Palo Duro Canyon June 2011

When I started studying Texas History in earnest a few years ago, I read many accounts of events taking place in or near Palo Duro Canyon. I read Stories of Texas Rangers or the US Army chasing Indians that would just disappear out on the Texas Plains. Early settlers did not know about Palo Duro Canyon as It was so far into the plains from the settlements that they had never seen or heard about it. The stories I read piqued my interest in going there.

For my birthday this year, Cecelia planned a surprise trip to the canyon as a present. After doing lots of research on the trip, she found out that April was not the most desirable time of the year to go if one wanted to partake of all the events available. Texas, the play, doesn't start until June and everyone told us we had to see it if we were there. The play is a musical romance of Panhandle history. So, we decided not to go on my birthday but, instead go in June. We did and just returned on Sunday, June 19Th. The biggest problem with going in June is the weather. It gets hot in the canyon and it was very hot, reaching 110 degrees one day.

What Cecelia had planned for our trip would have been so special, but it just didn't work out. For one, on the west rim of the canyon near the entrance to the State Park, there are a few rock cabins that were built in 1934 by the C.C.A. The cabins are very primitive, and one has to take everything for sleeping and cooking with them when they stay there. I am not even sure they have air conditioning. Besides that, we could only rent one for one night and we wanted to stay longer. They also don't allow pets in the cabins and we had our little dogs with us. We could not leave our dogs home because our pet sitter was out of town. In fact, we were meeting them at the canyon. I suggested the idea of renting a trailer and camping in the canyon.

We rented a 19-foot trailer and pulled it 1145 miles to Palo Duro and back. We camped at the state park for four nights. It was very hot and we spent most of the hot parts of the days in the trailer. One day we went into the town of Canyon which is just outside the park. There is a very good museum there, and while Cecelia did some shopping, that is where I went. 


One morning we took a horseback ride into the canyon and another morning we took a three-hour jeep ride to the very bottom of the canyon. We had a very talkative guide that had lots of information to share with us. I would like to go back sometime in the spring or fall when the weather would let us do some hiking or bike riding on the many trails available.