Welcome to Palo Duro, the land of canyons, cattle, cardinals, turkeys, and roadrunners. Oh yes, and some coyotes. Palo Duro is located south of Amarillo near Canyon.
An interesting side trip in the area is Cadillac Ranch just to the west of Amarillo. This is an art sculpture of 10 Cadillacs nose down in the ground installed in 1974 and moved to its current location in 1997. It is open 24/7 and free to visit. Painting the cars is encouraged!
Palo Duro Canyon State Park is the second largest canyon in the US after the Grand Canyon. The park entrance sits atop the canyon where upon you drive a 10% grade down into the canyon to the campgrounds.
There are multiple small campgrounds located throughout the park along with a large trail system for hikers, bikers, and horse back riders.
Campground: Juniper Campground
Location: Palo Duro Canyon State Park
Site: 109 (pull through)
Cost: $26 Plus a Texas State Park Daily Use Fee of $6 per person (total of $38 per night)
Services: W/E (30 AMP)
Comments: A lovely state park campground with great site privacy, a sheltered picnic area, and great views.
At the entrance to the park is an area of Texas Longhorns which are always fun to see along with the wild turkeys which can be viewed throughout the park. There is also the occasional roadrunner running through the campgrounds and multiple cardinals just about everywhere.
The El Coronado Lodge sits next to the view point and has a nice museum of the history of the canyon along with a gift shop and of course, spectacular views down into the canyon.
At the base of the canyon there are riding stables, a group pavilion (with guest WiFi as there is no cell coverage at the base of the canyon), and a trading post with the World’s Best Hamburgers.
Then when our time is done it is back up the hill and out of the canyon. We enjoyed our stay with a day or two of beautiful weather and a few days of rain with threats of flash flooding and hail! Until we meet again!
Leave a Reply