Amarillo and Palo Duro Canyon - Trip Report
Apr 9th, 2012, 08:26 PM
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Amarillo and Palo Duro Canyon - Trip Report
Okay, posting this a little late but as usual busy with work, family,etc... so only now getting to post.
For Spring Break, we decided to head on up to Amarillo to do Palo Duro Canyon and then see Cadillac Ranch and environs around Amarillo.
Even though I've been living in Austin for 8 years, I had never been up to the Panhandle of TX, so time to check that off.
We left on a Sunday in mid March, and talk about a long drive. It took around 9hrs or more to get up there. From Austin we went west on 71 through the Hill country and then weaved our way up to Lubbock and then I-29 from there up to Amarillo.
The scenery went from beautifully green in Austin with tons of live oaks and cedar trees to smaller cedar trees and mesquite and then finally to just scrublands and grasslands. Up near Amarillo, being in a colder and drier climate, the grass was all brown and the relief very flat. As I was driving up there, I began to perhaps regret making Amarillo a spring break destination. But I'm used to it, as most places can't compare to Austin's physical beauty.
One thing that was quite scenic on the way up to Amarillo were all the wind turbines everywhere. There are literally thousands upon thousands as far as the eye can see. It makes for some spectacular photos.
We got into Amarillo late and checked in. We stayed at the Residence Inn off I-40. It's a very nice place but construction began the second day we were there. The next morning we got a big breakfast and then off to Palo Duro Canyon.
The drive down to Palo Duro was uneventful, perhaps a 30 minute drive out there. The landscape is utterly flat and then right when you enter the parks edge, you see the canyon open up. It was such a contrast to the previous scenery that it made it hard to believe such a giant canyon exists in the middle of the Texas portion of the Great Plains.
In my opinion, the canyon is even more impressive than the Grand Canyon. I know that's probably not believable to most of you, but this giant canyon in the middle of grassy flatlands is such a welcome relief in this landscape you have to see it to understand it.
We paid and then entered the park. First we went to the Visitor's Center to get oriented and get maps and then we planned which hike to take. We ended up taking the only hike that goes to the valley floor, the CCC trail. It is a very nice and moderately challenging trail, the views are spectacular.
We got down to the bottom of the valley and came across the amphitheater and toured the old western town down there. They are only open in the summer so it was pretty much a ghost town. We did find a place to replenish our water supply, however.
When we got back to the top of the ridge, we got in our car to drive around a bit more. We drove down the canyon to where we had just hiked to gauge the distance . Then we drove around the various campsites to see if that might be something we would be interested in.
Finally, we were about to leave for the day when we saw a cave like formation and people hiking out to it. You can get to this formation if you take the upper road on the canyon valley floor. It's a great place for kids to play around.
Continued...
For Spring Break, we decided to head on up to Amarillo to do Palo Duro Canyon and then see Cadillac Ranch and environs around Amarillo.
Even though I've been living in Austin for 8 years, I had never been up to the Panhandle of TX, so time to check that off.
We left on a Sunday in mid March, and talk about a long drive. It took around 9hrs or more to get up there. From Austin we went west on 71 through the Hill country and then weaved our way up to Lubbock and then I-29 from there up to Amarillo.
The scenery went from beautifully green in Austin with tons of live oaks and cedar trees to smaller cedar trees and mesquite and then finally to just scrublands and grasslands. Up near Amarillo, being in a colder and drier climate, the grass was all brown and the relief very flat. As I was driving up there, I began to perhaps regret making Amarillo a spring break destination. But I'm used to it, as most places can't compare to Austin's physical beauty.
One thing that was quite scenic on the way up to Amarillo were all the wind turbines everywhere. There are literally thousands upon thousands as far as the eye can see. It makes for some spectacular photos.
We got into Amarillo late and checked in. We stayed at the Residence Inn off I-40. It's a very nice place but construction began the second day we were there. The next morning we got a big breakfast and then off to Palo Duro Canyon.
The drive down to Palo Duro was uneventful, perhaps a 30 minute drive out there. The landscape is utterly flat and then right when you enter the parks edge, you see the canyon open up. It was such a contrast to the previous scenery that it made it hard to believe such a giant canyon exists in the middle of the Texas portion of the Great Plains.
In my opinion, the canyon is even more impressive than the Grand Canyon. I know that's probably not believable to most of you, but this giant canyon in the middle of grassy flatlands is such a welcome relief in this landscape you have to see it to understand it.
We paid and then entered the park. First we went to the Visitor's Center to get oriented and get maps and then we planned which hike to take. We ended up taking the only hike that goes to the valley floor, the CCC trail. It is a very nice and moderately challenging trail, the views are spectacular.
We got down to the bottom of the valley and came across the amphitheater and toured the old western town down there. They are only open in the summer so it was pretty much a ghost town. We did find a place to replenish our water supply, however.
When we got back to the top of the ridge, we got in our car to drive around a bit more. We drove down the canyon to where we had just hiked to gauge the distance . Then we drove around the various campsites to see if that might be something we would be interested in.
Finally, we were about to leave for the day when we saw a cave like formation and people hiking out to it. You can get to this formation if you take the upper road on the canyon valley floor. It's a great place for kids to play around.
Continued...
Apr 10th, 2012, 08:47 AM
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The next day we went to Walmart and stocked up on spray paint cans, planning to head out to Cadillac Ranch. We got there on a very windy and sunny day (every day was like that) so I made sure we were upwind when spraying the paint cans.
Cadillac Ranch has 10 Cadillacs that are half buried in the ground, which makes for an interesting picture in the fields of Amarillo.
I thought we'd stay around 5 minutes, but my son really got into the painting. I took off his shirt so he wouldn't get it all painted up and he went to town. I also left my initials on various cars as well.
We played tic-tac-toe on the cars and used whatever artistic skills we had to draw various pictures, etc...
After that we went to historic route 66 and drove around. We had lunch at a cafe that was an old gas station turned diner. The weather was sunny and warm so we ate outside.
Later that day we went to a park near the science center and flew a spongebob kite. My son got really good at flying that kite.
The next day we headed on back to Austin, as we needed to get back in time to catch the SxSW music and film series portions of the festival.
The next two nights we were watching the free live concerts at Auditorium Shores. The Counting Crows concert was quite enjoyable I must say.
On Saturday we caught some of the film festival. We saw a short film series with several memorable films. Oh how it was nice to be back in Austin.
Anyway, that what Spring Break was like.
Cadillac Ranch has 10 Cadillacs that are half buried in the ground, which makes for an interesting picture in the fields of Amarillo.
I thought we'd stay around 5 minutes, but my son really got into the painting. I took off his shirt so he wouldn't get it all painted up and he went to town. I also left my initials on various cars as well.
We played tic-tac-toe on the cars and used whatever artistic skills we had to draw various pictures, etc...
After that we went to historic route 66 and drove around. We had lunch at a cafe that was an old gas station turned diner. The weather was sunny and warm so we ate outside.
Later that day we went to a park near the science center and flew a spongebob kite. My son got really good at flying that kite.
The next day we headed on back to Austin, as we needed to get back in time to catch the SxSW music and film series portions of the festival.
The next two nights we were watching the free live concerts at Auditorium Shores. The Counting Crows concert was quite enjoyable I must say.
On Saturday we caught some of the film festival. We saw a short film series with several memorable films. Oh how it was nice to be back in Austin.
Anyway, that what Spring Break was like.
Apr 11th, 2012, 02:08 PM
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Appetite whetted!
Have you seen the canyon on the Rio Grande outside Taos, NM? In the middle of the dead flat plane, a deep gorge, much smaller than Palo Duro, but can you imagine the reaction of the first wagon train going out that way and thinking they had a nice clear route to the West? Holy ____!
Have you seen the canyon on the Rio Grande outside Taos, NM? In the middle of the dead flat plane, a deep gorge, much smaller than Palo Duro, but can you imagine the reaction of the first wagon train going out that way and thinking they had a nice clear route to the West? Holy ____!
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