Beautiful Palo Duro Canyon

Thursday May 29, 2025                        Most Recent Posts:
Oasis RV Park                                          Traveling to and Arriving in Amarillo  
Amarillo, TX                                   The Impressive Millicent Rogers Museum

After stopping at the Cadillac spray painting,  I went on to see much more beautiful art at Palo Duro Canyon State Park.  

Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon system in the United States.  It is about 120 miles long and 20 miles wide, and is up to 800 feet deep. It extends from Canyon TX to Silverton TX.  You can see the beautiful colors of the four geologic layers.

People have inhabited Palo Duro Canyon for about 12,000 years. The Clovis and Folsom peoples first lived in the canyon and hunted large herds of mammoth and giant bison. Other cultures, such as the Apache, Comanche and Kiowa, used the canyon's plentiful resources more recently.

I took the only road which goes down into the canyon passing the Visitor’s Center, campgrounds and the Trading Post.  My first stop was in the upper Visitor Center parking lot where I had a view of the Center from above.

Pretty photogenic I thought.

I took this picture from the rim before heading down to the Visitor’s Center to see what information I might pick up.  Just takes your breath away.

Because I had such such limited time and had foolishly wasted some of the morning, I didn’t get to look as thoroughly at the exhibits here as I would have liked but I did watch a portion of the  film being shown which was very interesting.

The window next to it was a beautiful view.  No need for art on the walls if you have this.

I always try to buy something to support the parks other than my entry fee so today it was this book which I hadn’t heard of or seen anywhere else.  It turned out to have a nice introduction including pictures of her paintings and explanation of her time in Texas.  The bulk was her letters to Alfred Stieglitz from January 1916 to June 1918.

Before returning to the car, I walked back to the rim  where I found the CCC trail built in the 1930’s.  It goes around a section of the rim before heading down.  It originally served as the worker’s only path between the rim and the floor.  It is 3 miles round trip and coming back is seriously uphill over 500’.  It’s one of only two trails that go from the rim to the floor where you can see all four of the canyon’s distinct layers close up. 

I wanted to just head right down after taking the following pictures from the rim but knew I didn’t have the time to use it to get into the Canyon if I wanted to hike the Lighthouse Trail which was today’s goal.  But I’m sorry to have missed the 4 bridges constructed by the CCC of  hand cut local stone.   And I’m sorry to have only planned two days here.  For me it needs at least 4, a week would not be a problem.

The views from here were  wonderful and I took too many pictures knowing that I was going down into the canyon and they might be the only shots from above I’d get.

Feeling my life is pretty grand!

Zoomed shots give an even better look at the colors.

I read that the colors in Palo Duro Canyon are caused by the different mineral compositions of its ancient sedimentary rock layers, which were deposited over millions of years. The red color comes from iron-rich soil and rocks, while the white and purple hues are created by minerals like gypsum and the combination of blue shale with the red beds.

A last look back at the Visitor Center so perfectly placed on the rim.  The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the original structures of the Palo Duro Visitor Center, known originally as the Coronado Lodge, between 1933 and 1937. The CCC also constructed many other features in the park, including the road, cabins, and bridges I wish I could have seen on the CCC trail.

I’m headed to the Light House Trail which is visible below.   Ideally I would like to have taken the CCC Trail down and then hooked up with the lighthouse but that’s a longer hike than I have time for today.  Especially the climbing back out part at the end.  The trail looks gorgeous in this picture I wish I could have made poster size.  Of course I could, but I have absolutely no where to hang it.

I then set out from the Visitor’s Center to drive down into the Canyon to the trail head.   

First two stops made on the way down.

Driving down the road and passing the campgrounds, I kept wishing I could have stayed in the park but I just don’t think  I would want to drive the steep road in and out of the canyon towing the car.  When David and I were here, he drove the rig down and I the car.  But it was really wonderful to be staying in the canyon.  There are posts on our multi day stay here in the park in 2011 at these Links.   Somehow they are not as long as my epic posts now days.  Perhaps because I posted every day rather than every week or two.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park,

Campsite and Hiking in the Park

To the Lighthouse Part 1 

To the Lighthouse Part 2

By the time I got to the Palo Duro Trading Post, part way down the road, it was 12:30 and I foolishly hadn’t brought my lunch, very unusual for me.  I knew I didn’t want to start out on the trail without having eaten.  The Trading Post is the only place to eat inside the park  So I stopped.

As you can see they are bragging about their burgers.  They serve burgers, sandwiches, hot dogs,fries, ice cream and related foods.  They also have a store with camping supplies and souvenirs.  trading Post & Trading post 1 8376  

Of course I tried their burger and it was fine.  But world famous???

On to the trail head which served several trails.

There had been so much rain here the past few days that flooding had closed many of the trails.  I was quite worried when they told me that at the entrance station which is one of the reasons I stayed a while in the Visitor’s Center since they would be announcing the day’s open trails there.  Luckily they opened the Lighthouse Trail late this morning.  But not all trails were open .

The  Lighthouse Trail is 5.5 miles round trip and at the pace I like to hike and look, I wasn’t sure I could do it all in what was left of my afternoon.  The beginning of the trail  was was lined with wildflowers.

Being down in the canyon and seeing the walls close up was fantastic.

The fallen rocks look small from here but up close they would take two hands for me to hold the smaller ones.
Even the rock ground beneath my feet was artistry.

It seemed like every step I took the sculpture work done by the wind and water was gorgeous.

I was so surprised to find that after so much rain making everything lovely and green that this trail was dry and not muddy while others were still closed.

The Lighthouse trail does not cross the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River which formed the canyon and is the headwaters for the Red River though the river is within  seeing distance.  I suspect this arroyo I can see before hiking down to and out of it was full of water very recently

In this shot I could see the Arroyo as I walked toward it and in the far far distance center of the picture, the Lighthouse.

As I headed on down I took this picture of what I suppose is called a hoodo closer by.  Earlier in my hike it kept trying to make me think it was the Lighthouse and I was getting much closer than was really the case.

Love my zoom lens.

In the Arroyo, across and up the other side.

Looking down the Arroyo.  It’s width gives testimony to the amount of water that carved this.

Up the other side.  I’m getting much closer.  About 1/4 mile to go.

I can see its distinctive shape  more clearly now.

This is about as close as I got before I turned around knowing that I wouldn’t want to go all the way up today.

I turned around before this  point and didn’t get this shot myself but wanted to show that the last part of the climb is a hand over hand up to the base shown in the picture after this.   I definitely want to come back and hike it all as David and I did in 2011 when I have more time and remember to bring my hiking poles.  Would anyone like to come with me?

The hike back was just as lovely and I arrived before 6pm  which was my goal.  Here are a few of the things I wanted to remember from the reverse hike.

The older I get the more my face is beginning to look like this.

The beginning of the trail was distinctive for me for  its wildflowers which I saw coming in and the “sculpture” on the far right here which I did not as it was behind me..   I’m a huge fan of out and back trails for just this reason.

 

Don’t miss Palo Duro if you are driving I-10 through the panhandle of Texas.  It’s the best show for miles around.