered this short hike a warm up to our next trail, the 2.72 miles (one way) Lighthouse Trail.
After hiking back to our truck, we drove up along the park road to the parking area nearest the Lighthouse Trailhead. The lot was already full, so we parked in a grassy area just off the road.
We soon discovered that a six-hour bike race was in progress. The racers rode a 10-mile loop that included a section of the Lighthouse Trail until it intersected with the Capitol Peak Trail. The object was to complete the loop as many times as possible during the time of the race. While we walked towards Lighthouse Peak along the shared portion of the trail, we had to be aware of the bikes approaching us from behind. Since they were riding the loop for a 6 hour period, they were coming back up again as we were heading out.
The trail is also open for horseback riding. Our neighbors in the campground had brought along their horses, and we saw them while we were hiking.
The multi-colored layers of the rock walls along the canyon are beautiful. There are shades of green, brown, purple, white and red. Enjoy some of the pictures taken as we hiked the Lighthouse Trail.
As we hiked closer to the Lighthouse, we climbed in elevation. It was exciting to watch the large rock come into our view.
The last section of the trail is a well-traveled steep climb straight up. The trail levels out as it approaches the rock. When you reach the base, you climb again to get to the flat area between the two rock formations. Going back down was a bit more difficult, but it was worth it!
After hiking the 3 miles back to our truck, we were hot and tired. We drove back to our campsite, walked the dogs and relaxed.
It had clouded over in the evening and we had a little rain shower. After it stopped raining, we went outside, hoping to see the sunset. As we sat on our chairs, streams of light came through the trees on the west side of the canyon. It was surreal. As we walked out of our site and onto the road, more and more people were coming out of their RVs to enjoy the beauty.
Monday morning we packed up and headed east. Next stop, Guthrie, Oklahoma. This historic little town is the home of the smallest National Park. We will share some pictures in our next post.
Everyone takes a selfie when they make it to Lighthouse Peak!