Texas, Canyon - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Right after breakfast this morning we started trying to get a reservation for where we really wanted to be, Palo Duro Canyon State Park.  Palo Duro is the “Grand Canyon of Texas”.  It is the second largest canyon in North America comprising 27,173 acres.  The state park officially opened on July 4, 1934.  Palo Duro Canyon is approximately 120 miles long and 600 to 800 feet deep.  The canyon was formed when an ancient river first carved its way through the Southern High Plains.

We tried on line but couldn’t make a same day reservation there.  We tried calling and had to leave a message.  At 10:15 we received a call that they had 4 spots that we could probably get into and they were available for the two days that we wanted.  By 10:45 we were on the road since the sites are “first come, first served” and we were about 30 minutes away.  By the time we got there 2 sites were left!  We were assigned site 134 and it is perfect.

After registering we got back into the coach and noticed this 10% grade sign – this is going to be steep.  I attempted to snap some pictures but there were so many bugs on the windshield and I was trying to follow the canyon map at the same time I’m afraid I didn’t do those beautiful views credit.  The road is really steep, narrow and has lots of curves and blind turns.  Thankfully, we didn’t meet anything as big as us coming out.  They do have several areas where you can pull over, we pulled over once to let an impatient car get around us.  Greg commented that going back up the canyon road on Friday was going to be even slower.

 

 

 

After we got hooked up we discovered we had no phone or internet coverage at all and I didn’t indicate in our blog last night where we wanted to head today so nobody is going to know where we are for the next couple of days.  I’m writing this blog on Wednesday evening but won’t be able to publish it until Friday.

This is the view from our bedroom window.  I’ll have to get the view from the front window tomorrow after Greg gets all the bugs off.

 

 

We walked up to the trading post that is just up the road from the Sagebrush Camp Area where we are to pick up some postcards for the grandkids and a bundle of firewood.

We saw some beautiful views between our campsite and the trading post.

 

 

Greg thought it looked like the middle rock was close to becoming a “falling rock”.

 

 

This is home for the next couple of days.  We’ll be leaving Friday.

 

 

This is the view of the canyon behind us.

 

 

 

Behind our site is a covered picnic area with a fire ring a little further out.

We noticed some well-worn trails and some mashed down grass at the back of our site.  Looks like some of the local wildlife might call it a night here.

The wildlife here is supposed to include the endangered Palo Duro mouse, mule deer, roadrunners, the threatened Texas horned lizard, white-tailed deer, coyotes, Barbary sheep, bobcats, raccoons, tarantulas, and rattlesnakes.  We have seen flies, mosquitos, noisy black grasshoppers and this guy.  He landed on my right sleeve so I was trying to take this picture with my left hand while keeping my right arm still so he wouldn’t fly away.

Needless to say we aren’t going out wandering so we probably won’t see anything much more threatening than this.  They were cautioning people at the registration desk to avoid leaving pets our unaccompanied because they might look like lunch for the coyotes.

This afternoon we kicked back and watched Kansas City win a spot in the World Series.

Supper was leftover beef stroganoff and a couple of our “jar salads”.  I fixed these earlier in the week.  Hard to believe all of this salad can be packed in this little jar.  It makes a large side salad or if you want to dress it up with meat and cheese it can easily be a main dish.

Naturally we had to build a fire this evening.  What a great day.