At the Palo Duro visitor center
Getting one of our 5 geocaches
One of 6 water crossings in the park
Looking out across the rim
The view from Howie's sliding door
After a week of steady driving, we decided to take a break while here in Amarillo, Texas. The weather had turned beautiful, sunny and warm with just enough of a breeze to be comfortable. (The high today was 81).
We drove 20 miles south of Amarillo to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. “Palo Duro” is Spanish for “hard wood”, in reference to the Juniper trees common throughout the canyon. It is about 120 miles long and 600 t0 800 feet deep and is the second largest canyon in the US. It was formed by a branch of the Red River called Prairie Dog Town Fork. How’s that for a river’s name? Archeologists think people have inhabited this region for about 12 thousand years.
This area was also the scene of the decisive battle of the Red River War (1874-5) against the Southern Plains Indians.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked here from 1933-37 developing roads to the canyon floor, the visitor center, cabins, shelters and the park headquarters.
We’ve enjoyed the views of the canyon as we’ve driven around. (and down and down and down to the campsite….back up and up and up to register…back down…)
We did 5 geocaches while driving and hiking a trail in the park today. While geocaching we saw a couple of roadrunners, but they were too fast for Harris to take a picture. We thought they made quite a sight flapping their wings and making a whoop sound as they traveled down the road and then into the brush. We’ve picked a campsite at the bottom of the canyon, furthest along the road. It seems very quiet here, with the few campers spread out, and we’re looking forward to seeing stars tonight.
Total miles driven today= 50
No comments:
Post a Comment