Camping at Palo Duro Canyon!

 Happy New Year!

We hope that your 2021 is off to a good start. We ended 2020 with a family trip and made memories that will last a lifetime! We camped at Palo Duro Canyon State Park for three nights, and loved it.

If you’re not familiar with Palo Duro Canyon, it is a huge canyon in Canyon, Texas. When we arrived, I obviously excepted a canyon, but it was HUGE! We started our drive down into the canyon to get to our campsite and the views were amazing. It is actually the second largest canyon in the United States! The biggest, of course, is the Grand Canyon.

We were only able to explore half of the canyon, because the other half of the park is currently closed for hunting, but it was still huge, and so beautiful.

On the first day of our trip, we drove from San Angelo to Lubbock, about three hours away, to pick up the RV that we were renting. Howard and Christian took the RV while Bella and I took my car the remaining two hours to Palo Duro Canyon State Park.

We did check-in online, so we received our permits to put on our windshields, and then we made our way down into the canyon to our campsite.

Before dinner, we did a little exploring, and hiked on the Pioneer Nature Trail (0.5mi).   

For dinner on the first night, we had hot dogs, sausages, and baked beans. We had s’mores for dessert!

The next morning, we got all layered up – yes, it gets cold in Texas. The high for the day was about 55F, and when we first went for our breakfast it was around 35F. We had scrambled eggs and bacon at the campsite, and then set out for the day.

We decided to hike Lighthouse Trail, which takes you to see Lighthouse Rock. The trail is 2.8 miles one-way. We hiked the 2.8 miles out, stopped to eat our packed lunch of sandwiches, fruit, and nuts and chocolate. Christian and I hiked up the steep last bit of the hill to see the rock.

After that we hiked the 2.8 miles back to the car. It was a nice, moderate level hike, the end, to get to the rock, though, was steep and slightly difficult.

Howard and the kids drove me to the top of the canyon so that I could hike one of the difficult hikes on my own. The CCC Trail starts at the top, or the bottom, of the canyon and goes all the way up, all the way down, or if you want to do the trail both ways, then you will go all of the way up and down the canyon. I decided to descend down into the canyon. Over the course of 1.5 miles you either ascend or descend 500ft. The view is amazing, and even though it is marked difficult, it wasn’t that bad. I will say, though, that if you start at the very top of the trail is does get confusing – there are two or three different ways that the trail could go, but there are no markings to say which is the right way. I ended up finding myself at the observation point, and then walking down the main road for a bit to get to the halfway point of the trail, and then meeting back up with the trail.

After I got back from my hike, we had hamburgers for dinner and mountain pies for dessert.

The next morning, it was another chilly day. We had pancakes for breakfast, and then we set out on our first hike of the day. We talked the short distance from our campsite to the Kiowa Trail. This trail is 1.5 miles each way and takes hikers along the river, along the main road, over bridges, and up close to some gorgeous geological features. On this trail we saw deer across the river and a woodpecker.

After the Kiowa Trail, we went back to the RV for lunch, a nap, and some reading. After getting recharged, we headed out to the Paseo del Rio Trail. This easy trail is 1.0 miles each way, and goes along the river. It was a nice, easy trail, but it was again confusing. At a few points there are breaks in the trail (to bathrooms), and it meets up with the Kiowa. There are no signs to mark which is the right way to go, and we could not find the official end point of the trail, of the Cowboy Dugout that is supposed to be on the trail. It was a nice hike, though, and we saw more deer, and a sleeping porcupine.

After the Paseo del Rio Trail, we took Howard and Christian up to the halfway point of the CCC Trail, and they made their way down to the canyon floor.

We enjoyed quesadillas for dinner, and then relaxed for the rest of our last evening at the Park.

The next morning it was COLD! When we woke up it was 15F. We had breakfast in the RV, packed up, and then made the trip back to Lubbock, and then onto San Angelo. Once we left Lubbock, we drove for the next few hours through snow! Yes, snow. We got home to a yard covered in white and had a snowball fight.

We really enjoyed our time at Palo Duro Canyon, and hope to go back again someday!

Have you been to Palo Duro? Do you have a favorite trail?!