As part of our visit's to colleges, we spent a Sunday afternoon hiking Palo Duro Canyon. We visited on our Okie-Tex Star Party trip but didn't hike as much. This time, we decided to walk a few trails (or at least most of us walked the trails. H and I stayed behind on most of them)
This time, we chose to hike toward the cave structure we saw on our last visit. The initial part of the hike was fairly level and easy going. We found several pretty rock features both buried in the dirt and laying on top.
Then, the trail became steeper and H decided she wanted to wait with me on the more level ground. They said there was a hole in the roof of the cave and it was a great view across the park.
The "rock boy" was in heaven on this hike. It's a good thing the park rules are no taking home otherwise, they might not have any rocks left.
The panhandle area of the state is very very dry, even some of the cactus' were wilting. On our weekend, we encountered a wind storm and some clouds, no rain. The clouds were beautiful and made interesting shapes on the cliffs.
Notice the straight lines on these slices of mountains? Just like in the Grand Canyon. If you haven't already seen it, you need to watch Is Genesis History? An excellent movie about the formations here at Palo Duro and the Grand Canyon.
They also decided they wanted to hike the trail to the dugout. We visited the Charles Goodnight Museum on our drive out. The Palo Duro Canyon was the area where he kept his buffalo heard. When Mr. Goodnight first moved permanently to the area, he and his wife lived in a dugout. This one is possibly his dugout, but most likely a hired hands dugout. There is another dugout, on private property, that is most likely the Goodnight "house"
Charles Goodnight house pictures -
There is a nice (free) museum. The house and grounds do have an admission fee. This is on the opposite side of the canyon from the state park. Mr. Goodnight liked to sleep on the back porch overlooking all his property, above his office. He was also friends with Quanah Parker and there is a young picture of Quanah Parker in the study where the two would often meet. Most pictures the Fort Parker had were of an elderly Quanah Parker. Interesting to see a young picture.
The hike to the dugout is not a circle hike, so while the rest hiked by pretty rock formations and the river, I drive the van around to the nearest parking area to the dugout and then joined them for the last 1/4 mile.
Apparently, loosing teeth on a trip is becoming N's favorite thing to do because he pulled his 3rd tooth during morning worship services.
Then, the trail became steeper and H decided she wanted to wait with me on the more level ground. They said there was a hole in the roof of the cave and it was a great view across the park.
The "rock boy" was in heaven on this hike. It's a good thing the park rules are no taking home otherwise, they might not have any rocks left.
The panhandle area of the state is very very dry, even some of the cactus' were wilting. On our weekend, we encountered a wind storm and some clouds, no rain. The clouds were beautiful and made interesting shapes on the cliffs.
Notice the straight lines on these slices of mountains? Just like in the Grand Canyon. If you haven't already seen it, you need to watch Is Genesis History? An excellent movie about the formations here at Palo Duro and the Grand Canyon.
They also decided they wanted to hike the trail to the dugout. We visited the Charles Goodnight Museum on our drive out. The Palo Duro Canyon was the area where he kept his buffalo heard. When Mr. Goodnight first moved permanently to the area, he and his wife lived in a dugout. This one is possibly his dugout, but most likely a hired hands dugout. There is another dugout, on private property, that is most likely the Goodnight "house"
Charles Goodnight house pictures -
There is a nice (free) museum. The house and grounds do have an admission fee. This is on the opposite side of the canyon from the state park. Mr. Goodnight liked to sleep on the back porch overlooking all his property, above his office. He was also friends with Quanah Parker and there is a young picture of Quanah Parker in the study where the two would often meet. Most pictures the Fort Parker had were of an elderly Quanah Parker. Interesting to see a young picture.
And now you can resume the Palo Duro hiking tour.....
The hike to the dugout is not a circle hike, so while the rest hiked by pretty rock formations and the river, I drive the van around to the nearest parking area to the dugout and then joined them for the last 1/4 mile.
Apparently, loosing teeth on a trip is becoming N's favorite thing to do because he pulled his 3rd tooth during morning worship services.
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