Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Canyon, TX

Thursday, October 8th

We left Oklahoma City and continued west on I-40 seeing more of that rich red soil and passing lots of wind farms. A sight you don’t see up north. We also passed lots of farmland and ranch land… all very flat and as far as the eye could see. We crossed into Texas where we’ll be for the next 6+ months. About an hour outside of Amarillo we stopped at an amazing rest area… terrific views of the surrounding area. Great place to eat our picnic lunch. 

Arriving at Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the second largest canyon in North America, is a bit like arriving at Disney. You travel on a road (TX 217) for 10 miles which then dead ends at the State Park. Because of Covid there is no entrance into state parks without prior reservations, which, of course, we had. After arriving at the entrance, we obtained all the park info and site info from the staff and then took the long winding drive down into the canyon to where the camping loops are located on the canyon floor. There are still claw marks on my arm rest. Views are stunning but the road is narrow in places. Taking it slow is mandatory. Gary did a great job. After about 30 minutes of additional driving down to the canyon floor, we arrived at our campsite. Great sites in the Juniper loop for big rigs. 

We were blown away by “the Grand Canyon of Texas.” The state park consists of 27,173 acres over 2 counties. The original parkland was deeded by private owners in 1933 and opened in 1934. It is roughly 120 miles long and has an average width of 6 miles, but reaches a width of 20 miles in places and is 800 feet deep. This was one of the top camping experiences we’ve ever had!

We arrived mid afternoon. It was hot! They were experiencing record temps during the day but it cooled down at night, so mid 90s for daytime temps and mid 40s for night time temps. The contrast in temps was staggering. Gary pulled out his drone in the afternoon just to test it out since he hadn’t used it since leaving NH. During the day with the sun and the heat, we noticed flies! Lots of ‘em! Annoying little buggers! After dinner we went for a walk with the canyon walls surrounding us. Beautiful. 

At night it was unearthly quiet. There is no cell service in the canyon so you are cut-off from civilization, which can be a nice change of pace on occasion. And the stargazing was phenomenal. Each night we sat outside with the lounge chairs tilted back and stargazed for hours. We have no idea what we were looking at. I really need to get educated in astronomy. It’s on my list. We have a stargazing app but it’s too complicated for me to figure out. We also were treated to a few shooting stars and seeing satellites pass by. At night there were no mosquitoes, no bugs.

We’re pinching ourselves that we’re camping in this unique location!

Friday, October 9th, 2020

Gary and I were up early (before sunrise). That only happened because sunrise was about 8AM! Typically we’re never up before sunrise! We got some nice early morning photos of the sun coming up over the canyon.  

Today we had plans to meet my brother Bob and Deb at the Visitor’s Center at 10 AM. They drove over from the Dallas area yesterday and are staying in Amarillo for 4 nights. The last time we saw them was back in March. It was our last trip to visit family in Texas before the world changed with covid.

We met up at the Visitor’s Center which is at the top of the canyon, which also doubles as a gift shop. The Visitor’s Center had some really interesting displays talking about the creation of the state park. The CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) sent 7 companies of young men and veterans to carve out roads, bridges, trails, a visitor’s center and make cabins. They worked on all that for 4 years. Each recruit worked a 40-hour work week for 6 months and received $30 per month with $25 going back to his family. It meant some much needed stable income during the depression. The camps where the recruits lived were monitored by the U.S. Army. The Visitor’s Center had some remarkable facts about the CCC: almost 3.5 million men were enrolled, every state plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands had a CCC camp; 40,000 illiterate men learned to read, men gained an average of 11 pounds during the first 3 months working for the CCC, 800 state parks were developed, and between 2 & 3 billion trees were planted. Just a remarkable program! 

We left Bob’s car in the visitor’s lot and the four of us spent the morning driving slowly down the canyon in our truck, stopping at various overlooks and doing some short walks including a 1/2 mile Pioneer Nature Trail. We got back to our tiny home in time to do lunch. After lunch we sat outside in the shade and took the drone out for another spin. I also saw my first road runner. Deb pointed that out. I’d never seen one before. The 98 degree afternoon temp finally drove us inside plus the flies buzzing around. Bob & Deb stayed for dinner, which was burgers on the grill. Then we gave Bob & Deb a ride back up to the Visitor’s Center so they could collect their car and drive back to Amarillo before it got too dark. The ride up the canyon as the sun was setting was just beautiful… to see that warm orange light on the canyon walls. A less thrilling sight was seeing a few tarantulas coming out at dusk and crossing the road…. 

Gary and I did another round of stargazing at night. Once again the temps were comfortable at night sitting outside. 

Saturday, October 10th, 2020

Once again Gary & I were up before sunrise, not difficult since sunrise is around 8AM. We made coffee and tea and headed out with the drone to do an early morning sunrise flight. Since the temps were cool (45 degrees) and the sun wasn’t up yet, there were no flies and no people either for that matter. We flew the drone for a short while…. so much fun. Gary worked some magic with editing the footage, and the final product is below…. well worth watching the short 1+ minute video. Do have your sound up, too. 

The plan today was that Bob & Deb were going to meet us at our campsite fairly early this morning and then we were going to go for a hike. They arrived around 11ish with a story to tell. First they had to wait in line to get back into the state park, so that took some time, even with day passes. Then the Stapp family gene was in full play. All of us are directionally challenged. They had passed by the entrance to the Juniper camping loop, which in fairness, the sign is set back from the road and not easily seen. Deb was the one that caught that they were starting to go back up the canyon again. On the plus side, they stopped in at The Trading Post and Deb picked us up 2 fly swatters. (Thank you!) Plus they happened to meet a couple renting a small Class C motorhome. As it turned out, the couple was from the Dallas area so Bob grabbed the name of the rental company as he and Deb are considering doing a rental of a Class C themselves in the future. Once Bob and Deb arrived, we realized the couple they were chatting with had been parked across from us the previous night. They had pulled out earlier this morning. Small world. 

We headed out for our hike shortly after Bob & Deb arrived. In our discussions yesterday some of us were in favor of the Lighthouse Hike, described as “Don’t miss the park’s most popular trail leading to the iconic Lighthouse Rock formation. Do take plenty of water, as most heat-related injuries and deaths for people and pets occur on this trail.” Did I mention that it was 2.8 miles one-way, so 5.6 miles long? Cooler heads prevailed and we decided on the Juniper/Riverside 2.2 mile trail which follows a river path and we could “watch for the colorful Spanish Skirts rock formations.” 

We were able to pick up the trail right behind our campsite so that was convenient. The temps weren’t too bad and the flies weren’t too bad, so we were fortunate. The “river” was dried up but then the whole canyon was dry with very little water. Although I suspect flash flooding can happen, but since no rain was in the forecast we didn’t have to worry about that. We did see some of the Spanish Skirts rock formations. Very cool! 

After the hike, and we all agreed that was plenty long enough, we cooled down and had lunch inside. Then we sat outside in the shade in the afternoon with a nice breeze and played some cards until the flies brought us in. I was winning the card game, too. Bummer. We had some interesting afternoon conversations including politics and God. All the things you’re not supposed to talk about with family! Hee hee but we enjoyed it. Gary grilled chicken for dinner. After dinner we headed outside again since the temps had cooled off from the 97 degree high in the afternoon. Sunset was beginning to arrive and Gary wanted to fly the drone in the evening and try and catch it. He did lift off and got some nice footage. He was bringing it back to earth when we spotted a tarantula crossing the road a little ways in front of us. I went to take a pic of the tarantula and Bob said “be careful, Teresa, they can jump straight up.” Okie dokie then, I’ll let Gary take a picture of this little guy. Gary struts over with the official camera (not the phone kind) and proceeds to zero in on the tarantula. 

Just about then Bob turns around and says “you’ve got company.” Ut oh…. two men with monogrammed shirts and walkie talkies are gesturing towards the drone. This can’t be good. I walk over to them and the conversation goes something like: “Is that yours?” Ah yes, sir, it is. Are we not supposed to be flying it? “No, you’re not.” Then I proceed with stringing together an apology “really sorry, didn’t know, won’t happen again.” The monogrammed shirt guys who are, in fact, volunteer Park Hosts said that they had to report it. He says “you may get visited by the guy on top.” (Not God, but the next best thing, one of the Park Rangers.) Then the Park Host says “The Ranger will tell you what you would have had to pay if he caught you.” Wonderful. Gary finally meanders over from his tarantula photo shoot to hear the tail end of all this and offer up his apologies along with mine. 

The Park Hosts leave. The four of us sit down outside…. rather more subdued than before. Then the uncontrolled laughter starts. Gary: “Guess it’s good they didn’t know about the other three drone flights” Bob: “Call me if you get arrested.”  Me: “That’s if we have a cell signal to make a call.” 

There happens to be a fire ban in the canyon…. too dry for campfires. Soooo….. I’ve figured out my strategy if the Park Ranger shows up and is looking for payback on the drone flying. I’ll say “well at least we didn’t do a campfire to cook marshmallows like our neighbors did.” Yep, the nice family that Bob had met at The Trading Post are back parked across from us and they had a campfire going so their daughter could cook marshmallows. Apparently they didn’t know there was a fire ban. And, yep, I’d throw ‘em under the bus to get out of a drone flying fine. Thankfully, the ranger never showed up so we were ok. As Bob & Deb were getting ready to leave for the night, we were all chatting with the young couple in the rental RV. Delightful family. Turns out that they live in the same town (Fairview) as Bob and Deb. I would have felt badly throwing them under the bus. 

After all that, Gary did cobble together some nice sunset drone footage. See below (and remember to turn up the sound). We did enjoy another night of stargazing. 

Sunday, October 11, 2020

Bob & Deb had opted to explore Amarillo today. We decided not to go into town and instead do another hike in the canyon. But we had plans to meet for dinner later in the afternoon in Amarillo at Abuelo’s Mexican Restaurant. 

Gary and I woke up and had some tea, coffee and a light breakfast and headed out early to do the family-friendly Sunflower Trail where we could see “beautiful veins of white statin-spar gypsum.” Sounded good to us. We combined that trail with part of the Rojo Grande “scenic trail through the rusty red Quartermaster geologic formation at the canyon bottom.” That trail was more challenging. All total we did about 3.5 miles and called it a day on the hiking. While we were hiking, Gary was trying something new and taking short videos with his iPhone. He put together a 3 minute video of our hiking adventure this morning. The video is below, and, of course, there is sound with it so enjoy! 

We ended up getting another 1+ mile of walking in because we walked the Juniper loop to mark down our favorite campsites and checked out the Mesquite Loop, which had some amazing sites very close to the canyon walls, but not as good for our size tiny home. 

We left a little early to link up with Bob & Deb as I wanted to have a chance to take a few more photos heading out of the canyon at the higher elevations and we needed to fill up with fuel. We met up with Bob & Deb, who had a fun morning exploring the zoo and botanical garden in Amarillo. We all enjoyed a delicious and fun dinner at Abuelo’s. Thank you for dinner, Brother Bob!  We said our goodbyes but will see one another again while we are in Texas. 

From there we drove back to the canyon and our tiny home. Truly a unique location. We cherished our time here, made more special by spending time with my brother and Deb, and we’ll look forward to a return visit to this Grand Canyon of Texas. 

We passed on stargazing tonight. Tomorrow we head for an overnight stop on our way to the Texas Hill Country and a month’s stay in Kerrville.